Summary

Workshop Number: 12
Leaders: Steve Mohlke
Who May Register?: Open to All
Worship/Worship-Sharing: 10%
Lecture: 20%
Discussion: 65%
Experiential Activities: 5%

Who May Attend?
only full time attenders (participants should attend the entire workshop every day)

This workshop will focus on the theoretical and practical aspects of Friends decision-making including being a presiding clerk of a Friends meeting or committee. We will cover topics such as: There will be opportunities for experience sharing, mostly in a large group setting. There will be handouts. There is a suggested $10 materials charge. I/We…


Workshop Description


This workshop will focus on the theoretical and practical aspects of Friends decision-making including being a presiding clerk of a Friends meeting or committee. We will cover topics such as:

  • sense of the meeting,
  • the role of the clerk
  • the role of those present,
  • options if unity is not apparent,
  • techniques for contributing to a climate of safety/bravery,
  • discernment.
  • unity and impasse,
  • standing aside,
  • preparing the agenda,
  • the use of committees,
  • techniques for equitably balancing voices,
  • options for addressing conflict, and more.

There will be opportunities for experience sharing, mostly in a large group setting. There will be handouts. There is a suggested $10 materials charge.

I/We set workshop expectations that include the invitation to use “Oops, Ouch, and Whoa,” when something happens that is, or appears, hurtful. When those words are used, we pause, breathe, and slow down to do any group processing needed. We welcome guidance
from the person who was hurt by using and modeling the clerking tools. Since it is a workshop about clerking, such a circumstance becomes an  opportunity to learn together about how to address such matters in real time.


Leader Experience

Since 2006, I have led dozens of discussions in small group settings on various Quaker topics. I co-facilitated this workshop with Arthur Larrabee five times in 2018-2020 as a transition. I have now facilitated this workshop on my own more than a dozen times since then. I have also facilitated a 2 hour workshop “Clerking by Zoom” which I have led multiple times. Elements of that workshop will be incorporated into this longer workshop.

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