So, Where Do I Go From Here?
If you haven't done so already, we suggest trying these things:· Please attend meeting for worship for six months or more. Try to attend some meetings for business to learn how we work together to make meeting decisions and run our meeting.
· Explore the Mountain View library. There are many helpful books worth exploring about unprogrammed meetings for worship. There are also books on Quaker history, and many inspiring journals and writings.
· If you can, attend Quaker Studies to learn about the history of Friends as well as ways to strengthen your worship and deepen your relationship to God. Quaker Studies is usually attended by a mixture of people new to Mountain View and people who have been members for years and wish to refresh their practice or study with Friends. Participants in Quaker Studies often find they have developed friendships because of the rich interactions and sharing in the program.
· There are several committees on which non-members can participate. Find one that speaks to you and see how you can contribute.
· Try to attend any other opportunities in which we share educational and community activities. These might include a women's retreat, School of the Spirit, Quaker Quest, worship sharing, Friendly Dinners, regional meeting (every 6 month), or yearly meeting. These are usually well-advertised on flyers, verbal announcements, and printed announcements.
· Talk to members. Ask questions. Join dialog.
The Membership Process
Applying for membership is a simple process.
The Letter of Application. Write a letter to the clerk of the meeting saying that you'd like to apply for membership. People often describe their reason for applying, but every letter is different and it can be as simple or as personal as you like. The letter will be read at the next monthly meeting for business.
The Clearness Process. The clerk will give the letter to the Membership and Guidance Committee, which will form a membership clearness committee. The job of this committee is to establish that you are "clear" to join, both in the sense of feeling ready and also to determine there is no practical reason you should not join. This committee will meet with you enough times to start to get to know you and talk about what membership means to you and what membership means to us. During these meetings, you and the committee might agree that you are fully ready. You might also find together that there are reasons you are not clear to join. And it might be determined that some more experience with Friends would be appropriate before making membership official.
Membership Approval. If membership is appropriate, then the committee will write a report to present at the meeting for business. The report usually includes a brief but personal summary of the meetings (without breaching privacy) so that others at the meeting for business can learn a little about you. The committee will recommend you be granted membership. If this is approved by the meeting for business, then a welcoming committee will be formed and, as the name suggests, welcome you to membership in Mountain View Friends Meeting with a social gathering.
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