In August 2002, the Faith and Practice Revision Commmittee announced a questionnaire for meetings and individuals, to be returned by February 1, 2003. At the 2003 Yearly Meeting Sessions, the committee reported on the responses.
New England Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice Revision Committee Report on responses to the August 2002 questionnaire August 2003
Our sense of the yearly meeting has been enriched by reading the responses to the questionnaires we sent out last year to all Monthly and Quarterly Meetings, available to interested individuals as well. We received 22 responses from monthly meetings, two from preparative meetings and one from a worship group (the Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institution Worship Group under the care of RI-Smithfield Quarter). We also received 11 responses from individuals.
Our July minutes state: “From the questionnaires we learned a great deal about what New England Friends believe; we learned how the book might be more useful and how people might better use it; and we learned about the complexity of people’s theological views, in ways both surprising and heartening. We want whatever we share to reflect the breadth and richness of the responses, but we do not expect it to be comprehensive. We feel accountable to the meetings and Friends who responded and want to let them know we have heard them. We hope that reading the report we prepare will bring greater enthusiasm to the monthly meetings to do this work, so the whole revisioning process is enlivened and Friends feel involved in it.”
We formed three working groups to generate this report and offer here a distillation of the facts gleaned and the questions posed.
Facts gleaned from questionnaires
On the use of Faith and Practice
Friends depend on Faith and Practice for both inspiration and practice.
The queries seem be the most frequently used part of Faith and Practice. Some Friends are passionately for the queries while other feel they are not useful.
Faith and Practice is an important resource for encapsulating our history and ideas. It is widely used for the quotations.
Many meetings utilize other Yearly Meetings’ Faith and Practice in addition to New England’s.
Faith and Practice is not widely used or consulted in many meetings.
Faith and Practice is important in upholding standards of behavior.
Realities of Friends in NEYM
We are theologically very diverse.
We claim to seek to understand one another and to applaud diversity of ideas, but we are not always patient/tender with real theological diversity.
There are areas of conflict/tension that we need to face directly and sensitively, e.g., our theological differences such as Christian “versus” non-Christian, same-gender marriage, racism, cultural differences, difficult people, how to live the peace testimony, etc.
There seems to be a struggle with the relationship between politeness and truth-telling, an unwillingness to take on the authority to be truth-tellers. We often seem to see truth-telling as a form of criticizing, rather than understanding that it strengthens our communities.
Membership is a dynamic question/hot item.
New England Friends would like to develop more skill in conflict resolution.
NEYM is not very racially or socio-economically diverse.
Many monthly meetings are surprised how little their attenders know about Quakerism and want to strengthen their outreach to and education of inquirers and attenders.
Many meetings have disruptive speakers and often seem at a loss with how to deal with them.
Suggestions for the revision
Offer more clarity and guidance on standard processes such as conducting business and finding the “sense of the meeting,” clerking, eldering, membership, clearness committees, marriages and memorials, recorded ministers, and so forth, and also seek guidance in broader areas of how we live our lives (e.g., family relationships, economics, environment, peace, dealing with alcohol and drugs, etc.). Guidance is also desired in areas where “how we live our lives” intersects Quaker processes, e.g., dealing with leadings, answering “calls,” providing support to Friends following leadings, etc.
Explain testimonies more clearly.
Be specific on how to relate to current issues.
NEYM now consists of more Friends than ever who have not grown up Quakers but who have come to it after seeking and by convincement. Former editions of Faith and Practice assumed more inherent knowledge and experience of Quakerism; the next edition will need to be more explicit about history, beliefs, and practices.
We heard contradictory advice, e.g., “put the Queries before the Advices,” versus “put the Advices before the Queries.” Another: make the new edition a thin volume versus “we need much more in-depth information on…” Another: put in more quotes from the Bible and older Friends versus “we need to hear more voices of contemporary Friends.”
Friends need to deepen their trust in well-honed Quaker processes, understanding that these processes are grounded in the idea that the whole group will, with divine assistance, find its way.
Selected questions (all are direct quotes from questionnaire responses)
Faith What is Friends theology? Is there a way we can state some core values very simply so when people ask “so what do Quakers believe?” we can answer more easily?
What does diversity mean to Friends? … What is the effect of celebrating diversity on the one hand and on the other being reluctant to use theological language?”
Can we affirm the openness of Quakerism with its stress on direct personal experience and guidance, which may or may not be Christ-centered? Can we affirm that it may be different for the same person at different times?
How do we learn and grow from our knowledge of other faiths, while remaining firm in our Quaker traditions?
Expressions of Faith It is not that Christian faith is the only option among Friends in NEYM, nor is it the case that a Christian expression of faith is just one possibility among equal options in NEYM. Can we find language for Faith and Practice that holds these two truths together in a way that is clear and tender?
Can we find language to talk about the Christian and non-Christian elements of faith in NEYM that is more win-win and not win-lose? Can we find language that encourages us more, Christian and non-Christian alike, to enter into deeper sharing and dialog in the search for greater unity in our common expressions of faith?
Can Faith and Practice give us tools to help us to become a community where people would feel safer expressing themselves in their own faith language? Can it help us better to hear expressions of faith that are different from our own?
Is providing a diversity of faith expressions bonding or diluting?
What is my own equivalent for God?
Discernment How do we remain open to the rising of Spirit in ways that may be new and strange to us while maintaining our responsibilities to the worshipping community?
When does meeting know it is led?
Must we do things the way they always have been done? How do we honor and respect the traditions and yet not be chained by them?
Membership What am I getting myself into if I become a member?
Is a commitment required for membership? How do members feel about those who don’t make that commitment?
Does one have to be a Christian to join the Society of Friends? Can one be a Muslim and a Quaker? What about the situation of a person who is “Jewish” --- a definition of ethnic and cultural identity as well as faith?
Do we water down what it means to be a member if we change our stated practice of no dual membership?
Meeting life How can we make Faith and Practice more approachable to newcomers?
When does someone come to the Meeting for help? Life decisions? Callings? Troubles? How do we discern when someone needs therapy or some other professional help rather than a committee? Do we respond to all requests for such committees?
Looking outward What is it in our testimonies and traditions that calls, or urges us, to work for social change?
Are we ready to act lovingly toward all parts of creation as we would have others act toward us? Can we reach out to that of God in every one, every creature, and every thing, seeing our daily lives as a series of sacred encounters?
Last Updated Wednesday, June 07 2006 @ 09:14 AM EDT
Contact The Committee
Email (preferred):
Postal mail: Jan Hoffman, clerk, 343 West St, Amherst MA 01002
Adobe Reader
The downloadable documents on this web site are in Adobe PDF format. If you do not already have the free Adobe Reader application for your computer, download it now.
