Gospel Order Packet — Preface section
March 5, 2016 § 1 Comment
New York Yearly Meeting’s Gospel Order Packet was a loose leaf binder with eight pocket dividers packed with resource materials for nurturing gospel order in seven areas of meeting life. In the next posts, I plan to publish these materials as pdf files section by section. I have made no effort to edit them yet; that would delay the project too much.
The first section, published here, is a preface section with introductory materials. The other seven sections are:
- Individual Spiritual Development within the Community
- Meeting for Worship as Central to Community Life
- Recognizing God in All Community Members—Building the Faith Community
- Discernment of Leadings among Members
- Pastoral Care of Community Members
- Worship as the Basis for Quaker Business and Following Gospel Order in the Meeting Structure
- Fruits of the Spirit: Friends Social Testimonies
The Preface section
The Preface section includes the following materials:
- A Preface, which outlines the materials in the section. Each section has a page that outlines the materials included in it.
- An Introduction to the Packet, which includes some snippets of definitions for gospel order, an introductory letter from those of us who created it, and an outline of the Packet.
- Definitions of Gospel Order, which I have already shared.
- Toward a Gathered Meeting, an assessment tool designed to help meetings get a sense of where their strengths and weaknesses are in each of the seven areas of meeting life. This uses queries in a worksheet that has room for notes.
- An Introduction to Toward a Gathered Meeting, which introduces the assessment tool and offers suggestions as to how to use it.
- Resources for Nurturing Gospel Order, which lists resources included in the Packet and some other resources.
- Seeking the Spirit in Gospel Order, excerpts from NYYM’s Faith and Practice.
- Queries on Gospel Order.
Pamphlets included in the Packet included:
- Spiritual Discernment—the context and goal of clearness committees, by Patricia Loring, Pendle Hill Pamphlet #305.
- Guide to Quaker Practice, by Howard H. Brinton, Pendle Hill Pamphlet #20.
Through the Flaming Sword 
Thank you, just what I was looking for!