Clearness and Anchoring Committees
as Understood by the Traveling Ministries Committee of Friends General Conference,3/2005
How might your meeting respond when a member considers service with the Traveling Ministries Program (TMP) of Friends General Conference?
God leads Friends to a traveling ministry in a number of ways. A call to travel may flow out of the individual’s active ministry in the monthly meeting or local community. It may stem from experiences in the wider Quaker world. The call may be to specific work, to the cause of restorative justice, for example, or it may be more general, without a particularly defined task or topic. (Paraphrased from Jonathan Vogel-Borne,“Traveling in the Ministry,” paper written for Friends Meeting at Cambridge, 1987.)
While ministry is the occupation of all who respond to God’s call, Friends who travel in response to this call are under a particular challenge because of the public nature of their undertaking. When a Friend expresses an interest in traveling under the auspices of our program, the TMP seeks recommendations about the Friend from individuals in the home meeting and/or other Quaker bodies. Before the TMP sends someone to travel in the ministry, however, we – the TMP and the Friend who feels called to travel – also seek assistance from the Friend’s local meeting as a corporate body.
The home meeting can assist, first, by appointing a clearness committee to help discern whether the Friend has a genuine leading from the Spirit. Should clearness be found, the Friend will then need an ongoing anchoring committee to help guide, nurture, and hold her accountable for the right use of the gifts given for this work. (If a Friend has already gone through a clearness process and has received a minute of travel from your meeting, you might want to skip down to the section on anchoring committees.)
It has been the practice for a Friend, who believes that she or he has heard a call, to bring the concern before the gathered community of Friends in the monthly meeting, that it may be tested as a true leading of the Spirit. The practice is an expression of our membership one of another, of a mutually accepted obligation, that of the individual Friend to test his or her concern against the counsel of the group and that of the group to seek the guidance of God in exercising judgment. It may bring enrichment both to the individual and to the group, even though the meeting may advise the Friend that he or she is mistaken. If the individual is encouraged to go forward, the prayers of Friends will strengthen him or her in the service.
--London Yearly Meeting, Church Government (1968, rev. 1980), #861, wording changed to be gender inclusive.
Clearness to Travel in the Ministry
A Friend who feels led to travel in the ministry initiates a clearness process by writing a letter to the ministry and counsel committee (or its equivalent) of his or her local meeting, or to the clerk if the meeting has no such committee, describing the leading and asking for a clearness committee. Procedures vary somewhat among meetings that already have a clearness process for Friends in this situation. Here are some general guidelines.
Getting Started
The ministry and counsel committee (or monthly meeting for business) forms a clearness committee by naming three to five seasoned Friends who each possess gifts of spiritual discernment. Members should be people with whom the Friend considering travel in the ministry is comfortable, but who will be able to ask hard questions as needed. It is not appropriate to issue a general call for volunteers. If ministry and counsel cannot find enough suitable Friends from within the meeting to serve on the clearness committee, Friends from nearby meetings might be asked to serve. If the meeting is small and isolated, one or more individuals from local churches might be asked, while giving them a careful and clear explanation of Quaker process.
A clerk is named to convene the clearness meetings and make reports. It is also useful to appoint a recording clerk, who will write down key questions asked during the clearness session and at least some points of the responses.
Discerning Clearness
The clearness committee and the Friend who has requested it work together to discern clearness to travel while focusing on several areas of inquiry. First, committee members need to learn about the leading itself and the spiritual life out of which it has arisen. The committee and the Friend must then consider whether the leading is merely a passing interest, an ego-driven concern, a true call from God, or some combination. Another essential focus of discernment is whether the Friend possesses the requisite seasoning – wisdom, humility, generosity of spirit, patience, and love – for travel in the ministry. The committee and the Friend also need to explore whether there are any impediments to the proposed travel at this time – personal or family concerns, business or community obligations, meeting responsibilities, or other Quaker commitments. The overriding goal of the clearness process is not to reach any particular outcome, but rather to discern whether there is clarity on these issues and if there is clarity, where it lies.
The clearness committee’s first session begins with a substantial period of worship, inviting Divine guidance. Committee members proceed by asking the Friend open, loving, and challenging questions while maintaining an attitude of prayerful listening. Questions are most helpful when they are free of the assumptions or personal impediments of individual committee members. Committee members should also resist the impulse to give advice. Toward the end of the session the committee might shift into a declarative mode to allow Friends to mirror back what they have heard. It is appropriate to close the session with worship as Friends consider the ways in which they have been faithful to the promptings of the Spirit. More than one session might be required for all – the committee members and the Friend who feels led – to discern whether they are clear around the Friend’s leading to travel in the ministry at this time.
Forwarding a Recommendation
Should the clearness committee and the Friend reach unity in finding that the leading is genuine, that the Friend is seasoned for travel in the ministry, and that there are no impediments to travel at this time, the committee clerk will bring a recommendation to the ministry and counsel committee. It is helpful if the clearness committee sends a proposed minute to ministry and counsel including a succinct statement of the Friend’s call, the purpose of travel, and the committee’s findings, as well as its recommendation. This would be done not to presuppose the outcome, but to aid in the discernment process.
If, after due consideration, ministry and counsel unites with the finding, the matter is forwarded to the next meeting for business. If the monthly meeting also unites with the finding, the clerk of the meeting will draft a travel minute briefly describing the traveler and the leading. Traditionally when a Friend planned to travel extensively in the ministry outside his or her quarterly or yearly meeting, the monthly meeting forwarded a copy of the travel minute to those meetings for their written concurrence. The TMP coordinator is available to help if a meeting has questions about drafting a travel minute. Her contact information is provided at the end of this paper.
Once the travel minute has been approved, the clearness committee is laid down. The traveler will bring a copy of the minute along on any assignment for TMP or other ministry outside the monthly meeting. It will be “endorsed” (comments written at the bottom of the page) by the clerk of any meeting visited. It is Quaker practice that these endorsements be read in the traveling Friend’s own monthly meeting.
Anchoring Committee
When a meeting formally recognizes a leading and issues a travel minute, it assumes responsibility for guiding the traveling Friend and enabling the ministry to be carried forward. The Friend in turn becomes accountable to the meeting for the right use of the gifts of this ministry. A number of meetings establish a committee, which the TMP calls the “anchoring committee,” to provide the needed guidance, support, and accountability.
Creating the Committee
The method of appointing an anchoring committee varies somewhat from meeting
to meeting. What is important is that Friends follow a transparent, well-ordered
procedure. The process outlined in “Getting Started” on page two
for forming a clearness committee might also be used for an anchoring committee.
One difference in the procedures for setting up these two committees is that
a clearness committee is usually appointed by the ministry and counsel committee
acting on its own, while in some meetings the clerk or the clearness committee
may also be involved in appointing members of the anchoring committee.
Unlike the clearness committee, the work of an anchoring committee is ongoing
and may continue for several years. With this in mind members are normally
appointed for fixed periods with staggered terms to ensure continuity. Potential
appointees need to be informed that the guidance and support of traveling
ministry is a weighty, ongoing responsibility.
Frequency of Meetings
How often the anchoring committee meets depends on the traveling Friend’s particular situation. Some receive just one or two invitations a year to travel in the ministry, perhaps to lead a workshop or facilitate a retreat. In such cases the anchoring committee might meet only once before and once after a visit. Other Friends travel frequently. In this situation the anchoring committee might need to meet at least once a month.
Major Functions
An anchoring committee has several major functions:
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accountability of the traveling Friend for the right use of gifts, for carrying forward the leading;
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care and nurture of the traveling Friend as the leading is carried forward and when challenges arise; see “Roadblocks,” below;
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guidance, particularly with respect to the challenges of ministry; see “Roadblocks,” below;
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support, including help with home or family issues that interfere with the ministry, help interpreting the ministry to the meeting, and perhaps help in identifying or arranging financial support; see “Financial Support,” below.
The specific tasks required to carry out these functions may differ as widely as the variety of leadings among Friends. While committee members keep a prayerful watch on the ministry, their work will be shaped in part by the nature of the individual’s leading, the type and number of opportunities to travel, challenges encountered on the road, and the personal situation of the traveling Friend. The committee must see that the traveling Friend is faithfully exercising the gifts of ministry and at the same time also nurturing her own spiritual life.
Process
Like the clearness committee, an anchoring committee session begins with silent worship as Friends seek Divine guidance. Out of the silence the traveling Friend will speak as led, sharing experiences and raising concerns. Committee members listen prayerfully and with open hearts, holding the speaker in the Light. The committee then proceeds by asking questions to help all present discern how the Spirit is at work through the traveling Friend.
Through careful listening and discernment, committee members may become aware of support, guidance, or nurture that may be needed to further the ministry. This might be something as simple as finding a person to drive the traveler to the airport or as challenging as helping the Friend discern the way through a conflict between the ministry and a family responsibility. As far as possible committee members avoid telling the traveling Friend what to do. They rely instead on the Friend’s ability to hear Divine guidance within while being supported by the deep listening love of the committee. Some anchoring committees include worship sharing in their meetings.
Roadblocks
As it nurtures and supports the ministry, the anchoring committee must be alert to roadblocks that might interfere with the right exercise of the traveler’s gifts. The committee will want to create an environment conducive to candid sharing. Friends who travel in the ministry have the same human failings we all possess. It is of great comfort to the traveling Friend to be able to share deeply his sense of instances when he felt he ran ahead of his guide or lagged behind. The committee will also need to be sure the ministry continues to be fueled by the traveler’s relation with God, and not by her own ego. Guidance might be needed for an individual prone to accept more requests than can be conscientiously fulfilled. The committee will also need to watch for signs of burnout. Perhaps it is time for the Friend to stop traveling for a while and replenish his spiritual energy. For some, difficult personalities encountered during a retreat or a workshop can lessen the joy of traveling ministry. The committee might take this problem into prayer with the Friend to help discern a way forward.
Revisiting Clearness
Should the traveler appear to lose spiritual grounding or develop new interests beyond the scope of the travel minute, an alert anchoring committee will raise a concern and if need be, help the Friend discern whether it is time to lay down the original leading or go back to the monthly meeting with an expanded or new leading. In this situation the anchoring committee assumes the function of a clearness committee.
Other Tasks
During travel, committee members hold the Friend in the Light. Following a visit the traveler should be sure to give, in timely fashion, a copy of the travel minute endorsed by the clerk of the meeting or other Quaker body visited, to the clerk of the anchoring committee. (See the TMP page at fgcquaker.org for a note on travel minutes and their endorsements.)
The committee has the following administrative responsibilities:
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to review the endorsements on the travel minute and make note of any concerns reflected in the comments;
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to maintain its own confidential records;
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to keep the monthly meeting informed about the traveler’s work, including submitting a written report annually. The endorsements on the travel minute might be read in meeting for business. The traveler might also want to submit his or her own written report to the meeting.
In some meetings the annual report is given first to the monthly meeting ministry and counsel committee and then passed on to the meeting for business. If the quarterly and/or yearly meeting has concurred in the travel minute, a similar report should be passed on to those meetings.
Financial Support
When travel is arranged through the TMP, the TMP and the meeting being visited cover transportation and hospitality costs. However, when travel opportunities arise that are not under the auspices of the TMP, the traveling Friend may encounter financial challenges. Some Friends who will miss work to travel may need additional financial support to make up the lost wages. The anchoring committee and the ministering Friend must be frank with each other about needs and expectations for financial assistance. When a meeting approves a travel minute for a member, it is endorsing that Friend's general ministry and therefore should also feel responsible for enabling it to go forward. In the past this was most often done by individual Friends quietly giving cash to the traveling Friend or helping the family that remained behind. In today’s more complicated world of charitable tax deductions Friends tend to look to the meeting to supply financial support. If the Friend who travels is going to need such support, the meeting must be aware that this is part of its responsibility, and that there are tax issues that require consultation with someone knowledgeable about current law.
The home meeting can be enriched by news and insights from meetings the traveler has visited. As part of carrying out its responsibility to keep the meeting informed about the traveler’s work, the anchoring committee might arrange occasions where the traveling Friend could speak to the meeting about experiences on the road. One meeting has found that “increased attention to calls to ministry has prompted members to be attentive to the movement of the Spirit in their own lives.” (Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, “Responding to Calls to Ministry,” Working Procedures Approved June 11, 1995 [rev. 1999].) Through mutual accountability and the sharing of Divine blessings, Friends build one another up in the faith and strengthen our treasured Quaker communities.
