Meeting for Sufferings: Long Term Framework
The future work and witness of Friends was at the heart of Meeting for Sufferings
Forward planning for the future work and witness of Friends was at the heart of Meeting for Sufferings held at Friends House in London on Saturday 5 September.
Julia Gordon, clerk of the Long Term Framework working group, introduced the latest deliberations of the working group to Sufferings in the morning session and Friends made several contributions on it.
The draft framework is titled Our faith in the future and Sufferings agreed to adopt the text to replace A Framework for action 2009-2014 as a guide for future discernment and decision-making.
Julia Gordon explained that the working group intended to create a ‘word picture of what the Society will be like in the future’. She stressed that it was for each Meeting to discern where they are today and what actions they will take. A wide consultation has been engaged in to elicit concerns. This has involved more than 300 contributions.
Our faith in the future is a concise document that offers a framework of six guiding points: Meeting for Worship is the bedrock of living as a Quaker; Quaker communities are loving, inclusive and all-age; All Friends understand and live by Quaker discipline; Quaker values are active in the world; Quakers work collaboratively; and Quakers are well known and understood.
Julia Gordon said that ‘we are offering a vision that is more on how rather than what Quakers do’ and commended Friends to remember that all work is interconnected. She reminded Friends of the ‘real need for educa-tion in Quaker ways’ and of the importance of supporting ‘leadings from whatever source they come’.
She concluded by saying that the working group had experienced ‘great times of great joy’ in engaging with the process.
Friends welcomed the document. Clarity was sought with regard to how it related to the existing ‘Framework for Action 2009-2014’. This document, it was explained, would be ‘laid down’, although there were things in it that are still valid.
Julia Gordon said that, while Friends had received a one-page document, the working group was preparing a longer supporting document, which contained more detail and also some of the ‘Framework for Action’ points that are relevant. This supporting document will be available later this autumn.
She also hoped that the process ‘will encourage more Friends to work on shared concerns and to speak in unity to the world’ and explained that the working group felt ‘excited by the fact that the consultation engaged the whole of Yearly Meeting in reflecting, discussing and praying together about what Quakers can contribute to building the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth’.
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