​Find all of the Zoom links (the link this page shows is just for the main session) here: https://linktr.ee/neym_events

​Schedule for April 9, 2022 Gathering

• ​9:00 AM - Open for check-in and fellowship

• ​9:30 - Welcoming activities

• ​10:15 -Break

• ​10:30 - Brief presentation by Callid Keefe-Perry (Fresh Pond), Canopy Soil Fractals: Quaker Ministry as Stewardship and Connection

• ​11:00 - Worship

• ​11:45 - Announcements

• ​12:00 - Lunch (bring your own)

• ​1:00 - Interest groups (see descriptions below)

• ​2:30 - Closing worship with message from Noah Merrill (Putney)

• ​3:30 - Goodbyes, clean up 

• ​4:00 - Event ends

​Interest Group Descriptions

• ​Choice 1: Exploring your leading, service, or ministry and discerning a next faithful step

  • ​In triads, Friends will consider two of these three queries:

    • ​Has there been a time when you have felt a nudge, a clear leading, or an opportunity for ministry? Did it lead you to seek the support of your meeting?  Why or why not? What was the response?  Was it helpful?  How?  How could it have worked better?

    • ​Has there been a time when you have noticed a gift in another and you have done something to nurture it, affirm it, or draw it out? What was your experience of nurturing another’s gift like?

    • ​What do you see as your next faithful step on your spiritual path?  Where might you look for support in discerning this?  What role might your meeting play in providing this support?  

• ​Choice 2: Reclaiming and Revitalizing Ministry as a Core Quaker Practice

  • ​This interactive interest group will include journaling, small groups, story sharing, and reacting to some of the ways that Three Rivers aims to cultivate community care for pastoral, prophetic, and public ministry. Hosted in a blended format by Lisa Graustein and Kristina Keefe-Perry simultaneously at Portland Friends school and with participants on line.

• ​Choice 3: Recognizing and Supporting Ministry in our Meetings

  • ​We’ll hear about the reciprocal relationship between ministers and their home meetings and learn about some ways that ministry is being recognized and supported in New England.  The session will begin with brief presentations from several panelists: Maggie Edmondson from Winthrop Center Friends Church (ME); Sylvia Vriesendorp and Carol Rein from North Shore Friends Meeting (MA); Veronica Barron from Friends Meeting at Cambridge (MA); and Beth Bussiere from Portland Friends Meeting (ME).  Participants will have opportunities to raise questions and share practices in small groups as well as in the larger group.

• ​Choice 4: Self-Guided Time

​Event description

​Ministry and our meetings can be thought of as interacting parts of a complex ecosystem.  We invite Friends to join us in exploring this metaphor and the questions it raises about the relationship between meetings and ministry.

• ​What expressions of ministry might exist in a faithful Meeting ecosystem?

• ​How can our meetings grow in their ability to recognize, cultivate and steward gifts of ministry?

• ​What are the qualities of mutually supportive relationships between people who are carrying ministry and their meetings?

​This is the third in a series of gatherings focused on spiritual life and ministry and is being planned as a hybrid event. We will have options for in-person and Zoom attendance, and we are striving to have the event feel as if all participants are part of the same group. The in-person portion is planned for Friends School of Portland.

​If you and your family are interested in attending this event, we’d love to know what would make this accessible to you.

​Because of the complex nature of the event, we are looking for volunteers who are willing to serve as event greeters and tech assistants. We are able to offer stipends to tech assistants. If you are interested in volunteering, email Jeremiah (mc-clerk@neym.org).

​Questions? Suggestions? To contact the gathering hosts, email Jeremiah Dickinson

​Covid Precautions for this event

​All in-person participants over the age of 4 years must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 (with boosters strongly encouraged for all eligible). At this time, we anticipate that all in-person participants over the age of 2 years must be masked while indoors (we will eat lunch outside, under a tent).