Shaping the future: Kit King has another perspective on the Future of British Quakerism conference

‘We have a choice here.’

Last month, at Yarnfield Park and on Zoom, 255 Friends met for the Future of British Quakerism conference, organised by Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) and Woodbrooke. I felt fortunate to be among them. I wanted to attend so that I would be better informed for my service as a BYM trustee, but I am writing in an entirely personal capacity.

Shena Deuchars (a doctoral student in Quaker Studies) introduced the weekend with some of the results of the 2023 British Quaker Survey. Shena shared some information that we perhaps already knew: the majority of respondents were white, over sixty, and had come to Quakerism after the age of forty (less than five per cent of conference attendees were under forty, by my guess). We also saw interesting data about our diversity of belief, particularly in G-d (my preferred term) and Jesus, and how connected Friends feel to each layer of the Yearly Meeting structure.

We left the session with much food for thought, and the information prepared us for the coming sessions.

Saturday began with worship, followed by a talk from Ben Pink Dandelion entitled ‘Open for Transformation?’ He identified four things that make Quakerism distinctly religious:

• We believe that we can all have a direct encounter with the divine.
• We have a worship style that nurtures and enables that encounter.
• We have a discernment process that enables us to identify times and places where it happens.
• We have developed a lifestyle of service, work, and witness that comes from that encounter.

Ben was clear that we are a religious society in that we are here to nurture people’s spiritual paths, and to follow G-d’s leadings. We were not here to protect a religious brand by enforcing certain theological beliefs.

He spoke to the decline in our numbers. He noted that lots of Meetings run on fear: fear of dwindling members and attenders; fear of overburdening people; and fear of collapse. The challenge, he said, is to do with our infrastructure – property, roles, and tasks. ‘What do we need to keep in order to hold Meeting for Worship and enable the divine encounter?’ he asked. We were encouraged to consider the usefulness of our Meeting houses: ‘Let the Meeting house serve the Meeting, not the other way around.’

‘There is no “us” and “them” in the Religious Society of Friends,’ he went on. ‘Only a “we”, and a “we” who haven’t come yet.’

Paul Parker followed, with a talk on ‘Visualising Quaker Futures.’ ‘I refuse to be depressed about the future for Quakerism,’ he told us. ‘There is so much to pray for.’ Paul spoke passionately about supporting young Friends, stating that, if we want to engage young adults, we can’t continue to look through the lens of ‘those who will be stepping into our shoes’. Rather, we need to recognise the gifts of those who are already in our communities. As a young Friend, this sentiment struck a chord with me. I want us to be a Religious Society in which every young Friend feels that others show a true interest in their talents and passions, enabling them to serve the community in ways which are accessible to them.

The conference did have something of an academic feel. This is unsurprising, given that two of the speakers are senior academics in Quaker Studies, and the other is working towards a PhD. All four of them have been Quakers for many years, and they each fit some of the characteristics of the majority of Quakers in Britain – white, middle class, cisgender, well educated, etc. Our current situation works for this demographic, and I felt that we missed an opportunity to highlight the voices of people that our structures don’t work for – someone who had attended a Quaker Meeting and not felt welcomed, or someone who had become burnt out from service, or someone who had left Quakerism for another faith, for example.

Attendees heard many times about our declining numbers, but there were few mentions of Meetings that are, in fact, growing. We could have benefited from hearing from Friends in such Meetings, to see what might have led to our decline in some regions, and growth in others. If we are to do something about the decline, just naming it is not enough. There is not one formula that will work for all Meetings, but we can learn from one another and tailor practical solutions to the needs of individual Meetings.

‘If we are to do something about the declining membership, just naming it is not enough.’

I don’t believe that we have to change anything about what we believe or the way we worship. These things evolve naturally. What we really need to rethink is the way we present our offering to the world. We cannot expect newcomers to learn lessons for their journey by osmosis. We must standardise the way newcomers are taught about Quakerism. We have such a well-established membership application process, and yet no straightforward way of getting people to the point where they might consider membership! 

To do this, we have to be able to confidently say what being part of the Religious Society means. As Ben said, to be religious means we are saying at least something about G-d, no matter how we say it or what we believe. We are practical mystics, looking for a glimmer of that which we cannot know. 

We have a choice here. We can look at our declining membership, shrinking funds, and lack of diversity, and just accept that’s the way things are. We can enjoy Quakerism while it lasts, and watch it wither away. Or, we can see this as an opportunity for transition and growth. If we rethink our attitudes, behaviours, and (infra)structures, I believe that we will not only achieve survival, we will thrive.

I have hope for the future of Quakerism in Britain. I am certain that it will never die, or fail. But I am also certain that the members and attenders of 2090 will look back at 2024 and think: ‘Why were we doing things like that?’ When I look around the Society; at my sister; my friends; and the children, young people, and young adults in our communities they give me such hope that I feel almost prophetic. In my prophecy for 2090, I am eighty-seven years old, and we are all members of a thriving Religious Society that is bursting with life, lived witness, G-d’s love, and the opportunity for anyone to experience divine encounter. The sooner we take the plunge to change our ways, the better chance we have of achieving that future.

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