Dear Friends
What a time to be a Quaker! After three difficult years during the worst of the Covid pandemic, there is work for us all to do: work in our Quaker communities, work in the wider society around us, and work in the world.
We are in a time when spiritual community is ever more important. Having people around us – who welcome us whoever we are, who we can lean on for spiritual and practical support, who worship with us and accompany us on our spiritual path – can be a transformative experience. Quaker meetings can be that spiritual community. Are we ready to welcome new seekers, individuals and families? Do we support ourselves and them well in their spiritual quest? Do we equip ourselves to bring about change in the world?
We have a war on the doorstep of Europe, an ever-worsening climate crisis, and deep divisions and glaring inequalities causing rips in the fabric of our communities at home and around the world. For generations, Quakers have sought to create a world in which our testimonies of peace, equality, integrity and simplicity can flourish. That work is needed more than ever, and takes all of us. Are our Quaker communities ready to step up to that challenge today?
Here at Quakers in Britain, our work is to support Quakers to build thriving worshipping communities that can tackle these challenges. This review shows you some of the work discerned, done, funded, supported, and upheld by Quakers like you and me. Thank you.
In Friendship,
Paul Parker, Recording Clerk
Thriving Quaker communities
Nurturing community
Our national network of local development workers is complete! We now have staff working in every region of Britain, on hand to help Quaker communities thrive.
Our local development workers have been helping Friends identify opportunities to reduce pressure on role-holders. By facilitating sessions to look at roles, nominations and simplification, we can release energy and restore joy to Quaker communities.
We are sometimes approached for support to resolve conflict within Quaker meetings. We have responded by working with Woodbrooke, Restoring Relations and others to develop robust and creative ways of offering this vital support.
Quakers have been eager to respond to the cost-of-living crisis. So we devoted our network sessions in late 2022 to helping local meetings develop plans to offer warm spaces and hot food to those in need, either in their own meeting houses or in conjunction with other interfaith and ecumenical groups.
The local development worker programme is funded, in part, by generous grants from Benefact Trust, Bader Philanthropies, and the Southall Trust, as well as through the contributions of Friends throughout Britain.
Addressing our history
At Yearly Meeting 2022 Quakers agreed to make practical reparations for the transatlantic slave trade, colonialism and economic exploitation. This decision received coverage in The Times and faith media.
Understanding what is required from reparations is a complex task and will take time. We have begun by connecting with affected communities to find out what their needs are and to engage them in our decision-making. Many of our area meetings are looking into the origin of their financial assets.
Seven MSPs signed a motion by Maggie Chapman MSP in the Scottish Parliament highlighting our decision to make practical reparations.
Helen Minnis of Glasgow Meeting gave this year's Swarthmore Lecture. She spoke from her experience as a scientist and a Quaker, addressing issues of white privilege within the Quaker movement and scientific community.
Welcoming children and families
In 2022 we began holding an online children’s meeting for worship. Children and families gather monthly to share news and stories in a worshipful space that celebrates the unique gifts they bring. This has brought together isolated families from across Britain and beyond.
There’s been no provision for children at my meeting since the pandemic, so thanks for today – we’ll definitely be joining you again.
We now offer three monthly network support meetings to help Friends in their work with young and young adult Quakers. The meetings allow Friends to explore and offer guidance on issues like safeguarding and recruiting volunteers. By building these connections, Friends can share ideas, experience and resources and find ways to welcome and engage young Quakers.
Supporting young Quakers
Our youth development workers work with Quaker communities to facilitate and deliver a range of opportunities for young Quakers.
Three youth development workers – based in Bristol, Thames Valley and Yorkshire – now offer support to young Quakers across Britain. Their provision of face-to-face support has revived our youth work.
Our youth development workers are coordinated locally and supported by Friends. They are funded by their area meetings and managed by Quakers in Britain. If your area meeting would be interested in funding a youth development worker, get in touch with our Youth, Children and Families (YCF) team at CYPadmin@quaker.org.uk.
Awestruck
Our youth development worker for Thames Valley has been holding a series of year-long activities in Oxford & Swindon Area Meeting. The series, called ‘Wonder Days’, celebrates how we connect with each other through the qualities we normally associate with children, but which are integral to each of us, regardless of age.
This all-age attunement to wonder began when children from Oxford Meeting made a ‘Wonder Box’, which they introduced to adult Friends in the meeting. The children then invited them to add to the box by writing their responses to the question ‘What makes your heart sing?’ on paper hearts.
These hearts will inspire a series of all-age ‘Wonder Days’ during the year, drawing Friends together through the experience of awe.
'The Sun of Singing Hearts' (see image) is now making its way from meeting to meeting in the region, and we hope to turn the ideas shared on the hearts into a series of ‘Wonder Days’ for the young and the young at heart!
The Wonder Box was a terrific success. Such a positive addition [the YCF team] and the children made to the day, not to mention the energy.
Myra Ford, clerk of Burford Local Meeting
Connecting British Quakers
In January 2023 we launched a new online community for Quakers. It’s a private Facebook group called Quaker Space, where Friends can discuss anything to do with being a Quaker.
It’s a safe and welcoming place for Quakers to share and talk about issues that affect their lives and their communities. It’s a way for Quakers to join a community beyond their own meeting and find a network of support.
Within a week of its launch, the group had 500 members. Connect with Friends using the link below or send it on to Quaker Facebook-users you know and invite them to join.
Faith in action
Educating for peace
Peace at the heart, a report we released in 2022 together with a set of short films, continues to reap engagement from educators and policymakers. We’re grateful for the witness work of Quaker educators and our connections with teacher training providers, schools and partners to share peace education practice.
The leader of the Scottish Conservative party was among 35 MSPs to sign a motion tabled by Paul McLennan MSP in the Scottish Parliament, highlighting Peace at the heart.
More than 5,000 teaching resources have been downloaded, including over 1,000 on Ukraine and Russia.
Capping off 2022, young mediators from a British school received a National Mediation Award in parliament, just one example of the thousands of peacemakers making a difference in their schools and communities.
Watch this video about Sheffield's award-winning peer mediation scheme:
Reflecting on peace in a time of war
We marked the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine with:
- a new resource reflecting on the tough questions faced by those committed to peace when considering this brutal conflict: Hard questions can be viewed and downloaded online.
- attendance at ecumenical and interfaith services and memorials: Quakers and staff representatives took part in an ecumenical prayer at the Ukrainian Cathedral in London, a prayer walk to the Russian embassy and an ecumenical service in Edinburgh.
- a vigil for peace outside Friends House in London, attended by staff and members of QPSWCC.
The war in Ukraine led to increased interest in Quakers as a peace church and multiple requests for media appearances, including from The Times and BBC Radio 4’s Sunday and Moral Maze programmes.
Democracy under threat
In 2022 we continued our work from the previous year on the steering group of the Police Bill Alliance, campaigning against Part 3 (public order) and Part 4 (trespass) of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (now Act). The clauses we succeeded in removing from Part 3 have now reappeared in the Public Order Bill and we’ve briefed MPs and Peers ahead of debates on that. We're also members of the ‘Save our HRA’ coalition, which campaigns against ongoing threats to human rights in the UK, such as the Bill of Rights Bill and Illegal Migration Bill.
The Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network (QARN) campaigned against forced removals to Rwanda and the reopening of immigration detention centres. Quakers in Britain amplified QARN’s work through our comms channels.
We've spoken out against forced removals, inflammatory rhetoric and asylum failures and supported a Zimbabwean Friend threatened with deportation with a petition and Crowdfunder. This story appeared on OpenDemocracy and New Zimbabwe.
The Quaker Truth and Integrity Group formed in 2020 and became a Quaker Recognised Body in March 2022. Later that year Meeting for Sufferings discerned that truth and integrity should become part of the central advocacy work of Quakers in Britain.
After giving the Salter Lecture on truth and integrity, Ruth Cadbury MP mentioned Quakers in parliament during a debate on the Seven Principles of Public Life, which we briefed MPs ahead of. We got a joint faith and belief leaders’ letter to Rishi Sunak published in The Times.
Climate justice
Climate breakdown is a central concern for Quakers. We are involved in climate justice work both nationally and locally.
For over two years now, we have been coordinating work with other faiths on loss and damage to support countries on the frontline of the climate crisis. At COP27 states agreed a loss and damage fund – a major victory, but one blighted by the failure to commit to phasing out fossil fuels.
We gave a briefing on loss and damage at a joint Churches’ Day in parliament in November 2022. We succeeded in getting some parliamentary questions on this issue, and 39 MPs signed an Early Day Motion on Loss and Damage Action Day in September. A similar motion tabled by Maggie Chapman MSP in the Scottish parliament was signed by 22 MSPs.
Quakers in Britain and Faith for the Climate organised a ‘walk of witness’ for Loss and Damage Action Day in London, while other activities took place around the country.
We became a ‘go-to’ organisation on loss and damage for key stakeholders such as Peers for the Planet, which circulated a briefing by Quakers and Oxfam to peers ahead of a debate on the outcomes of COP27.
We are nearing the end of our year of learning and spiritual reflection on climate justice. The project, which includes a series of six booklets, has helped Quakers explore how we might respond faithfully to the climate crisis. Watch this video to find out more:
Extremely well thought through. Lots of excellent study material and a good balance in sessions, between reflection and discussion and input.
A participant in the Exploring Faith and Climate Justice project
On the 250th anniversary of John Woolman’s death, Quakers in the US and UK held a joint meeting for worship outside the head offices of Vanguard to protest against its continued investment in fossil fuels. Find out more here.
Working for a just peace in Palestine and Israel
The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel continues its vital work. Our volunteer human rights monitors offer a protective presence for Palestinians, while monitoring their access to land, livelihood and education.
In 2022 we supported the family of Shadi Khoury, a Ramallah Friends School student imprisoned without charge by the Israeli military. We wrote to the Foreign Secretary, issued a press release and called for the student’s release on social media. After forty days in prison, Shadi was released under house arrest.
Sustaining our church
Together again – in person and in spirit
Yearly Meeting is the annual assembly of the Quaker church in Britain – a chance for Quakers to gather in worship, explore current concerns and make decisions.
At Yearly Meeting 2022, under the theme ‘Faith, community and action’, Quakers were able to come together again in person after two years of gathering online.
Sunday’s ‘All-together worship’ brought over 2,000 Friends into one community with 78 meetings and 290 individuals online, and others joining in spirit.
We must start making changes now and for the future: 'planting flowers as well as pulling up weeds'. Britain Yearly Meeting resolves to build on our decision last year to be an anti-racist church, working with partners, including churches and faith groups, to look at ways to make meaningful reparations for our failings.
Releasing our energy
The focus of Yearly Meeting 2023 will be ‘Releasing our energy so that we can follow the leadings of the Spirit, fulfil our purpose and build a better world’. We will be looking closely at Quaker structures and whether they work for Quaker communities in Britain.
We aim to explore national and local committee structures and find ways to free up time and energy to strengthen and sustain Quaker communities and work for a sustainable and peaceful world.
In 2022 area meetings in Wales agreed to merge to become a single charity. You can read about the merger in this bilingual article.
Yearly Meeting will be considering proposed changes to our national committee structure. Friends can view in advance an animation of our national committee structure to help them consider these proposed changes:
A new book for a new generation
Our book of discipline describes both the Quaker faith and the structures and practices of our church and charity. In 2018 Quakers in Britain agreed to begin creating a new book.
Friends have been sharing their ideas and insights with our revision committee, which has now released two initial chapters for review. You can read or listen to them on our website:
During Yearly Meeting 2022 members of the revision committee gave us an update on the new book:
Readers return
In June 2022 the library at Friends House reopened its doors after a stunning refurbishment, which restored many original features and created space for events and activities. It’s been fantastic to welcome readers back.
Since reopening we have hosted researchers from around the world, including visitors from Israel, Japan and the US. Countless readers and researchers have consulted our diverse collections to produce books, journal articles, research papers, and theses.
Images from our collections have been used by the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC and the Australian National Maritime Museum. And our staff have consulted on TV programmes such as Songs of Praise and Who Do You Think You Are (Australia)?
Thank you!
Quakerism allows me to worship with other people in the way that I find most meaningful for me. It means being part of something where people are trying to make the world a better place, who share my values. Any organisation needs money to run and survive and to do the work that I strongly believe in – peace work, influencing policy-makers, supporting the faith. This is why I give.
David Beale, Friend
All the work featured here can only happen with your support. Thank you for ensuring that Quaker faith and witness will continue far into the future. Giving to Quaker work gives us the means and the profile to make a real impact, as a thriving faith community working nationally and internationally for peace, justice, equality and sustainability. To find out how to support this work with a gift, visit www.quaker.org.uk/giving.
Legacy giving has always been an important resource for Quaker work. The generosity and deep values of Friends who came before are very much by our side. They put their faith into action for a sustainable and peaceful world. If you would like to give the gift of Quakerism to the next generation, please contact us at contributions@quaker.org.uk so we can tell you more.
Quakerism was the rock on which [my mother] built her life, based on the caring community that it offered. I think her 'faith' was uncertain, but she never doubted the goodness of people, the rightness of the message of peace.
Mark Davies on his mother, Celia, who left Quakers in Britain a gift in her will
Moving forwards with your support
With your support – spiritual, physical and financial – we continue to work towards having thriving Quaker communities, simpler structures and helping to create a sustainable and peaceful world.
You can support us financially by making a donation or leaving a legacy:
You can stay up to date with our work by signing up to our Quake! newsletter:
You can give your time in many ways:
www.quaker.org.uk
Credits:
Britain Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) | Registered charity number 1127633 | Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BJ