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	Quaker Life January/February 2010 "New Kinds of Quakers"   A full-color, four-page insert focuses on FUM's "milestones" in 2009 and asks Friends to "tune in" to FUM in 2010.
Between Friends	Contents
By Katie Terrell, Editor In his article “Friends United Meeting — The Original Convergent Friends Group,” Jack Kirk says that FUM (then Five Years Meeting) was born because a worldwide conference was held which led to “a growing sense amongst these separate and diverse yearly meetings that they shared many concerns and perhaps belonged together in some way” (pp. 15-18). My husband Chuck and I were recently married, not because we are exactly alike — in fact we are quite different — but because we “belonged together in some way.” Likewise there are many differences among FUM’s member yearly meetings, differences that we highlighted in the last issue of Quaker Life. But, as one of our readers reminded me recently, the message is “not so much how we are different but what is there that keeps/binds us together.” Robin Mohr (p. 19), who coined the term “convergent Friends,” says the essentials of Quaker practice are all about “participation in the community.” The ministry of Friends United Meeting would not be possible without the participation of our 30 member yearly meetings. Scott Wagoner (pp. 20-21) says that a “new kind of Quaker” looks beyond “yearly meeting designations.” We may not look anything alike (in worship or in the way we live out the testimonies) but over 100 years ago our ancestors decided to look beyond those differences and “see and hear that of God in the other.” C. Wess Daniels (pp. 27-29) says, “For these [‘New’] Quakers, worship is a hybrid of elements from various traditions.” “Hybrid” is a perfect word for my home right now as Chuck and I work to combine two households. My library now has as many acoustic guitars as it does bookshelves and his clothes smell like lavender instead of “fresh rain.” Over the holidays we discussed the traditions we had both grown up with, incorporated many of them and created traditions of our own. “New Quakers” are those who are open to God speaking through all traditions. Lisa Stewart (pp. 12-13) demonstrates this beautifully as she writes about her experience as an unprogrammed Friend from Southeastern Yearly Meeting amongst programmed Friends in Kenya. Being a “new kind of Quaker” doesn’t mean you have to change to be more like “other” Quakers, but, as the FUM General Board recently demonstrated (pp. 8-9), it implies a willingness to remain in relationship with one another, no matter how different we are, because we “belong together in some way.”	15 Friends United Meeting — The Original Convergent Friends Group Jack Kirk 19 Essentials of Quaker Practice Robin Mohr 20 What does a New Kind of Quaker look like? Scott Wagoner 27 The New Quakers: A Faithful Betrayal? C. Wess Daniels 30 A Forum on the Future of Friends Doug Gwyn _______________________________ Departments 7 Sacred Moments Sylvia Graves 8 News from Friends United Meeting 22 Inspirations What I Like about Belize Friends School 32 Peace Notes 34 News 35 Reviews 36 Passages 40 Meeting Directory 43 FUM Member Yearly Meetings 44 Classifieds 46 Perspectives Overwhelmed: The Life of a High School Senior Hana Awwad       The cover photo, and other photos throughout this issue, were taken by Dan Kasztelan at the event, “A New Kind of Quakerism? Emerging and Converging with Young Adult Friends,” hosted by Friends Center, Guilford College, at Deep River Friends Meeting, North Carolina, in the fall of 2008.