This is a pivotal time for Quakers in Britain. Sure, we have had our years of looking inwards, at structures and organisation. And yes, our numbers have seemed to move inexorably downwards, now as low as 23,000. But Quaker Quest has been a success, attracting new interest, we are united around our long-term aims, and there is energy and appetite for renewal evident in many Local Meetings and at Britain Yearly Meeting Gathering.

Has the need ever been greater? Our world has to cope with the effects of deep recession, exacerbating poverty and inequality and threatening damage to the fabric of society; with wars and rumours of wars unending; and – the great issue of our times – with undeniable climate change. We are called upon to try to measure up to the mark set by Quakers of past centuries.

To do that we need prayerful thought about how and where we can truly make a difference. That is what The Friends Quarterly essay competition – launched at Yearly Meeting Gathering on Tuesday 28 July – is intended to stimulate. One hundred and fifty years ago, when John Stephenson Rowntree won the 1859 competition, he set in motion the trend that was to free the Religious Society to do great things in the twentieth century. We are looking for a similar catalyst for our work and change in the twenty-first.

We can only succeed if we are firmly centred in our religion and its traditions. We are right to be inclusive, welcoming people from the widest range of backgrounds. But if we rest content to seem anything to everyone, we run the risk of ending up being nothing to anyone. For those coming new to Quakerism, just as much for the old stagers, our faith needs to remain as special and distinctive as the action that it demands.

Tony is editor of The Friends Quarterly. Details of The Friends Quarterly essay competition can be downloaded in pdf format here.