|
Friends United
Meeting |
 |
January/February 2010
A Forum on the Future of Friends
By Doug Gwyn
On September 12-13, 2009, First Friends Meeting (Whitewater Monthly Meeting, Indiana Yearly Meeting) in Richmond, Indiana, observed its bicentennial. On Saturday, we celebrated our rich past. We heard a fascinating talk by Thomas Hamm, Quaker historian at Earlham College. Lincoln and Barbara Blake presented books they had written and compiled about our meeting’s more recent history. In Sunday morning worship, Jay Marshall, dean of the Earlham School of Religion, challenged us to remember our purpose in the present: to be God’s witnesses in the world. After worship, we turned to the future of Friends — First Friends in particular and Friends generally.
We assembled a panel of four speakers. Not because any of them has secret knowledge of the future, rather, these four Friends are living into the future of Friends by diligently engaging in the present work of Friends. As Hebrews 11:1 (KJV) reminds us, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” We hope for a vibrant future for Friends and a continuing Quaker contribution to the world. But we substantiate that hope by living faithfully into it here and now.
Listening for the Future
Doug Bennett, president of Earlham College since 1997, led off. Earlham is a Quaker powerhouse, generating the future of Friends through its educational programs. Earlham draws Friends from around the world and equips them for productive work and witness to the world. Doug emphasized that, in faithfulness to Friends who have come before us, we are obliged to continue creating the future of Friends in this present. He noted that Friends often look to the future with a note of worry, given our numerical decline in recent decades. He reminded us that God did not call us to be Friends in a narrow, denominational sense. Jesus said, “I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” (John 15:15) George Fox’s insight was that God still speaks to us today, if we are willing to listen. The discipline of listening is the genius of Friends. Doug suggested that the traditional testimonies of Friends generate out of the discipline of listening to “that of God” in ourselves and in one another. He summarized: the future of Friends consists in what God is speaking to us today and our faithfulness in living it out.
Leadership for the Future
Jay Marshall spoke next. The Earlham School of Religion trains Quakers from a variety of Quaker traditions for ministry and leadership among Friends. Besides serving as ESR’s dean since 1998, Jay has also visited widely among Friends and authored a book on vital meetings today (Where the Wind Blows, ESR, 2005). Jay noted that he sees growth taking place more on the ends of the Quaker spectrum. The middle seems to struggle more. Conflict and division also centers there. He suggested that the next five to seven years will be decisive in these conflicts. Jay explored the image of fermentation among Friends. The process may lead to decay, especially if no distinct identity emerges, if vision does not clarify, if cooperation fails or if false certainty prevails on both sides of conflict. But enrichment will take place if we can speak cordially and lovingly in the Spirit of Christ, if we listen better to one another without judging and if boundaries are better defined. Jay finds encouragement as he finds more unprogrammed Friends coming to ESR interested in Scripture, as he hears Christ more in students’ conversations and as Friends become more willing to speak of leadership.
Foundations for the Future
Marcie Roberts has been coordinator for the Richmond Friends School (the only Friends school in Indiana) since 2004. In Quaker early education, the deepest foundations for the future of Friends are being laid. Marcie chose to speak of the future of Friends in the form of three stories from the life of RFS. First, she told of the third-grade class conducting water-quality experiments in nearby Clear Creek, learning important lessons about preserving our waterways. Since community service is part of the curriculum at RFS, the class later returned to clean up litter along the creek. The school excels at hands-on, rigorous, integrated learning.
Next, she shared an anecdote of the school’s teaching of nonviolence. A parent reported observing her daughter in a moment of conflict with her older cousins. Just when it began to erupt into physical conflict, her daughter said, “That’s not how we solve problems at my school … we never hit or push.” This was a good example of RFS as an “incubator of progressive ideas.” These connect with and influence the wider community. Other local schools have adopted some of the teaching techniques and socializing methods of RFS.
Finally, Marcie told of her daughter, Ellie, a full-day kindergartner, learning about caterpillars and spiders from teacher Marianne Cope. One day, Ellie explained to her mother that boy-spiders have to be careful around girl-spiders. They just might be eaten! Marcie summarized that the future of Friends is held in small hands. The work of early education in the manner of Friends can be expressed in William Penn’s phrase, “Let us see what love can do.”
Change for the Future
Doug Shoemaker has served as general superintendent of Indiana Yearly Meeting since 2005. He has also served as a Friends pastor for 29 years. Doug too noted the misgivings many Friends have about the future. He emphasized that whatever the future of Friends will be, it will be different. He illustrated his point by citing the vast changes in a meeting like First Friends from 1809 to 1909, and 1909 to 2009. He cited various cultural pressures for change. For example, many people today want to grow spiritually, but do not see the church as the answer. He urged us to discern between the vitality of Quaker faith versus a Quaker culture that few find relevant today. We need to “rethink church.” As another example of external pressures for change, Doug noted that maintaining meetinghouses is already a huge burden for many, with the average meeting budget in IYM devoting 35 percent of annual expenditures to buildings and grounds. In a culture that is already questioning the tax-exempt status of religious organizations, the probability of meetings being required to pay property taxes in the future may force change.
Internal doctrinal conflicts will also factor strongly in the future of Friends. Doug concluded that some kind of realignment is coming, sooner or later. The Society of Friends has major decisions pending. Quoting Deuteronomy 30:19, Doug urged us to “choose life.” To choose life will mean to choose “proclamation mode” over “preservation mode.” We must commit ourselves to Christian witness, as early Friends did. Quoting from a recent speech by President Barak Obama, Doug concluded, “We did not come here to fear the future, but to shape it.”
Ensuing group discussion touched upon related issues of technological innovation in Friends education and meeting life, youth work, the Young Adult Friends movement, the need for leaders with a strong sense of calling, etc. We felt blessed by the contribution of each speaker. The panelists spoke from different perspectives. Time will tell whether these different perspectives augur for a multi-dimensional future of Friends, or diverging futures of Friends.
Doug Gwyn has served for six years as pastoral minister at First Friends Meeting in Richmond, Indiana. He has taught at Pendle Hill and Woodbrooke and is the author of Apocalypse of the Word, published by Friends United Press.