This
past week I went to Maryland to attend the annual gathering of the
Central Committee of Friends General Conference, which serves the
Religious Society of Friends (RSOF) by providing educational and
other services, such as organizing the annual FGC gathering that
takes place each year during the first week of July. This amazing
gathering of Friends takes place in different cities around the USA
(next year it will be in Greeley, Colorado) and draws from 1,100 +
Friends from the US. Participants have an intensive experience of
Quakerism through workshops, talks, music, and worship in small and
large groups. I have been attending FGC Gatherings off and on for
over 20 years, and have given a dozen or workshops; and I find the Gathering to be one of the spiritual highpoints of my life as a Friend. I have also attended
Cent Com for at least five years, as a member of the Christian and
Interfaith Relations Committee (CIRC); and it's always a joy to be a part
of this remarkable body of seasoned Friends who are on the “growing
edge” of Quakerism.
We have usually met at a Mennonite conference center in a rustic rural area of western Maryland, but this center went out of business, so we met instead at a nearby Jewish conference center called Pearlstone. This site was even more beautiful than the Mennonite one, since it has a lake, an organic garden, and even goats and chickens! It was also delightful to see vibrant evidences of Jewish spirituality displayed in many ways, in art and photos and quotations scattered around the various buildings. Pearlstone also asks its guest to observe certain shabbat rituals, such as not using cell phones and other devices in public places from sunset on Friday till sunset on Saturday. This was the most challenging part of being at Pearlstone, and I confess I was eldered by two different Friends when I inadvertently used my iphone on Friday night. I knew that some of our best Friends are Jews, but I had no idea that Friends could be such good Jews!
I'd
like to share some of the highlights of the weekend for me.
One highlight was hearing about how the FGC website has been reconfigured to make it more user-friendly or “constituent-based.” $150,000 was raised to pay for this important new online service. When you go to the new website, the focus is on you, the visitor, not us, the provider: how can the services of FGC help you to find a meeting, learn more about Quakerism, discover opportunities for service, etc. Because of this new approach, use of the website has increased by 84%!
FGC
is also providing a new service for meetings and worship groups: a
template that enables meetings to have a professional-looking and
easily up-datable website at a very modest cost. This will make it
much easier for Meetings to have an effective online presence with a
very useful “toolkit,” such as an online directory, minutes, etc.
that is secure and searchable. Six meetings have signed on to this
service so far and it is hoped that over 100 will eventually utilize
it.
Because
this service was called “Quakers in the clouds,” I was reminded
that Luke Howard, a birthright Friend from the 18th
century, was the first scientist to create a taxonomy of clouds,
thereby becoming one of the first modern meteorologists. I shared
this bit of trivia with John Helding, who shared it with the body,
much to everyone's delight and amusement. I am glad that this little
known Friend finally received the recognition he deserves from his
fellow cloud-loving Quakers!
Another
exciting highlight was the “New Meetings Program,” coordinated by
the prolific Quaker author Brent Bill. This program will provide
support for newly emergent worship groups and for individuals who
want to start a worship group. There will be a consultation on
starting new meetings at Pendle Hill in January, to which yearly
meeting clerks and others are being invited. This program will do
research and develop educational material to help new meetings to
grow and thrive.
There
appears to be a growing need for this program. Around 63 meetings
were started in the past decade. Brent Bill received and responded to
15 inquiries during the first month.
I
am excited because I believe there is a real need for what
unprogrammed Quakerism has to offer here in the USA and the world. As
the Occupy movement made clear, many young people are seeking a
non-dogmatic, non-hierarchical spiritual community committed to peace
and justice. And belief.net surveys show a large number of
respondents are already Quaker in their theological beliefs.
I
had a chance to talk with Brent and was deeply impressed by his
vision and experience. I'm glad that FGC has initiated this program
despite financial challenges.
Barry
Crosno, our new FGC exec sec, reported FGC had a $280,000 annual
shortfall. This is a serious concern, but the good news is that we
have experienced robust giving (unlike some other Quaker
organizations) during the Great Recession. Donors to FGC have
contributed 1.2 million this past year. The “Stoking the Spiritual
Fires of Quakerism” campaign raised over 6.5 million over the past
few years.
FGC
has significant reserves and could continue to function for a dozen
years or more at the current rate of deficit simply by drawing down
the Cornell Fund. Nonetheless, the fiscally responsible thing to do
is to have a balanced, sustainable budget. If in order to attain this
goal we make cuts that are too deep, it could lead to decreased
revenues.
Another option is to keep the current level of spending and try to raise an additional $280,000 yearly, but this is highly unlikely.
The
3rd option is to reduce expenses, seek additional $100,000
in fundraising, and use $100,000 of the Cornell Fund.
Barry
proposed cuts such as reducing CIRC travel budget by $5,000 to
$5,500; reducing budget for Bookstore and Publications, etc.
While I appreciate the need for austerity, I find it disturbing that we cut the budget of publications since FGC
is the only Quaker publishing house in the USA, now that Pendle Hill
has ceased to publish books. With admirable frugality FGC publications managed to publish
four books last year on a shoestring budget. I spoke with Chel Avery, the director of the publications event, and she assured me that FGC's new publishing model--called "Quaker Bridge"--has ensured that worthwhile Quaker books continue to be published at minimal cost to FGC.
Overall, however, FGC's
prudent but not draconian approach to deficit reduction made sense to me. Despite
short-term cuts, long-term prospects for the RSOF and FGC look good.
Unprogrammed Friends have seen a 4% increase in members over the past
decade while the mainstream Christians like the Presbyterians have
seen at 20% decline.
But
if we want the RSOF to grow, it is essential that Friends continue to
give generously to FGC. FGC is the body that provides educational
and outreach material that help us to grow Quakerism. If you want to help insure a bright future for Quakerism, just go to fgcquaker.org.
When
the treasurer gave his report, I raised a concern about FGC banking
practices. I expressed the hope that FGC is not using predatory banks
like Wells Fargo, Chase or BOFA, and was assured by Ken Miller that
FGC uses community banks that “aren't doing bad things.” This was
good news. I plan to share this news with SCQM and PYM which, I'm
sorry to say, still use Wells Fargo, one of the most predatory banks
in the USA (it was recently fined 120 million dollars for defrauding
and misleading low-income people of color).
Speaking
of people of color, FGC has a program on racial justice and
reconciliation. On Friday night there was program to help raise
awareness about racism among Friends. As you know, there are very few
people of color among Friends—fewer than half a dozen out of
150-200 people here in this gathering. There are no Latinos I am
aware of, and only a few Asians. I'd estimate that over 90% of the
attendees at Cent Com are white, Anglo-Saxon and middle class. Most
Friends feel badly and many feel guilty about this.
The
program on racism went like this: we did skits and were asked to
express our feelings about what we observed.
The
first skit consisted of a white Friend who gave a message saying she
was deeply depressed: “I am going through a lot of darkness
right now and I'm feeling surrounded by black despair, and I
don't see much light.”
We
were asked how we would feel if we were an African-American and heard
such a message. Friends spoke about how hurtful it must be for
African Americans to hear language that equates blackness with
negative feelings and light (white) as something positive.
I
didn't speak out. I had a very different take. I felt sorry for the
depressed Friend and wondered how helpful it would be to her to point
out she may have used language that may or may not have offended an
African American person.
I also questioned whether the use of “darkness” and “light” needs to be considered racist. Martin Luther King (like most Christians) frequently used such language, as in his famous line: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hatred cannot drive out hatred; only love can do that.”
Of
course, if an African American attender is offended/hurt by such
language, we need to be sensitive and to listen to that person's
concerns and respond with respect and love, just as we would
if someone were offended by using words like “God” or “Christ” or
“Republican.”
We
broke up into small groups and did similar skits in which white
Friends made racially insensitive remarks.
At
the end of the evening, I felt pretty depressed. The focus on
avoiding insensitive language did not help me to see how we as
Friends could reach out to people of color and form friendships and
alliances with them.
During
our worship sharing session, we continue to address this issue based
on our personal experience. Each of us considered the query: “Talk
about a time when you experienced discrimination or felt you were
treated less than others.” This query seemed to be much more
helpful since it enabled each of us to share our racial and sexual
wounds and be listened to with compassion.
While
the racial reconciliation exercises were definitely the lowpoint of
the weekend for me, I later came up with a model for how we might
have addressed this concern in a more positive way, one that would
empower us to action. I shared this with Jean Barch and will share
this in a subsequent blog, which I am tentatively entitling: “Some
ideas on how to empower Friends to become more racially diverse.”
A
lot of what happens at Cent Com involves forming committees to help
staff to do the work of FGC, and we spend considerable time
discussing governance. Since this would probably not be of much
interest to anyone outside of Cent Com, I will spare you the details.
I'd
like to conclude by sharing the new vision statement which John
Helding shared with us with great enthusiasm and which we approved
with our usual Quakerly calm:
FGC,
with Divine guidance, nurtures the spiritual vitality of the
Religious Society of Friends (RSOF) by providing programs and
services for Friends, meetings and seekers.
We
envision a vital and growing RSOF-- a faith that deepens spiritually,
welcomes newcomers, builds supportive and inclusive community, and
provides loving service and witness in the world.
Through
FGC and led by Spirit, we see Quakers joining together in ministry to
offer services that help Friends, meetings and seekers explore,
deepen, connect, serve and witness within the context of our living
faith.
**********
As
I mentioned, I serve on the Christian and Interfaith Relations
Committee (CIRC), whose main function is to make sure that Quaker
representatives are sent to ecumenical and interfaith bodies like the
National Council of Churches, the World Council of Churches, the
Parliament of the World's Religion, as well as entities like the
Historic Peace Churches and theSociety for Pentecostal Studies. Our committee
includes Quakers who have theological and philosophical training,
along with others who are excited by the idea of reaching out to the
ecumenical and interfaith world. My role is to help publicize the
work of CIRC through blogs, workshops, and my book, “Quakers and
the Interfaith Movement.”
As
a member of CIRC, I was very impressed with spirited report that Dot
Warizer and Tom Paxson gave on the last day of Central Committee.
They made a strong case for why it is important for the Quaker voice
to be heard in ecumenical and interfaith circles, particularly at the
World and National Council of Churches.
In
my next blog I'll share with you my report and minutes on the work of
CIRC. I also plan to publish CIRC annual report.
