Open and Affirming Group
Meeting Notes- Sept. 14th
Meeting begun at 7pm.
Present: Charlene Swietek, Pat Thompson, Mary Jarvis-Smith, Linda Manning, Roger Thompson, Matt Desy, Ann Drake, Ivy Farinella, Roy Norman, Erik Ribera.
Getting the Word Out: the group discussed the upcoming LGBTQ Bible Education classes, which are to be held on Oct. 4th, at 11:15, Oct 5th at 7pm, and Oct 7th at 1:00pm.
They will be posted on ONA website and in the next parish post. (Matt will take care of the post with Christine). They will also be part of the regular announcements, and adding to the insert the invitation.
Perhaps a summary will be offered of it for those who cannot attend--ask Pastors. Quotes and facts may be put into the bulletin insert.
Roy expressed concern with the overlap of stewardship drive.
Ivy recommended putting something on the electronic announcement board, and to add to the bulletin announcement that the rainbow boxes are available for feedback. There was conversation about the bulletin inserts.
Planning Other Events: We spoke of inviting speakers from other ONA churches, and reviewed who visited us and how valuable that was.
The goal being to plan a quarterly All Church Meeting to invite people into the conversation.
We reviewed the process recommended by the Toolkit for Welcoming Congregations, and that the process would be one the whole church is invited into. The process will be linked on the website.
VISIBILITY: First, put a summary of the LGBTQ Bible Education Class on the website, in the bulletin, et cetera.
Matt suggested we begin a bulletin board in the Community Room to catch everyone up. There was conversation about being out about what we're doing.
FEEDBACK: We have only heard word of mouth discussions, minus one letter, which we responded to. A few people thought that tonight's meeting was the feedback session, but found it valuable overall. We realized clarification would be more helpful.
Question: Why are we doing this? Open discussion went on.
Suggestion: We'd like to be educated from the pulpit. The hope is that people are educated about LGBTQ to understand. To live into "all are welcome".
Question: "Don't we already welcome everyone? All of us are God's Children, what's the big deal?" It was noted that marginalized people have a hard time finding safe and open spaces, and that vocalization is important. Some folks have never heard they are God's Child from anther person.
Question: "Do we have to educate, or could we just vote?" It was recognized that this conversation might be bringing up other things that have never really gotten resolved for people.
Suggestion: Meet in people's homes?
Question: "Does this interfere with the church's focus on Community Building and other things that are happening?"
Suggestion: We'll try to keep the meetings simple; less things up on bulletin boards.
The timing of the vote was considered, in balance with the need for conversation.
ACTION ITEMS:
Charlene will connect with the moderator (Larry) about what he thinks about the timing. We'll adjust our message about what the Monthly Meetings are about.
We'll add a 15 minute "open forum" at the beginning of each meeting for Q&A and then people can leave shortly after (if they want).
Oct 5th will be the Bible Education Class.
We'll invite the pastors to one of the next meetings.
The meeting ended at approximately 9:10 pm
Meeting Notes- Sept. 14th
Meeting begun at 7pm.
Present: Charlene Swietek, Pat Thompson, Mary Jarvis-Smith, Linda Manning, Roger Thompson, Matt Desy, Ann Drake, Ivy Farinella, Roy Norman, Erik Ribera.
Getting the Word Out: the group discussed the upcoming LGBTQ Bible Education classes, which are to be held on Oct. 4th, at 11:15, Oct 5th at 7pm, and Oct 7th at 1:00pm.
They will be posted on ONA website and in the next parish post. (Matt will take care of the post with Christine). They will also be part of the regular announcements, and adding to the insert the invitation.
Perhaps a summary will be offered of it for those who cannot attend--ask Pastors. Quotes and facts may be put into the bulletin insert.
Roy expressed concern with the overlap of stewardship drive.
Ivy recommended putting something on the electronic announcement board, and to add to the bulletin announcement that the rainbow boxes are available for feedback. There was conversation about the bulletin inserts.
Planning Other Events: We spoke of inviting speakers from other ONA churches, and reviewed who visited us and how valuable that was.
The goal being to plan a quarterly All Church Meeting to invite people into the conversation.
We reviewed the process recommended by the Toolkit for Welcoming Congregations, and that the process would be one the whole church is invited into. The process will be linked on the website.
VISIBILITY: First, put a summary of the LGBTQ Bible Education Class on the website, in the bulletin, et cetera.
Matt suggested we begin a bulletin board in the Community Room to catch everyone up. There was conversation about being out about what we're doing.
FEEDBACK: We have only heard word of mouth discussions, minus one letter, which we responded to. A few people thought that tonight's meeting was the feedback session, but found it valuable overall. We realized clarification would be more helpful.
Question: Why are we doing this? Open discussion went on.
Suggestion: We'd like to be educated from the pulpit. The hope is that people are educated about LGBTQ to understand. To live into "all are welcome".
Question: "Don't we already welcome everyone? All of us are God's Children, what's the big deal?" It was noted that marginalized people have a hard time finding safe and open spaces, and that vocalization is important. Some folks have never heard they are God's Child from anther person.
Question: "Do we have to educate, or could we just vote?" It was recognized that this conversation might be bringing up other things that have never really gotten resolved for people.
Suggestion: Meet in people's homes?
Question: "Does this interfere with the church's focus on Community Building and other things that are happening?"
Suggestion: We'll try to keep the meetings simple; less things up on bulletin boards.
The timing of the vote was considered, in balance with the need for conversation.
ACTION ITEMS:
Charlene will connect with the moderator (Larry) about what he thinks about the timing. We'll adjust our message about what the Monthly Meetings are about.
We'll add a 15 minute "open forum" at the beginning of each meeting for Q&A and then people can leave shortly after (if they want).
Oct 5th will be the Bible Education Class.
We'll invite the pastors to one of the next meetings.
The meeting ended at approximately 9:10 pm