Putting one's money where one's mouth is requires active participation. In this instance, it means that my writing skills and energies will be channeled in Friendly directions today. I'm a member of my Meeting's Ministry and Worship committee, which produces a Spiritual State of the Meeting Report every year. Essentially, it is a summary of how individuals and the greater gathering perceive of almost every conceivable facet of the Meeting. Once completed, it will be formally presented at an upcoming Meeting with Concern for Business.
It is very difficult to draft any report that speaks for the individual concerns of hundreds of people, while still taking into account the general sense of the gathering. This year, an online survey was conducted, which provided a wealth of information, so much so that even going through it all proved to be an immense challenge. As I write, I find myself in tension. How should I take into account the large amount of negative criticism recorded, while still conceding that many areas were pronounced healthy, or at least favorable?
Do you have the ability to produce graphics? You could do some kind of diagram that illustrates all the different areas, indicating which are ok and which produced a lot of comment for improvement? I like showing stuff in a visual form because it makes it easier to point out the proportions.
ReplyDeleteAll words makes it more difficult to keep the balance of emphasis, perhaps?
We do, actually. SurveyMonkey was used all the way through, and the graphical representations will be shared with the greater Meeting. Individual comments will be retained by the committee, if for no other reason than several of them were inflammatory.
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