Dear Editor: I’m glad I was able to participate in the online session that Western Friend hosted this past October, “Which Way Worship?” It was helpful to consider questions (tech and otherwise) relating to in-person, online, and hybrid/blended meetings for worship. I look forward to the follow-up session that you will be holding this spring.
Something struck me during the initial session, and it has continued to nag at me ever since, even though it was barely touched on in the three written follow-up pieces that you published online. [See: https://westernfriend.org/news/notes-from-which-way-worship/] That is, I was struck by the number of participants who explicitly referred to issues about hybrid worship as sources or occasions of “conflict” within their meetings. This is particularly striking because Friends are typically averse to mentioning even the least hint about internal conflict in their meetings. I hope that finding ways to address and work through these conflicts will be a part of the follow-up session.
As someone who has been following a leading for twenty years to help Friends meetings (and other organizations) get through times of conflict, I feel led now to offer assistance to any Friends meeting or church that believes this might be helpful to them. I offer – at no charge – to create, in consultation with the meeting, and then to facilitate, a conflict-resolution session around issues concerning hybrid/blended worship. Friends can learn more about the services I offer at: https://thomasrothschild.com/ Friends can contact me at: [email protected]
– Tom Rothschild, Strawberry Creek Quaker Meeting, Berkeley, CA (PacYM)