Yearly Meeting 2024: Preparation - part nine

The Friend’s reports from Yearly Meeting preparation sessions and special interest meetings continues

Britain Yearly Meeting has been holding a wide range of online preparation sessions ahead of Yearly Meeting proper (which begins on 26 July). Special interest groups and Quaker Recognised Bodies have also been running events. Staff from the Friend have been getting to as many as possible (see last week for 5-7 July). Those small few we’ve missed will be covered in other ways. This week’s coverage takes us up to the last of the preparation sessions.

What do readers seek in Quaker faith & practice? How to read the new book was the second session introduced by members of the Book of Discipline Revision committee. After a summary of the progress made so far, the session looked at how the new book could explain ‘What is going on in Meeting for Worship’. 

In small groups, Friends reflected on the various ways they describe waiting worship and being receptive to direct communion with God and ourselves. They discussed the nature of their group experience, and the different ways of upholding others within the Meeting. They also considered how ministry should come from the Spirit rather than the ego. 

Friends had diverse views on how to prepare for Meeting. Some wanted clarity around prepared ministry, and how it would not necessarily be given in the spirit of worship. They also looked at various ways to help newcomers: a one-size-fits-all approach would not work. The basics of Meeting for Worship should be expressed in simple, neutral and short words. 

Friends asked that, when the committee considers a new Advices & queries pamphlet, it should be jargon free, with a short section on what to expect from a Meeting for Worship.

Twenty-one Friends gathered for Upholding integrity and truth in climate justice work – Quakers in Europe and worldwide. They were joined by Alice Privey from QCEA, and Lindsey Fielder Cook and Anna Aguto from QUNO, who shared their perspectives on maintaining truth and integrity in global climate policy.

Alice discussed QCEA’s work on the EU’s Green Deal, which was made possible by the ‘green wave’. She shared the story of the Nature Restoration Law, a cornerstone law to preserve biodiversity. This faced significant challenges in the EU council; it passed narrowly due to the decisive vote of one Austrian minister who went against her government. This shows both the inspiring story of one person’s ability to spark change and the effectiveness of lobbying by climate activists.

QCEA creates dialogues among diverse groups and EU officials, bringing them together to discuss these issues personally. Alice spoke of how QCEA is bringing social justice to climate action through joining the European Alliance for a Just Transition, which has now become a priority of the EU.

Lindsey from QUNO shared how working for the Quakers allows her to speak truth to power. QUNO is known best for its quiet diplomacy, which allows a space for countries to sit together, to be personal, and therefore truthful in their discussions. It allows QUNO to highlight hypocrisy, and to ask the relevant individual, ‘How does this feel’? She spoke of the importance of interfaith work and elevating indigenous voices, who act as ‘the voice of nature’.

Lindsey shared an anecdote of a scientist who privately confessed he does not believe in carbon capture, but knew that it’s what people want to hear. QUNO is the only faith group in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and is working to prevent state intimidation of scientists, so they are able to speak the truth. The more people that speak out, Lindsey says, the more scientists will gain the courage to speak out, too. Anna added that there are challenges of working with the UN, but equally immense hope and potential.

In Welcoming newcomers, Naomi Major, of Quaker Life, and Rita Stephen, the local development worker for Cornwall and Devon, asked the twenty Friends gathered to think about ‘welcome’ and ‘belonging’. These might be more useful ways of approaching the subject of newcomers than the traditional ‘outreach’.

Naomi touched on ‘The Six Steps of the Seeker’, a booklet produced by New York Friend Emily Provance. Assuming that the first three steps had happened (one, ‘I know that Quakers exist’, two ‘I have located a Quaker Meeting in my area’, three, ‘I have decided to visit the Meeting’), she asked Friends to consider how they might help with steps 4-6 (‘I have visited the Meeting and have decided to come back’, ‘I have developed a sense of belonging in the first few months of attending’ and ‘I am experiencing long-term spiritual nurture, and I’m providing this nurture to others as well’). How could Friends change their mindset away from the to-do list of outreach?

In breakout rooms Friends discussed their own experiences of welcome and belonging. Advice was shared around welcomers at the door, or making sure the Meeting was feeling spiritually sound itself before making an offer to others. Newcomers were often ‘the most spiritually-alive people in the Meeting’ said one Friend, as conversation turned to how to make them part of the life of the group. Friends appreciated the ideas, with one enthusiastic to get off and begin immediately.

Writing by: Lis Burch, a trustee of the Friend; Rebecca Hardy, journalist at the Friend; Imi Hills, a freelancer from West Weald Meeting; Joseph Jones, editor of the Friend; Alastair Reid, a trustee of the Friend; and Elinor Smallman, production manager at the Friend.

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