Business Meeting

Every faith community has some kind of structure to handle the “business” of being a group. The way we Quakers handle our business reflects the importance we find in group discernment and the value we place on decentralized power structures. Therefore, we gather once a month for something called “Business Meeting.”

When we gather we will be discerning the will of God rather than collecting majority opinions. We don’t vote, rather we do our best to sense where God is leading us. For this reason, we consider our gatherings for business to be an occasion for worship, where we enter into moments of silence to allow everyone the space to listen. All those who participate in a Business Meeting share responsibility for seeking God's guidance. You don’t need to be a member of our community to join us for our Business Meeting, we recognize the potential of every person, regardless of how long they’ve been with us, to discern the voice of God as it directs our community.

We have a Clerk who holds these gatherings with deep intention and care. We ask this person to discern the sense of the gathering. This person is paying attention to the energy of the entire group and trying to distill down what everyone has spoken into a “minute” that can be recorded. Our recording clerk will read aloud this minute and the Clerk asks everyone present if we have approval. There are times when people do not feel in alignment with the direction the group is going. It is then the Clerk’s job to discern, alongside that person, if they feel led to acknowledge that the group is moving in a direction and if they would like to “stand aside” as the group continues to move. In some cases, this person or the entire group will discern that more time is needed to discern before moving forward in unity.

Our annual budget is approved by the business meeting. Additionally, every committee clerk may bring items from their committee that require approval from the entire community. The Business Meeting has the authority to create committees, disband committees, and to monitor the work it has delegated to committees.

Ultimately, the business meeting is where the authority lies at West Hills Friends. In this way, decision-making is purposefully decentralized and centers God’s leading in our community decisions.

Elders

The Elders Committee is responsible for the spiritual health of the Meeting (we use the word “Meeting” where most faith communities use the word church) and the vitality of its public ministry. It consists of members of the Meeting, serving three-year terms in rotation. The Elders Committee meets once a month. The Elders Committee have these responsibilities:

• Promote vital Meetings for Worship by discerning, supporting and encouraging the health of worship, including both programmed elements and open worship, and by keeping the basic principles of Quaker worship before those attending.

• Support other events that promote spiritual growth, including our annual All Church Retreat.

• Encourage and support Friends seeking membership, and recommend potential members to the Business Meeting after a process of discernment.

• Become well acquainted with members and regular attenders, giving encouragement as needed and lovingly helping those whose actions or attitudes cause concern.

• Promote the development of leadership within the meeting, recognizing and encouraging gifts of ministry and offering discernment and support for those led to seek a Certificate of Ministry or Recording within Sierra Cascades Yearly Meeting of Friends.

• Supervise and support the work of the pastors, complete an annual performance review and recommend a base salary to the Stewardship Committee.

• Recommend the calling of pastors and other ministers.

• Nominate new Elders for approval by the Business Meeting.

• Nominate Friends to serve on the Nominating Committee.

• Serve the spiritual health of the Meeting as led.

Released Ministers (a.k.a Pastors)

Knowing that spiritual authority is derived from the inward work of God's Spirit, we do not recognize authority based upon title or rank. At the same time, we value the discernment our Meeting has done to recognize that our collective faithfulness is enhanced under the guidance of pastors. Our Meeting provides financial support to our pastors, according to our Meeting’s ability and the pastor’s needs. Providing financial support is meant to release (thus the term Released Ministers) our pastor’s time for service, to the benefit of all of us. This also “releases” our pastor’s from the need to take jobs outside of our Meeting so they can fully attend to the work we have asked them to do.

Here are some of the expectations we have of our pastors:

• Model and share the love of Christ in ways that are honest, challenging, thought-provoking, and promote the spiritual growth of the Meeting. Our Released Ministers frequently bring prepared messages (some may call them sermons) to our Meeting on Sunday mornings.

• Teach the vital application of Quaker distinctives and testimonies (such as the peace testimony, simplicity, and equality of persons).

• Recognize and respond to the changing organizational and spiritual needs of the Meeting. Typically our Released Ministers meet once a week together to discern how things are going in our community. From these meetings we empower our released ministers to foster conversations and events to address the needs or our community.

• Nurture and maintain ties within the larger Religious Society of Friends. We encourage our Released Ministers to meet with other Quaker pastors within our large body (Sierra Cascades Yearly Meeting of Friends) and other Quakers throughout the world. We know our connections with other Friends help create vibrancy within our own community.

• Promote leadership and active participation in the life of the Meeting. Our released ministers often hear ideas or desires from folks in our community. Via their discernment, our Released Ministers will engage with individuals in the community, acknowledging the diversity of gifts that are present to invite people into various roles and leadership. We believe a healthy Quaker Meeting means that many people are sharing in the beautiful work of creating a beloved community, each responding to their gifts.

Currently we have two released ministers, klarissa oh (she/her/hers) and Mark Pratt-Russum (he/him/his). You can find more information about Mark and klarissa by checking out their bios here.