Ad hoc Committees
BFM Clerks form ad hoc Committees as they are needed.
The ad hoc Covid Advisory Committee (2020-present)Mission: As of 2022, the purpose of the COVID Advisory Committee is to review the current status of the pandemic (taking into consideration federal, state, and Sidwell Friends School [SFS] guidelines); rates of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths; as well as the specific context of the Bethesda Friends Meeting community. With that data, the committee would then advise the co-clerks and the Ministry & Worship (or other relevant committees) on recommended courses of action. (BFM guidelines will always be guided by SFS rules since our meeting is housed on the SFS campus.)
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The ad hoc Threshing Preparation Committee (2021-present)Mission: In February, 2021, Bethesda Friends Meeting (BFM) agreed to move forward on a Threshing process to discern whom we wish to become as a Meeting (as it pertains to systemic racism) and which of the BFM-wide ideas generated will be taken up by the Meeting as a whole with an action plan. The Meeting agreed:
A 2015-2021 timeline of BFM milestones, as we have examined our testimony of equality For several years and in many ways, individuals and groups within the Bethesda Friends Meeting (BFM) community have sought to uplift our testimony of equality, especially as it relates to race. Click here for a timeline giving an overview of some of our journey milestones at BFM. On July 18, 2021, Meeting for Business approved the use of Anti-Racist Queries for Decision Making at BFM
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On Sunday, October 24, 2021, we gathered via Zoom for a Threshing Session.
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Background and invitation to our Sunday, October 24th eventFor several years and in many ways individuals and groups within the Bethesda Friends Meeting (BFM) community have sought to uplift our testimony of equality, especially as it relates to race. To see a timeline of key milestones, please click here. There is much work and discernment left to be done.
On October 24, 2021, we gathered by Zoom for a Threshing Session. Click here for the invitation and details. We listened to the Spirit working within and through us to discern what type of community BFM is and who we wish to be as we seek to be an institutional instrument of peace. We gathered in response to Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s June 2020 Call for Action against Systemic Racism, which can be viewed here. The Religious Society of Friends, like all groups, has been damaged by historic racial injustice and our members and neighbors are harmed by persistent inequalities. We are called to do better.
~ Alex B., Margaret B., Jackie D., Peirce H., Gale T., Aura T. P. |
(a) The first ad hoc Committee for the Digitization of Records (DRC) was formed in April 2017.
The DRC was formed and charged in April 2017 to support BFM in a Meeting-wide discernment process for identifying the best way to assure that information about our community is accessible, useful, up to date, and secure. Read the full charge here.
In May 2018 the DRC presented a final report, which recommended that the DRC be laid down, and in its place some type of ad hoc Records Implementation Committee be formed.
In June 2018, BFM concluded that: "After nearly two years of sustained effort, the ad hoc Digitization of Records Committee (DRC) has completed its work and proposed a set of next steps for the implementation of a digitization plan for Bethesda Friends Meeting. With deep gratitude for the sheer industry and clarifying insight of the DRC, and in keeping with its recommendations, the Co-Clerks now appoint an ad hoc Committee for the Implementation of a Digitization Plan (CIDP)...."
(b) Thus the second digitization ad hoc Committee was formed in June 2018 and called the Committee for the Implementation of a Digitization Plan (CIDP).
The CIDP was given a two year mission to set up a new digitization system and to follow that system for one trial year. Read the full charge here.