Greenfield Group
Since 1927
A Unitarian Universalist Ministers Study Group
Greenfield Group, a semi-annual gathering of Unitarian Universlaist Ministers, meets to discuss papers and common readings related to a chosen topic.
Invitees in our Disciplines* and Practice
*To become a member of Greenfield Group a person must be:
1.interested
2 recommended by a member
3 invited by vote of the members to attend convocation,
4 committed to the Disciplines,
5 extended an invitation to join, (At that point the prospective new member becomes an Invitee . . . )
6 accept the invitation to join Greenfield Group after attending a full gathering.
There is no waiting list. Recommendations must be submitted anew at each Convocation. Invitees names must be sent to the Scribe at least two weeks prior to the gathering and shall be posted for all to see at the meeting.
Notes from our History: Way back in the seventies and earlier it was the custom to invite prospective members to a full session of the group. On the last morning of the meetings, during the business meeting, the invitee was told to leave the room - and, in the case of meetings held at Senexet House, Greenfield Group's Home for many decades, the invitees were sent out on the back proch while, so far as the Invitee understood, the group talked about them and talked about them, and talked about them - often for up to a half hour before asking the invitee to return and receive the verdict - the results of a vote bringing the invitee into Greenfield Group membership. For some it was a cold snowy wait in a frigid December, or a wet wait under April showers.
In actuality, there was little talk about the Invitee, and a lot of talk about the amount of time the Invitee should stand out on the proch wondering what was going on - before asking her/him to return to face the verdict - which was always deliverd with suspence.
Times change. We no longer banish invitees to a back proch. We no longer take a vote on asking them to join - that was done the session before when we voted to ask the person to become an invitee and attend the next session.
Today we simply ask the invitee, having sat through and taken part in a session of the Grenfield Group, if she or he would like to become a member. The group waits with baited breath to hear the answer. When the Invitee says "Yes," the group launches into the traditional welcoming ritual - as much a welcome as a shedding of the anxiety built up waiting for the invitee's answer.
Occassionally an Invitee, having experienced the group, decides that it is not his/her cup of tea. The inivtation to join is declined.
Knowing that the group is not for everyone, we do not tear our shirts in guilt and anguish. We thank the Invitee for attending knowing that we are glad to have met the Invitee, glad to have come to know something about this person, and glad we will be when our paths cross again.
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