Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends-Quakers

State of Society Report 2023-2024
Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

The Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) is a Monthly Meeting of Quakers in North Dakota. We hold Meetings for Worship and practice Friendly Study on a weekly basis as a means of promoting spiritual and moral growth and change among ourselves and our community. We gather in-person occasionally for Meeting for Worship and informal social activities. Weekly First Day (Sunday) gatherings are online, using the Zoom app.
Meetings for Worship for Business have been held more consistently than many past years. A bank savings account was opened to facilitate the collection of funds for Meeting business, especially to pay subscriptions to the Zoom app, and for any other expenses than may occasionally occur.
Weekly study using “Friendly Bible Study” format is an essential aspect of the life of our meeting. Themes are selected every season while a participant provides a relevant text weekly.
Friendly Study themes 2023-2024:
Summer – Making a Difference
Fall – Exploration of George Fox quotation: “Walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in everyone.”
Winter – Mystery and Intelligence
Spring – Moral Codes

Inspired by the Quaker testimony on peace Bismarck Quakers hosted a workshop by the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) to organize a local Advocacy Group. Mwan Kamwendo, an FCNL staff person, traveled to Bismarck to lead the workshop. A dozen participants met to learn about strategies to lobby the state Congressional delegation. Quakers and community members have continued work as a local FCNL Advocacy Group; including meeting with staff members of Senator John Hoeven and Senator Kevin Cramer's local offices concerning various peace initiatives, and writing a letter in support of a ceasefire in the current Israel-Gaza conflict. Both Quakers and community members continue Advocacy Workshop efforts.
LGBTQ solidarity continues to be important to our group. Once again we are co-sponsoring a multi-faith worship service in June during Pride festivities in partnership with the Dakota OutRight organization and several other area churches and religious organizations.
Long-time member of the Bismarck-Mandan Quakers, Harriet McClelland, passed away January 24, 2024 at the age of 101. Harriet especially embodied the Quaker peace testimony in her activism as an Alternative to Violence Project participant at the North Dakota State Penitentiary and We in Black peace demonstration group.
Meeting for Worship in Remembrance of Harriet McClelland was held in a dual in-person and Zoom format. Quakers and friends of Harriet (especially from the Bismarck-Mandan Unitarian Universalist Church and Fellowship) met at the Bismarck United Church of Christ on March 2, 2024 with approximately a dozen of Harriet's family members (children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren) joining online.
The Meeting was held in the Quaker style, with silent worship and spoken sharing. Harriet had a profound impact on our Quaker Meeting, the Bismarck community, and our individual lives. She was much loved and will be greatly missed.

To contact the Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) please visit our website and use the contact form:

https://bismarckmandanreligioussocietyoffriendsquakers.wordpress.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bismarckquakers/

Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends-Quakers Society of Friends a.k.a. Quakers in Bismarck and Mandan, North Dakota

Meeting for Worship for Remembrance of Harriet McClelland

March 2, 2024 at 12:00 PM, the Bismarck-Mandan Friends Meeting will hold a meeting for Worship to celebrate the life of Harriet McClelland. This meeting will be held in the manner of Friends with a time for reflection and sharing. Each attendee is invited to reflect on Harriet’s life and the ways she enriched our lives, our meetings, and the lives of those around her. This will be held at the United Church of Christ, 1200 Highland Acres Road,Bismarck, ND and also on the Friends zoom. We ask that each person speak if they feel so lead by the spirit, and that we pause after each speaker to allow those present to reflect on what was said.

For those attending by Zoom the meeting room will open at 11:45 AM Central time to allow people to get signed in and test connections. We are requesting all Zoom attenders to mute their microphones except to speak. If you are having difficulties signing in you may contact Dave McCarty for assistance.

We expect the Meeting for Worship to last 30-40 minutes but have allowed extra time.

Minutes of Meeting for Worship for Business February 4, 2024

Minute:
The Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), desiring to maintain a Zoom account for Meeting use; and to facilitate the collection of funds from members for this and other expenses, member Dave McCarty will establish a bank savings account for the The Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).

Minute:
To honor and remember long-time member Harriet McClelland, The Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) will hold a Meeting for Worship for Remembrance. Member Adam Wiese will make arrangements to rent space at the Bismarck United Church of Christ. Member Dave McCarty will write an announcement of the Meeting and contact Harriet's family, inviting them to participate.

Minute:
The Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), desiring to show support of the LGBTQ community, members Brian Palecek and Adam Wiese will attend the March planning meeting of the Pride interfaith service with Dakota OutRight to collect information on the event and ways the Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) can support this event.

Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends-Quakers Society of Friends a.k.a. Quakers in Bismarck and Mandan, North Dakota

Photos from Capital Pride 2023 Multifatih Worship Service

Capital Pride 2023 The Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) was a co-sponsor along with Bismarck Baha’i Group, Bismarck-Mandan Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Bismarck United Church of Ch…

FCNL Advocacy Workshop

The Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) was most pleased to to host the Friends Committee on National Legislation in a legislative advocacy workshop to launch the North Dakota Advocacy team.

Much thanks to Mwandeyi from FCNL and to all the participants!

State of Society Report 2022-2023
Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

The Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) is a Monthly Meeting of Quakers in North Dakota. We hold Meetings for Worship and practice Friendly Study on a weekly basis as a means of promoting spiritual and moral growth and change among ourselves and our community. We gather in-person occasionally for Meeting for Worship and informal social activities. Weekly First Day (Sunday) gatherings are online, using the Zoom app (much thanks to the member who donated the cost of a year's subscription fee). Attendance continues to be consistent with an aging membership (a member celebrated their 100th birthday last year!) finding the online format a greater convenience than regularly arranging for transportation in a municipality with limited public transportation options. Members who have moved to new cities continue to participate in the life of our meeting online. Occasional guests include residents of Bismarck-Mandan as well as Quakers from other meetings and Quaker organizations. Contact with the public is maintained primarily through a website and page (see end of report for URL links).
Bismarck-Mandan Quakers no longer hold a physical meeting space. Prior to the pandemic we met at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and Church of Bismarck-Mandan. Signage on the church property announced Quaker meeting times to the public. This signage has been removed from the property. We conclude our arrangement of shared space with the UU church with gratitude and appreciation as our meeting's needs and abilities change.
Weekly study using “Friendly Bible Study” format is an essential aspect of the life of our meeting. Themes are selected every season while a participant provides a relevant text weekly.
Friendly Study themes 2022-2023:
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The Light
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The Gospel of Thomas and Gnosticism
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Quaker Voices
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Peace Making

Meetings for Worship for Business are intended to be held on a consistent schedule with practice falling short of this ideal. In business we have reviewed officer positions of Presiding Clerk, Recording Clerk, and Representative to the Northern Yearly Meeting. Members performing these duties had held the positions for several years without review.
LGBTQ solidarity continues to be important to our group. Once again we are co-sponsoring a multi-faith worship service in June during Pride festivities in partnership with the Dakota OutRight organization and several other area churches and religious organizations.
At the invitation of the University of Mary's Interfaith Student Council, three members of the Bismarck Quaker meeting held an outreach event at the university. Approximately eight students and a faculty adviser attended. We held an informal discussion on Quakerism and our involvement with Quakerism as individuals. We demonstrated the six questions of the “Spears method” of Friendly Study and answered thoughtful questions from the students. We distributed bookmarks printed with Friendly Study instructions and our contact information and invited all the participants to join us in Meeting for Worship or otherwise contact us.
The 68th Legislative Assembly of the State of North Dakota is currently convened. Members of the Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) have expressed concern with specific issues and bills being raised in the legislature targeting transgender and non-binary youth and censorship of books in public and school libraries; along with the prevailing tone and attitudes of elected delegates and political interests in the State. Past action by Bismarck-Mandan Quakers during legislative sessions has proven influential in raising awareness and interest in issues and bills of importance to our members and meeting. Members are encouraged to inform the meeting of bills and hearings related to issues they feel "Spirit lead" to engage with. Quakers have participated in multiple demonstrations, including two “read-in” protests against censorship and have attended legislative committee hearings.
Partially inspired by this concern about the State legislative session, our group is holding an Introduction to Advocacy Workshop with Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) in May. The FCNL will join us to explore a range of advocacy skills to promote peace and justice in the policy making process with the intention of launching an Advocacy Team in North Dakota to lobby on behalf of the 2023 campaign to Invest in Peace. All are welcome to attend this free event. Registration is required.
For more information and to register visit bit.ly/bismarck23
or https://act.fcnl.org/event/advocacy-teams/3105/
or contact the Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) using the links listed at the end of this report.

To contact the Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) please visit our website and use the contact form:

https://bismarckmandanreligioussocietyoffriendsquakers.wordpress.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bismarckquakers/

Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends-Quakers Society of Friends a.k.a. Quakers in Bismarck and Mandan, North Dakota

Greetings Friends! The Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) is very excited to to be hosting the Friends Committee on National Legislation for an Introduction to Advocacy Workshop, Saturday, May 6, 10:00 AM

This event is free and we invite you to join us . Registration is required. Please register using the link below.

Also, snacks!

Bismarck ND Advocacy Workshop
Bismarck Veterans Memorial Public Library
515 N 5th St
Bismarck, ND 58501
When: Saturday, May 6, 10:00 AM

Join us for an Introduction to Advocacy Workshop with Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL). This event will train participants to use a range of advocacy skills to promote peace and justice in the policymaking process. Join us in-person to learn how you can become a more effective advocate to drive change in Congress. We will go in-depth on FCNL’s relationship-based style of lobbying, teach skills on storytelling, and share best practices on effective communication with Members of Congress. We will explore why the Advocacy Teams program is so effective, provide an overview of our 2023 campaign to Invest in Peace, and take one collective action together. At the end, we will move forward with launching a new grassroots Advocacy Team in Bismarck, North Dakota. This Introduction to Advocacy Workshop features FCNL Advocacy Teams Organizer Mwandeyi Kamwendo. The workshop will run from 10:00 AM-1:30 PM Central Time. There will be face masks made available for those who wish to wear one. Individuals experiencing symptoms or possible exposure to illness are encouraged to wear a mask. For more information, please reach out to Mwandeyi at [email protected].

Bismarck ND Advocacy Workshop Join us for an Introduction to Advocacy Workshop with Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL). This event will train participants to use a range of advocacy skills to promote peace and justice in the policymaking process. Join us in-person to learn how you can become a more effective advoca...

Quakers have always had an influence disproportionate to the small size of the movement. Many progressive reforms have had unforeseen consequences.

How the Quakers became unlikely economic innovators by inventing the price tag | Aeon Videos How the Quakers became unlikely economic innovators by inventing the price tag

State of Society Report 2021-2022
Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

The Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) continues to represent the Quaker tradition in North Dakota despite suspending in-person meetings for more than two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the Zoom app, email, and other internet resources, North Dakota Quakers hold Meetings for Worship, Meetings for Worship for Business, Friendly Study, as well as social events online. Early in the transition to online meetings we discovered several advantages to the life of our meeting. Attendance increased and remained consistent week to week. Housebound members no longer have the burden of arranging transportation. Members who have moved out of state have returned to worshiping with us as well. Furthermore we have had a substantial increase in visitors from other Monthly Meetings and other Quaker organizations as well as non-Quaker guests.
Maintaining contact with the public has become essential since the move to the online format. Bismarck-Mandan Quakers have both a website and a page. Interested guests can contact us through either platform.

Website of the Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers):
https://bismarckmandanreligioussocietyoffriendsquakers.wordpress.com/

page:
https://www.facebook.com/bismarckquakers

Weekly study using “Friendly Bible Study” format is an essential aspect of the life of our meeting. Themes are selected every season while a participant provides a relevant text
weekly.
Friendly Study themes 2021-2022:
*
Colonialism and the Doctrine of Discovery
*
Anarchism and Anarchist Political Philosophy
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Universe, Cosmos, Science
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Community and Communities
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Readings from The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow

Bismarck-Mandan Quakers participated in the Northern Yearly Meeting 2022 Interim Session, discussing our Meeting's and member's relationships to the North Dakota Native American community and activism. The Zoom event was well attended. Excellent questions were asked by audience members. The presenters had a fun time. Description of the event:

Friends, Relatives, Allies: Quaker solidarity with Native American Communities
From the water protector movement to struggles against racist names of public parks, the Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) brings Quaker testimony and witness to the relationship with the North Dakota Native American community. More than a focus on “Native issues,” Friends in North Dakota have developed personal and collective ties across difference of race and culture in our everyday lived experience with our indigenous neighbors. Join members of the Bismarck Quakers as they discuss solidarity work and ally-ship as a religious organization and strategies for engagement by Quakers.

Video and audio recordings of the presentation are available. Please contact us using the websites listed above to request access to the files.
In April 2022 our group participated in the Friends Committee on National Legislation's Legislative Priorities Discernment Process. Joined by a staff member of FCNL, we held a special Meeting for Worship for Business in which we discussed the following queries:
1.
How are Friends called to influence our government today?
2.
What issues should be the priority for our advocacy efforts?
3.
Where is the Spirit leading us?

From these leadings we addressed previous study of social and political issues our Meeting has been involved with as well as topics discussed in Friendly Study sessions. We discerned several areas we submitted to the FCNL to be considered priorities during the 118th Congress during 2023 including:
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Advance climate justice; both promoting policies that advance climate justice and blocking policies that exacerbate climate change.
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Advance sovereignty and justice for Indigenous peoples; addressing historical harms; addressing intersections of Indigenous justice and other policy areas.
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Ensure the US immigration system promotes and respects the rights, safety, humanity, and dignity of all immigrants, refugees, and migrants.
*
Not only protecting, but expanding and deepening democracy; protecting and expanding voting rights; refraining from extending special privileges to elected officials and a dominant political class; participatory democracy.

Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends-Quakers Society of Friends a.k.a. Quakers in Bismarck and Mandan, North Dakota

Meeting for Worship for Business August 29, 2021

Minute:
The Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) desires to continue meeting online with the Zoom app. However, we understand the limitations of online-only Meeting for Worship and we will explore the possibility of resuming in-person gatherings in the near future.
The fall season theme of Friendly Study will explore our connections to the universe and cosmos through the lens of science.

State of Society Report 2020-2021
Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

The Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) represents the Quaker tradition in central North Dakota. For more than a year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have meet exclusively online using the Zoom app. While our Meeting looks forward to the day we can resume in-person Meetings for Worship; we have discovered many benefits to incorporating virtual technology into our shared life as a meeting. Use of internet video-conferencing has allowed housebound members to participate in Friendly Study discussions and Meeting for Worship without the burden of finding transportation to a physical meeting house. Likewise, members who have moved to other states/cities participate regularly. Our meeting has experienced greater numbers of participants each week as well as more consistent attendance by members since the adoption of the online format.
Our Meeting wishes to continue these positive trends in participation when in-person meetings resume by continuing Meetings for Worship and Friendly Study discussions online at regular intervals.
We have held quarterly Meetings for Worship for Business since early 2020. Our Meeting felt the need to be more proactive in business matters than we have in the past. Minutes were passed concerning topics such as appointing official representatives to Northern Yearly Meeting and selection of seasonal Friendly Study themes.
The Bismarck-Mandan Quakers stand in solidarity with our indigenous neighbors in the struggle against state repression of indigenous activists. Steve Martinez is currently jailed in Bismarck for refusing to testify before a Federal grand jury relating to the movement. This is the third subpoena Martinez has refused.
Concerned by disasters of climate change, our meeting has established a relationship with the South Mountain Friends Meeting of Ashland, Oregon. The Ashland area has impacted by wildfires in the past year. Our meetings have worshiped together, attending each others' Meetings for Worship online.
Weekly study using “Friendly Bible Study” format is an essential aspect of the life of our meeting. Themes are selected every season while a participant provides a relevant text weekly. We have focused on the theme of Colonialism and the Doctrine of Discovery in the last season.
House Bill 1488 in the latest session of the North Dakota legislature would have created a Truth, Healing, and Reconciliation Commission in North Dakota to explore the historically antagonistic relationship between the State of North Dakota and the indigenous Indian tribes within the State. Member Brian Palecek emailed all 94 members of the ND House of Representatives on behalf of the Bismarck-Mandan Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in support of passing the bill. The bill failed to pass with 72 nays and 20 yeas. The support of the bill by 20 members of the ND House of Representatives is much greater outcome than was expected by the sponsors of the bill.
Social activities outside of formal Meetings for Worship have continued for the Bismarck Quakers. A secular book club was established by Friends, using Zoom to discuss the science fiction anthology Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison; Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler; and Anarchism and Its Aspirations by Cindy Milstein.
Bismarck-Mandan Friends are very glad to welcome Harun Kabir Anjum to our meeting and to the world. Harun was born January 23, 2021 to member Audra Anjum and Javad Anjum.