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Membership Care Committee Handbook

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Introduction

The Membership Care Committee is that committee charged with the pastoral care of the Meeting's members.  It corresponds in function to the "Overseers Committee" described in Faith & Practice of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.  In February 2000, at a meeting for business of Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, a decision was made to use the name "Membership Care" for the committee, instead of the word "overseers," which has been used in the United States in association with the practice of slavery.

While in other denominations, pastoral care is the responsibility of paid clergy, this is obviously not possible in Friends meetings like ours, which function without the use of a paid minister.  Thus, service on the Membership Care Committee is of particular importance.  A broad and diverse group of seasoned Friends provides a strong base for this responsibility.

In addition to the care of members of the Meeting as individuals, the committee should view the Meeting as a whole, and should be alert for opportunities to gather members into meaningful community.  Some ways of encouraging this are described in the following pages, together with some of the avenues available for working with members' problems.

The Membership Care Committee should be mindful that its work entails matters of sensitivity to individuals.  Hence, members of the committee should be concerned to keep confidential all matters before them.

Members of the committee should be thoroughly familiar with material in PYM's Faith & Practice outlining the broad responsibilities for the committee's work.  Our handbook makes specific the procedures followed by the Membership Care Committee at Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting.

Organization

Officers

The Membership Care Committee has three officers:

  • Clerk
  • Recording Clerk
  • Treasurer 

The Clerk prepares the agenda for meetings of the Membership Care Committee, presides at meetings of the MCC, and makes reports on a regular basis to the Monthly Meeting.  The Clerk communicates with Clerks of Nominating and Finance Advisory Committees as necessary, to ensure that the three committees are giving consistent messages to members regarding expectations of the Meeting.  The Clerk reviews the draft minutes of the MCC, making any amendments that seem necessary, and forwards the (revised) draft minutes to the Recording Clerk, to be circulated to other members of the Committee.  The Clerk serves as an ongoing coordinator of projects initiated by the committee.  In addition, the Clerk also serves as a member of the Office Oversight Committee, since much of the Meeting Secretary's work is done on behalf of the Membership Care Committee.

The Recording Clerk prepares an initial draft of minutes of the MCC's meetings, and forwards this draft to the Clerk for review.  The Recording Clerk is also responsible for incorporating all revisions adopted at the following meeting of the MCC into the final approved minutes, and for sending a copy of the approved minutes from each meeting to the Meeting Secretary for filing in the office.

The Treasurer is responsible for keeping track of the committee's annual budget and expenses.  The Treasurer may be called on to advise the committee as to the financial implications of programs or events which the committee is considering.  The Treasurer may also be called on by the Clerk to make a recommendation regarding the budget request for the coming year.

Other Appointments

A member of the MCC is appointed to the Attenders Committee, to serve as a liaison between the two committees.  It has also been the practice that a member of the MCC has been appointed to the Necessitous Cases Committee, to facilitate communication between the two committees. 

Pastoral Care

Pastoral care and counseling of the Meeting membership are the special responsibility of the members of this committee; they should take a personal interest in the spiritual and physical welfare of each member of the Meeting.

Faith & Practice (1997), p. 182. 

One of the responsibilities of the Meeting to its members is to help all members of the Meeting to feel valued and cared for by the Meeting; it is the special charge of Membership Care to address this responsibility.                                                   

Remembrances

Members of the Committee make an appropriate response through personal contact, cards, or other gestures to the arrival of new children, to the ill, upon the death of a significant other, and at other times when it is felt that this form of contact would be appreciated.  Birthday cards are sent to members who are 70 years of age or older; motto calendars and special greetings at Christmas time are also sent to those over 70 or living at a distance.  Committee members are encouraged to be in contact with the elderly prior to special occasions (e.g., the annual Christmas dinner) to see if they would appreciate transportation so they can attend the event.

Friendly Care Lists

On January 3, 1985, a system was approved to help the Committee to be more responsive to opportunities to support the spiritual and physical welfare of each member of the Meeting.  Each person on the Committee (with the usual exception of the Clerk of the Committee) is assigned a list of several members with whom they are expected to be in personal contact.  It is usually advisable to include all members of a family or household on the same Friendly Care list.  In most cases, the lists include both adults and children; care should be taken not to overlook the concerns of minor children who are part of a family or household which is on one’s list.  Should couples separate, it is often advisable to re-assign at least one of the individuals to another member of the Committee.  Likewise, it is often helpful to re-assign a young person who has reached adulthood to his or her own Friendly contact person.

The general responsibilities of the Friendly Care Person are to

  1. Be aware of the needs of members assigned to him or her
  2. Inform the Committee when there is a need to which the Meeting should respond; and
  3. To serve as a communication channel between the member and the Meeting’s structure, as requested by the member.

In some cases, the Friendly Care Person may not be the best person to respond to the needs of an assigned member.  In such a case, the Friendly Care Person should take special care to keep the Committee informed of the member’s needs, so that the Committee can decide the most appropriate response, and  the most appropriate person to carry out that response.

Specific Responsibilities towards those on Friendly Care Lists

  1. To talk with Friendly Care people who previously served those you have been assigned, so you can learn about issues in the lives of those on your new list.
  2. To make oneself known to members assigned as soon as possible and to help them to understand the Meeting’s availability to be supportive as needed.  This can be done through a social gathering for local Friends, a letter or phone call to distant members, or other means at the discretion of the Friendly Care Person.
  3. To pay particular attention to members’ attendance and feelings toward the Meeting, life changes the member may be experiencing and specific needs for encouragement or support, and opportunities to lift up a Friend with a positive gesture.
  4. To review one’s list of members before each Membership Care Committee meeting to discern whether any issues should be brought before the Committee.
  5. To carry out the special gestures suggested in the Remembrances section above.
  6. To see that any correspondence is in the member’s file in the office, as a guide to future committee members engaged with that individual.
  7. To inform the assigned members when one’s term on the Committee expires and to let them know that a new Friendly Care Person will be assigned.

Absent Members

As a continuing process, the Membership Care Committee should review the list of members; individual Committee members should keep in touch with those who, for a variety of reasons, do not attend Meetings for Worship and Business, visiting these Friends when possible, corresponding with those at a distance, and reporting back on these contacts to the Committee as a whole.  Members absent from the life of the Meeting for a significant period of time should be approached as suggested in the section on Concerns for Membership.  Those living at a distance should be encouraged to transfer their memberships to nearer meetings when such transfers seem practical and desirable. 

Younger Members

Following the elimination of birthright membership at Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, three levels of affiliation to the Meeting became available for those under the age of 21: attender (no membership status); associate member (upon request of the parents); or full membership (either upon request of the parents, or for older children upon their own request as well).  All children are welcome at worship and at other events of the Meeting, as well as at First-Day School (or for younger children, in the child care program).  While the religious instruction of young people is primarily the responsibility of the First-Day School Committee, individuals serving on the Membership Care Committee should see to it that they become acquainted with the younger members on their lists, so that they may serve as resources to them at appropriate times.

At Age 14

It is particularly important for Friends to be active in maintaining contact with young members after the age of 14 years.  The Monthly Meeting, through the Education Committee, has funds available to provide financial assistance to Young Friends to attend conferences, including those especially oriented to youth.  Friendly Care Persons can help Young Friends on their lists stay engaged with Quakerism by encouraging them to attend Quaker conferences and apply for funding as needed.

At Age 18

When a young person reaches age 18 or his or her senior year of high school, a copy of Faith and Practice, suitably inscribed by the Clerk of the Meeting, shall be presented.  Presentation of these copies is made the occasion for a personal visit by the appointed Friendly Care people whenever possible; otherwise the book is mailed with an accompanying letter.

At Age 21

Personal visits, when possible, are also made to members on their twenty-first birthdays; otherwise a letter should be sent.  It is important to begin explaining to associate members at this time that they will soon need to make a decision regarding their affiliation to the Meeting.  They are dropped from the rolls of Philadelphia Yearly meeting after the age of 21.  As the time between ages 21 and 25 is often a period of transition, CPMM will continue their associate membership until the age of 25.  If they do not apply to become full members of CPMM by the age of 25, they will also be dropped from the membership rolls of CPMM.  Those who are already full members do not need to apply for adult membership, but they are expected to assume full responsibility as adult members by age 25. (This includes regular attendance at worship and at meeting for business, service to the Meeting through committees or other activities, and also financial support.)  It is often desirable to explain to young adults their additional responsibilities, as otherwise they may not be aware of them.  After the age of 21, names of young adults who remain in membership will be added to the Monthly Meeting and Yearly Meeting mailing lists separately from other family members, they will be assigned their own Friendly Care people, and they will receive their own financial appeal letters. 

Applications for Membership, Transfer of Membership, or Sojourning Membership

The Membership Care Committee is the body of our Meeting charged with responding to applications for membership in CPMM.  Members of the Committee should be conversant with the sections of Faith and Practice (pp. 34-41) relevant to applications for membership, with our Meeting’s statement on the meaning of membership in CPMM, and also with materials prepared by this committee for use by clearness committees appointed to meet with applicants.

While in recent years the general needs of attenders and visitors to our Meeting have been under the care of the Attenders Committee, the Membership Care Committee can have a significant role to play in their care by encouraging regular attenders to apply for membership in the Meeting when that seems rightly ordered.  Members of the Committee can also be helpful to those considering membership by explaining to prospective members our procedures for application.

Letters of application for membership should be sent to the Clerk of CPMM; guidelines for writing such letters are to be found in Faith and Practice (p.35).  Letters of application are usually first read in Monthly Meeting, and then referred to Membership Care Committee. If an application has come directly to the Committee, usually because of the timing of the request, it is reported to the next Monthly Meeting.  In either case, the Committee is responsible for appointing a clearness committee, usually consisting of two or three persons, to meet with the applicant. 

The convenor of the clearness committee should be a member of the Membership Care Committee who is familiar with our membership clearness process.  The convenor of the committee shall be responsible for arranging the meetings of the committee, ensuring that the applicant has received all necessary preparatory materials (including our Meeting’s statement on membership), and also for reporting back to the Membership Care Committee. 

While the clearness committee usually consists of members of Membership Care Committee, other seasoned members of the Meeting may also participate in the clearness committee, as deemed appropriate.  All members of the clearness committee should be thoroughly familiar with the document “Guidelines for the Membership Clearness Process,” approved in 1999 by what was then called the Overseers Committee, and should use it as a guide for the conduct of the clearness process. 

If, when Membership Care Committee initially receives the letter of application, any specific questions or concerns about the applicant arise, the clearness committee should also explore these concerns in their meetings with the applicant. For example, it should be noted that, as recommended by Faith and Practice (pp. 36-37), our Meeting requests that applicants for membership give up any membership held in other religious bodies.  Infrequently, ministers of other religious bodies seek membership with us.  It is expected that such applicants will give up their ministerial functions on joining CPMM.  Faith and Practice (p. 37) also recommends that, “If a person whose residence is remote from Meetings of Friends wishes to become a member, the monthly meeting should carefully consider whether the applicant’s needs, as well as those of the Meeting, will be served by membership in absentia.”  Participation in the Wider Quaker Fellowship may be more appropriate for a person who lives at a distance from a Quaker Meeting, or for an individual who clearly intends to move away to a distant location shortly after becoming a Meeting member.

The clearness committee may make interim reports to Membership Care in the course of the meetings with the applicant, particularly if difficulties are encountered. The clearness committee's final report includes a brief summary of the meetings with the applicant, as well as the final outcome of the process.  Should Membership Care feel ready to recommend the applicant for membership, this recommendation is presented to the Monthly Meeting.  The recommendation is then held over for a month, so that other members of the Meeting may have a chance to get to know the prospective member before final action is taken on the application at the next Meeting for Business.  Should Membership Care feel they cannot recommend the applicant for membership, or that action should be deferred to a later date, such recommendations are also reported to the Monthly Meeting.

Membership Options for Children and other Minors

Meeting members may request that their minor children be recorded as either full members or as associate members.  This option may be exercised at a child’s birth, upon his or her adoption, or at some later date.  Similarly, individuals or couples who are applying to become members themselves may also request associate or full membership for their minor children.  When children have two parents who play active roles in their lives, it is preferable that a parental request for recording a child as a member of the Meeting include the signatures of both parents.

While the Meeting recognizes that parents who are Meeting members have the right to make a choice regarding membership status for their child, it has been our experience that a clearness meeting, modified to be appropriate to the developmental level of the child or adolescent in question, can be a very useful part of the process of helping a young person to understand Quakerism and his or her role in the life of the Meeting.  Membership Care Committee therefore recommends that all children who are able to have a conversation about Quakerism and their experience in Meeting be encouraged to engage in a clearness process prior to their being recorded, either as full members or as associate members.

On occasion, a person who is still a minor (usually either an adolescent or a young adult) will decide to request membership on her or his own initiative.  Minors cannot request associate membership for themselves, but they are eligible to request full membership for themselves.  As with any other request for full membership, such a request from a minor should be followed by a meeting with a clearness committee, to ascertain the young person’s understanding of Quakerism and the implications of Meeting membership.  It is also recommended that as part of the clearness process, the committee ascertain whether there might be any parental objection to the prospective membership of the minor in question.

Transfers of Membership out of or in to CPMM

Requests to transfer a membership from CPMM to another Friends Meeting may be initiated by any Friend who has begun to participate in the life of another Meeting.  The person wishing to transfer sends a letter to CPMM, requesting a letter of transfer from CPMM to the Meeting that he or she is presently attending.   The request is forwarded to Membership Care Committee, which should consider the request for transfer, looking into such matters as the Member’s contributions to and participation in CPMM, and any outstanding debt that he or she may have to the Meeting.  Should it be ascertained that any debt exists, plans should be made for its resolution.  Unless there is strong reason to doubt the member’s readiness to contribute to the life of another meeting, Membership Care should forward the request to the Monthly Meeting with a favorable recommendation.  Any concerns, for example lack of member participation or contribution over a number of years, should be brought to the attention of the Monthly Meeting.  With the approval of the Monthly Meeting, the Clerk prepares an appropriate letter of transfer, which is sent on to the Meeting that the member would like to join.  In most cases, the letter of transfer will be received with approval by the other meeting, and membership will be transferred to the new meeting.  However, a meeting may, at its discretion, return the letter of transfer, in which case the membership remains with CPMM.

 Requests to transfer into CPMM from another Friends meeting are handled in similar fashion.  A letter of transfer should be received by CPMM from the meeting to which the Friend currently belongs.  The letter is referred to the Membership Care Committee for consideration.   If the Friend is already well-known to members of CPMM and clearly understands the expectations of members at CPMM, Membership Care may simply forward the transfer documents promptly to Monthly Meeting with a favorable recommendation.   If the Friend is not well-known to CPMM members, or if it is not clear that the Friend understands the expectations of members of CPMM, it is advisable for a few persons from Membership Care to visit with the Friend and conduct a modified clearness process prior to recommending that the transfer be accepted.   If for any reason Membership Care Committee does not recommend the acceptance of a transfer (if, for example, they are unable to ascertain that the person intends to be part of the life of CPMM), Membership Care may recommend that the transfer papers be returned to the meeting from which they originated.

Occasionally, an attender will request a transfer of their membership from another (non-Quaker) congregation.  It is our practice to require members of other religious organizations who wish to join CPMM to apply as new members.  Following  that application, we will provide the usual clearness process, during which our expectation that they will resign from their previous congregation will be discussed.

Sojurning Membership

Members of distant Meetings who are presently residing in the vicinity of our Meeting may desire sojourning membership at CPMM.   Friends who desire to have sojourning membership status at CPMM should request that their “home” meeting generate a Minute requesting this status on their behalf, and send a copy of the Minute to CPMM.  Applications for sojourning membership at CPMM are reviewed by Membership Care Committee prior to referral to Monthly Meeting for action.   It is appropriate for a representative of Membership Care to be in contact with the person requesting sojourning status, in order to establish a relationship with that individual and also to discuss common practices associated with sojourning.  For example, it may be noted that while sojourning members usually are expected to participate in worship, meeting for business, committee service and other activities at the meeting where they are sojourning, they usually are expected to contribute financially to their “home” meeting.  It is not our custom to accept requests for sojourning membership from a member of a meeting within Philadelphia or its nearby suburbs; in such cases, a transfer of membership is more appropriate.  Sojourning members are not counted in our statistical reports, and their sojourning membership terminates automatically when they move away from our vicinity.  The Clerk of CPMM should as a courtesy send a letter to the Clerk of the member’s “home” meeting when it is clear that the member is no longer residing in our vicinity, indicating that the sojourning membership has been discontinued.

Members of CPMM who are residing at a distance and wish to be registered as sojourning members of another meeting should write a letter to the Clerk of CPMM, requesting that the Meeting minute their desire to sojourn at the meeting of their choice.  The Clerk of CPMM will ensure that the Minute which is so generated is forwarded to the meeting at which the member wishes to sojourn.

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