Pastoral Care, Nurture, and Counsel
Members of this committee want to know when you or another Friend is ill, injured, or have a death in the family. Let us know about problems or concerns and we will form a support committee of two or three people to work with you. Friends who have decisions to make that they would like help with can ask for a clearness committee for personal discernment. We are also willing to help with discernment in special circumstances, which may fall outside the support of clearness committee structures. Get in touch with a committee member directly, or fill out a green card from the facing bench in the meetinghouse. Either mail it or drop it into the Care and Counsel box below the bulletin board located just outside the kitchen. As part of the nurturing of members, attenders, and visitors; we greet visitors to Meeting for Worship; provide pamphlets about Quakerism; keep the meeting directory up to date; and write a column in the monthly meeting newsletter. From time to time, we meet with other meeting committees to work on problems of joint concern.
Meeting Membership
Any visitor to Gwynedd Meeting is welcome to return to worship with us as a regular attender. Attenders wanting to apply for membership in Gwynedd Meeting should make a formal request to the clerk of the Meeting as outlined in Faith and Practice. The clerk refers the request to the Care and Counsel committee. We form a subcommittee to meet with the attender to seek clearness about membership as well as a subcommittee to welcome the attender to membership.
Marriage
Couples intending marriage under the care of the Meeting write to the clerk of the Meeting, who refers the request to the Care and Counsel committee. A subcommittee is formed to meet with the couple as they seek clearness about their marriage. If the way is clear for the marriage to proceed, a marriage oversight committee is appointed to help plan the wedding. This committee will continue to care for the marriage in the years to come. Couples should send their request six moths prior to their desired wedding date.
Financial Aid
Friends who need financial aid for school or other needs can apply to this committee. Funds are available as grants, while some are given as loans.
Friends in Transition
The Care and Counsel committee oversees the Meeting’s Friends in Transition group, which assists those who are experiencing life changes, such as job loss, job change, retirement, moving residence, marriage, divorce, illness, and bereavement. This group meets in the meetinghouse on the 4th First Day of the month in the high school room from 6-8 p.m.
Current Care and Counsel committee members:
Ranvir Bakshi
Roger Buchanan
Judy Flanigan
Linda Gist
MaryAnn Greenway
Steve Kerr
Cyndy Levy
Reba Mohan
Marcia Paschkis
Carol Ritting
Roger Sternfeld
Arnold Trueblood
Verna Tweddale
Marty Wilcockson
