Friends General Conference

Together we nurture the spiritual vitality of Friends

Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting Queries

Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting

Accountability grows out of, and in turn nurtures, the quality of personal relationship within a community of commitment… People care about one another.  They have a commitment to live in a relationship of trust and love, a relationship where people hear and respond to each other.  Accountability is not just concerned with members meeting the group’s outward expectations of behavior but about nurturing the deeper relationship of trust, caring and responsiveness. (Sandra Cronk, 1991)

The Religious Nurture and Education Committee of Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting is asking monthly meetings to reflect on and respond to queries on Eldership and Spiritual Accompaniment.  They are encouraging meetings to reflect on how we nurture gifts of ministry and hope these queries can begin a discussion to help meetings better discern and support calls to the ministry.

QUERIES ON ELDERSHIP AND TRAVEL IN THE MINISTRY

  • How do we become a community in which all feel loved and accepted, but also challenged to grow?  Does fear of conflict or intruding on another person sometimes keep us from holding one another accountable to the Spirit and one another?  Do our clearness committees challenge and confront, as well as offering support?
  • Is our meeting a spiritual community that provides regular spiritual nurture and support to each member? Do we know and encourage one another’s gifts?  What structures and practices do we have to identify and nurture the movement of Spirit in the lives of our members and attenders?
  • What is our experience of eldering and spiritual accompaniment?  Are there Friends hungry for greater support and discernment in their individual leadings?  Does the idea of an eldering make Friends uncomfortable? 
  • What experience does our meeting have with travel in the ministry, either in hosting a traveling minister or supporting a Friend traveling in the Ministry?  How has, or how might, our meeting respond to a request from a Friend to travel in the ministry or discernment around a leading?   Are there Friends in the Meeting whose gifts have been supported well?
Sunday, August 18, 2019 - 11:45pm
Community Friends Meetinghouse
United States
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