The Friend is a weekly magazine in which Friends speak to each other and to the wider world, offering their insight, ideas, news, nurture and inspiration.
Nurturing Quaker community, each issue offers a space for Friends to share their concerns, and to support each other in faith and witness.
The Friend: enriching, inspiring and connecting the Quaker community since 1843.
Andrew Sterling’s helpful ‘Thought for the Week’ on belief and faith, in the Quaker Week issue, made me reflect further on the contrast between ‘religious’ and ‘spiritual’.
I have just returned from the Future of British Quakerism conference, organised by Britain Yearly Meeting and Woodbrooke. There was, understandably, a lot of talk about ageing, decline, and even impending ‘catastrophic collapse’. For many people, Quakerism in Britain appears to be dying, either gradually or imminently.
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.
At the recent Future of British Quakerism conference, Paul Parker offered various scenarios for what our Society could look like in years to come. It made me think: twenty-six years ago my mobile phone didn’t have a camera, and it struggled with text messaging. My home computer could only really run one application at a time, and I was thinking about whether I needed a home fax machine. So where could technology take Quakers in another twenty-six years?
As the 300th anniversary of Wallingford Meeting House drew near, local Friends found ourselves facing tough choices. Like many small Meetings, ours was threatened by an aging membership and antiquated premises. We could not cater satisfactorily for children and young people, nor for elderly and disabled Friends.
Stocksfield Meeting celebrated George Fox’s 400th anniversary by showing off some new artistic projects.
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Written by and for Friends on the bench
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