Registration Now Open for Annual Meeting

LEYM is returning to Ashland University June 13-16, 2024 for our wonderful Annual Meeting. Our theme is Friends Together: Outpourings of the Spirit. You can read all about our plans and see the full workshop descriptions in the Spring Issue of the LEYM Bulletin.

Registration, using our new online registration system, is now open. See the welcome video, learn more and get registered via leym.org/annual . As a special feature this year, registrants will have access to a mobile app so that they can keep track of the schedule and have quick access to helpful information.

We’d love to have you join us!

Spring 2024 Bulletin now available

The Spring issue of the LEYM Bulletin has been released. In it you’ll find the Clerk’s message, a report on Representative Meeting, information on small LEYM worship groups and how you can visit them, and lots of material on the 2024 Annual Meeting. The issue provides a broad overview of the coming Annual Meeting, registration instructions, and full descriptions on the dozen wonderful workshops on offer this year. Registration opens April 1st.

You can always find the most current issue of the Bulletin and back issues at the LEYM Bulletins page.

Paper copies of the Bulletin will be mailed as soon as they get back from the printer.

Representative Meeting Brainstorm Notes Now Available

Friends from across the LEYM region gathered together online for our March 9 LEYM Representative Meeting. In the morning we heard reports on what is happening at various meetings, learned about what committees have been working on, reviewed our finances, heard about progress in setting up this year’s Annual Meeting at Ashland University (June 13-16, 2024) and got a preview of the new online registration form.

In the afternoon, Friends engaged in some shared brainstorming and small group work, thinking about what LEYM could look like if we started from scratch, with particular attention paid to the role of Clerk. As we learned from the nominating committee, we are still seeking a clerk and assistant clerk to begin service when Susan Loucks ends her term in June. As part of our brainstorming process, we used an online “Jamboard” that enabled small groups to post their ideas and share them out with the larger group.

The jamboard brainstorm document can be accessed as a pdf here. If anyone who participated had their appetite whetted and is moved to consider LEYM structures with a small group in between now and our annual meeting, please let the clerk know via LEYMclerk@gmail.com.

Minutes from the Business Session are being prepared, and will be added to this post and the Minutes section of the LEYM website when available.

2024 Business Sessions

This is where you can access relevant materials for the Business Sessions scheduled for LEYM 2024 in Ashland Ohio. The Documents in Advance can be viewed here.

Meeting for Worship With Attention to Business
Agendas, Yearly Meeting 2024
Subject to Revision and Divine Intervention

Thursday Evening – 6/13/2024 7:30pm – 9:00pm

  • Welcome
  • Announcements – Site Committee
  • Who’s here? Roll call, absent and deceased Friends, Visitors
  • Establishing an Epistle Committee (decision)
  • Report from the Naming Committee
  • Memorial Minute- Akron

Friday AM – 6/14/2024 10:30am – 12:00pm

  • Committee Sharing Session
  • Treasurer’s Report
  • Finance Committee- 2024-5 Budget (first reading)
  • Finance Committee – Proposed Changes to Travel Policy (decision)
  • Nominating Committee – Slate (first reading)
  • Memorial Minutes- Wooster

Friday PM – 6/14/2024 1:15pm – 3:15pm

  • Clerk’s Report
  • Worshipful Discernment – God’s purpose for LEYM this year  

Saturday 6/15/2024 1:15pm – 3:15pm

  • Finance Committee – Proposed Revisions to Funds (decision)
  • Finance Committee – Budget (decision)
  • Publications and Archives – Proposed Revision to Digital Access for Annual Records (decision)
  • Executive Committee – Proposed amendments to P&P on structure (first reading)
  • Memorial Minute – Cleveland
  • Organizational Representatives Panel

Sunday 6/16/2024 8:45am – 9:30am

  • Naming Committee (decision)
  • Nominating Committee (decision)
  • Executive Committee – Proposed Amendments to P&P on Structure (decision
  • One Breath Reports

2024 Annual Meeting – Ashland, Ohio

Friends Together: Outpourings of the Spirit is our 2024 Theme. Our plenary presenter will be singer/songwriter Paulette Meier who is known for her collections of Quaker chants and her children’s peacemaking music. Our theme was inspired by the energy, creativity and life revealed last year as we gathered for the first time since the COVID-19 shutdowns. This year we expect even more wonderful outpourings of the Spirit as we join in large and small groupings, sharing meaningful workshops, Bible Study, worship sharing, singing, meals and fun social time. We’re especially excited about the Saturday night 400th Birthday Celebration for Friend George Fox who was born way back in 1624.

On March 21 Quakerism 101 Explores What Friends Believe

Mark your calendars now for the next sessions of the Quakerism 101 Series!

The LEYM Advancement and Outreach Committee will be offering three more sessions of the Quakerism 101 series the next few months. In February, we explored Faith and Practice books with Ann Arbor Meeting.

Coming up Next

  • We are looking forward to Thursday, March 21 7-8:30pm, when the Kalamazoo Meeting presents a session on What Do Friends Believe? This is a common question asked by inquirers, visitors, and new attenders. It’s a difficult question to answer since Quakerism is a non-creedal religion. In this session we will first explore the beliefs of early Friends and how that shaped their practices. Then we will share the experiences of present day Friends in different branches of Quakerism to illustrate how current beliefs, while retaining much of those of the founding generations, have broadened. A description of the testimonies (SPICES) will be included to show how we test whether we are putting our beliefs into action. Lastly, attenders will participate in breakout sessions to share their own beliefs. Get the event flyer here.
  • Later sessions include discussion of the meeting for business, led by LEYM Clerk Susan Loucks of Pittsburgh Meeting on Wednesday, April 17, and an introduction to Quaker service organizations from Red Cedar Meeting on Thursday, May 16.

All sessions are open to anyone—seasoned Friends, newcomers, seekers, young and old. Time for reflection and interaction is included in all sessions. Contact Joe Mills, Clerk of the LEYM Advancement & Outreach Committee for more information. (millrae@juno.com. Use subject line “Quakerism 101”).

The Thursday, March 21 session will be from 7-8:30 pm on Zoom.

The Zoom link is the same as always:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87637944768?pwd=SEdFdUdaQzl3elFES0p6Y25VYnhUdz09

Meeting ID: 876 3794 4768 Passcode: 84448
One tap mobile: +13052241968,,87637944768#,,,,*84448#
Dial in: +1 312 626 6799

Easy share Zoom link: https://tinyurl.com/quaker101

LEYM-wide Meeting for Worship Upcoming on March 12th

Friends from across Lake Erie Yearly Meeting will be gathering online for a time of shared worship on Wednesday Tuesday, March 12, 2024 from 7:00 – 9:00 pm. The event is being sponsored by LEYM’s Ministry and Nurture Committee. We’d love to have you join us. We’ll be using this Zoom Link.

Full Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87637944768?pwd=SEdFdUdaQzl3elFES0p6Y25VYnhUdz09

Zoom Meeting ID: 849 0375 1782
Passcode: 623371
Dial in by phone: +1 312 626 6799

Representative Meeting upcoming on March 9 via Zoom

Representative Meeting returns to an online-only format this year. We’ll gather starting at 10 am on Saturday March 9th. It’s an important meeting opportunity for us as we move toward our June 13-16 Annual Meeting without having a rising Clerk ready to step in at the end of Susan Loucks term. There’s plenty to talk about!

The session will be divided into two blocks of time, with a break for lunch in-between. We ask that people planning on attending fill out out a quick registration form here to help us with role call and record keeping. See Schedule and Zoom access information below.

About Representative Meeting

LEYM holds a Representative Meeting in the spring to handle business that has arisen since the previous Annual Sessions and to consider and season matters for the next Annual Sessions. Representative Meeting may make decisions concerning any matter except those specifically reserved for Annual Sessions (see Policies & Procedures Manual), and may forward any matter to Annual Sessions with a recommendation. 

Monthly Meetings are encouraged to have at least two people from their MFW in attendance so that at least a few Friends from each meeting will attend, participate, and report back. A representative comes with knowledge about his or her meeting and its concerns, but is not bound by instructions. Representatives need to be open to the leadings of the Spirit, just as they would be in any Quaker business meeting. Members of standing committees and officers of the yearly meeting are expected to attend. In addition, any member or attender within LEYM who wishes may participate.

March 9, 2024 Zoom Access:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85827416349
Meeting ID: 858 2741 6349

General Schedule

10-12 pm –  Meeting for Business.  We’ll be catching up on what’s been happening across the YM, hear what’s been going on in planning for this summer (for all ages), and hear about activity on other committees – including a look at the draft budget for next year. 

12-1 pm Lunch Break

1-3 pm – Structures Exploration.  We’ll imagine we were starting the YM from scratch (but with an eye towards our visioning work), and chart out: 

  • Where are the places that feel most important to put our collective energy? 
  • Where are the places where we ourselves are wanting to put our individual energy? (no commitments – but useful to chart relative to what’s above!) 
  • We’ll also do some open-minded thinking about the clerk’s role: What are the most important aspects of the role? What assumptions can we play with that might open new possibilities? 
  • We’ll end with time for worship and – if we’re ready – discernment. 

Quakerism 101 Returns Feb 20th

We are looking forward to Tuesday, February 20 at 7pm, when the Ann Arbor Meeting will present a Quakerism 101 session on Guides to Faith and Practice written by Friends (get flyer here). The session will explore the history of how our non-creedal society came to create and use such documents; the experience of Friends who have created, developed, and revised these guides; and how they are maintained as living documents as meetings grow and change. The session will include an interactive exercise in which small groups will review passages from various Faith and Practice guides and experience the process of spirit-led discerning together as might be done in developing such a guide. 

Advance materials for the small group sessions are available at Q101 Materials Feb 20. These are not required reading for participation, but you may find them useful. The Zoom link is the same as always: https://tinyurl.com/quaker101
Meeting ID: 876 3794 4768 Passcode: 84448
One tap mobile +13052241968,,87637944768#,,,,*84448#
Dial by your location +1 312 626 6799

Both new and seasoned Friends, teens and adults, can connect at these gatherings as we share and explore our knowledge, understandings, and questions about the Society of Friends.

Future scheduled sessions include the following:

  • March 21 (Thursday): What Friends Believe (offered by Kalamazoo)
  • May 16 (Thursday): Introduction to Quaker Service Organizations (offered by Red Cedar)

For more information on the Quakerism 101 series, check out it’s home page here.

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