Gather with Nominating Committee
Members of the Friends General Conference Nominating committee meet monthly to gather information on where service is needed and who is called to serve. We hold, with divine assistance, this information in the light to discern our nominations to Central Committee and Executive Committee.
As a very small committee, we actively seek Friends to join us in this joyous work. A wider diversity of friends will assist us in a wider diversity of welcome to service.
As our travel and visitation is limited, we share these words from friends currently and recently serving on Nominating Committee.
I am serving in my 7th year on the Nominating Committee and am deeply spiritually nurtured through the worshipful foundation of our meetings, which include a liveliness in and intention to stay with Spirit as we meet and find Friends with gifts to serve within FGC Central Committee. I enjoy meeting those many Friends, including the ones who aren’t led to serve. I’m grateful for the challenges of learning about and following through together on seeing that our decisions support FGC’s goal to become an actively anti-racist faith community. I thrive on the dynamic that Nominating Committee members take our work seriously, while at the same time, maintain a lightness, respect, and caring for each other, FGC the organization, and the Friends who comprise it. We help each other learn.
I eagerly said “yes” to serving because of how grateful I was for all of the spiritual support and learning I had received from FGC committee members and staff in myriad ways as a committee member and clerk in Southeastern Yearly Meeting and later, as presiding clerk. FGC’s focus on supporting the spiritual vitality of Friends is crucial to the health of the Religious Society of Friends and I want to be an active participant in that.
Susan Taylor
Serving on the FGC Nominating Committee has been a rewarding experience for me. I am encouraged in my own commitment to Friends General Conference by working with committee members who are similarly committed. I have had the opportunity to communicate with people throughout the FGC world about FGC’s work and how they might share their time, energy and expertise to fulfill FGC’s vision and mission through serving as a committee member or an officer. A particular joy of mine was being on the leadership team that created and executed the 2020 consultation for Yearly Meeting nominating committee clerks. Each of the five sessions was a joy as we grew together in our understanding of the spiritual nature of the work of nominating committees and shared best practices and pitfalls.
Sally Weaver Sommer
I will talk about what is meaningful for me about serving on Nominating Committee; but I want to start with saying what has been meaningful for me about serving on Central Committee as a whole. It is the opportunity to work cooperatively with a group of interesting, dedicated, spirit-led, inspiring, gifted, and fun people towards achieving shared goals that are meaningful to all of us. Even when I found some people or some situations difficult, there was a lot of strength in the group, and a lot of people around me I could learn from. It was also a chance to develop gifts I had that I loved to use but that I didn’t use in my paid employment.
I am finishing six years of serving on FGC Nominating Committee, after having served on the committee previously with a long gap in between. The first time I served on FGC Nominating Committee, I discovered that it was a spiritually nurturing committee for me, much more so than the committee I’d been on that had ministry in its name. I realized at the time that it isn’t the name of the committee that makes it ministry, but where you are called – that nominating was my ministry. I have felt drawn to thinking about people’s gifts, sometimes helping them discern where they are led. And I like thinking about the organization as a whole and listening for spirit when seeking for how to move forward. I also enjoy working and thinking with my committee as a team.
Gale Rodhe
If these words speak to you, or kindle a spark of interest, please complete the volunteer form below or contact FGC.