Meeting for Sufferings: Book of Discipline Revision Committee speaks on third report
‘The costs in time are many’ but it is a ‘deep joy’ to do the work.
Next, the Book of Discipline Revision Committee (BDRC) clerks shared a timeline for the revision project.
Rosie Carnall and Catherine Brewer, clerks of the group, introduced their third report to MfS, and revealed that they would be sharing some draft text on the topics of marriage and nominations with the MfS follow-up papers. Friends were invited to submit feedback and share with Local and Area Meetings. Noting that they felt ‘trepidatious’, the clerks outlined the process for sharing feedback, starting with three online sessions in January and February in 2023, followed by agenda time at March 2023 MfS, and a special interest group focusing on the text at YM2023. With the feedback process closing at the end of May 2023, BDRC will meet in July 2023 in person to reflect on the findings.
The clerks also shared a timetable for the overall work. The committee hopes to have a complete draft by 2027, followed by an editing process, and a final draft by 2030.
The timetable feels ‘like a significant step forward’, they said, adding: ‘You might think it sounds like a long time, but there are a few things to bear in mind. One is the scale of the task.’ They realised almost immediately that it required a far more fundamental revision than simply re-editing, they said, and that they had to ‘think beyond the confines of a printed book’.
‘We started with a clean slate. The structure is still emerging,’ they added, so when they mention topics, this referred to content areas, rather than chapters.
In feedback, the clerks said they were interested in hearing ‘How does the text land with you and what you feel about the voice and the tone? Is the text welcoming and clear? Does it convey helpful authority?’ They’d also like to receive suggestions for supplementary material, as well as feedback on the anthology material shared with the draft text. ‘We’re aware that there are tender issues,’ they said, ‘particularly in the way we express our experience of the divine. We don’t think everyone will agree… but we hope everyone will participate in discernment on the way forward.’
Quakers welcomed the news with one Friend saying they’d like to celebrate ‘this extraordinary project’, noting the ‘determination to listen and draft, draft and listen’. ‘This has been expensive of your time,’ she said. ‘What have been the costs, if any?’
Rosie Carnall said she was ‘moved’ by the question. ‘The costs in time are many’ but it is a ‘deep joy’ to do the work. ‘I think I can speak on behalf of our diverse committee… to say that we all experience this as a privilege… It feels like we are doing emergent work.’
A Friend from the North West said that Quakers in his region were ‘enormously fired up’ about the project and asked if there is going to be multiple media content for the book.
Catherine said that committee members are very keen for Friends to suggest that kind of content, although they were aware that by 2030 there could be technologies we don’t yet know about. They also have a group looking at alternative, accessible formats.
The minute noted that the committee is interested in hearing feedback on ‘voice’ rather than comments on the finer details of the content.
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