Ministry and Oversight Committee
Term:
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Three-year staggered terms, with a maximum of two consecutive terms. Four is the minimum number of members. Members should be diverse in age and gender, be faithful in Worship, sensitive to the life of the Spirit and have warmth, sympathy, the ability to listen without judging, and the ability to keep confidences, spiritual insight, and practical resourcefulness.
Clerk's Responsibilities:
- Understand and be able to implement Quaker process.
- Serve as primary contact person for committee.
- Schedule meetings and ensure that meetings take place.
- Ensure that an agenda for committee meetings is organized.
- Ensure a report is generated to be presented to the Meeting for Business.
- Ensure that committee meeting minutes and notes, which may include background discussions, concerns, planning, proposals, actions and possibly confidential material, be written and kept as an organized file.
- Ensure that action items that arise during committee meetings are assigned.
- Arrange for the new committee’s first meeting and at that meeting ensure that the committee chooses its clerk, unless the clerk has been specified by the Nominating Committee.
Committee's Responsibilities:
- Foster and strengthen the spiritual life of the Meeting and nurture the spiritual and personal growth of individuals in the Meeting.
- Ensure a smooth transition and transfer of information to new committee
members. - Oversight of the Meeting for Worship
- Schedule Greeters for meeting members and attenders prior to Meeting for Worship and close the meeting.
- Oversee vocal ministry.
- Prepare annual state of the meeting report.
- Oversight of Membership
- Update member lists and roles annually and provide information to the Recording Clerk and Recorder.
- Oversee transfers and withdrawals of membership.
- Encourage application for membership.
- Arrange for Clearness committees for membership applicants.
- Change of Life Events and Transitions
- Convene Clearness Committees, arrange marriage services, prepare marriage certificates.
- Obtain instructions on final affairs; convene a Caring Committee prior to death. Arrange memorial service and prepare a memorial minute. Provide grief counseling and care for surviving family.
- Oversight of Organization, Practices and Procedures
- Clarify practices, procedures, and organizational structure.
- Facilitate reconciliation of differences.
- Collaborate with other committees
- Ministry to Regular Members and Attenders
- Visit with members and facilitate social gatherings.
- Encourage vocal ministry.
- Arrange visitation for ill or incapacitated members or attenders.
- Provide support for troubled members or attenders (emotional, legal, financial) and referral for additional assistance as needed.
- Administer Caring Fund.
- Ministry to Newcomers and Interested People
- Welcome and provide follow up card or phone call.
- Answer questions, provide information, encourage participation.
- Distant Members and Past Attenders
- Provide updates on current activities and issues
- Contact yearly and encourage withdrawal or membership transfer as appropriate.
- Promote Creative Diversity
- Promote discussion of same-sex unions. Provide care and support to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans gender members and attenders.
- Support and encourage cultural and racial diversity and tolerance.
