Friends’ Decision-Making and Clerking: Participating in Meetings for Business with Joy and Confidence

If you are seeking funds or alternate payment options to participate in this program, please wait to register and first complete our Financial Assistance Application. 

This is an opportunity for both new and experienced clerks of Friends’ meetings and committees to meet and think together about the role of presiding clerk in the spiritual practice of meeting for business. 

The workshop will address racism in the context of Friends’ decision-making and clerking. We need to pay attention to racism because it affects (infects) nearly everything in this society, and we will be lifting up decision-making processes that seek to liberate the Spirit among all participants.  

There will be handouts to follow along during the program, exercises, and opportunities to share experiences, with most work being done in a whole group setting. It is expected that each person will leave the weekend with new energy and enthusiasm for being a clerk, feeling well grounded in both the theoretical and the practical. 

Download the flyer to share with your community

Leaders

Steve Mohlke is a longtime Friend and former clerk of Ithaca Monthly Meeting. He served as co-clerk for the 2017 Friends General Conference Gathering and currently serves as General Secretary of New York Yearly Meeting. Steve has facilitated Clerking programs many times in person and online. He often experiences working through differences in a meeting for business as spiritual connection. 

,O is a Friend and co-clerk of the Racial Healing and Wholeness Committee at Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. They engage in environmental racial justice work as a community activist in the Philadelphia area. They have served as Elder for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PhYM) and have facilitated programming for Annual Sessions Spiritual Formation Retreat. ,O has also led On Truth & Transformation workshops with PhYM Quaker Life Counsel, exploring the transformative practice of deep listening to increase our capacity for healing through compassionate responses to incidents of racial wounding.