Friends World Committee for Consultation
Encyclopedia
The Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) is a Quaker
organization that works to communicate between all parts of Quakerism. FWCC's world headquarters is based in London
. It has Consultative NGO
status with the Economic and Social Council
of the United Nations
. FWCC shares responsibility for the Quaker UN Office in Geneva
and New York
with the American Friends Service Committee
and Britain Yearly Meeting
.
FWCC was set up at the 1937 Second World Conference of Friends in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
, US
,
In addition every three years FWCC organizes an international Triennial. The triennials are attended by about 175 representatives, appointed by the almost 70 affiliated yearly meetings and groups aiming to provide links among Friends. The 22nd Triennial was held in August 2007 in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, with the theme "Finding the Prophetic Voice for our Time".
, dating back to Ottoman times. For example, Friends School, Ramallah
, is a noted educational centre and Friends are active in attempts to build peace at the grass roots in this troubled area. Britain Yearly Meeting's Quaker Peace and Social Witness (QPSW) is one of the significant international Friends agencies. The FWCC Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) in Geneva is partly supported by Britain Yearly Meeting. Friends presence at the United Nations has engaged and continues to engage in much quiet diplomacy to reduce violence and build peace around the world. Friends House in Geneva is a quiet haven in a busy international city and hosts Geneva Meeting.
It is difficult to speak about American Friends as a whole because they represent such a broad and diverse range of Friends traditions, however, it is a tribute to their commitment to Friends beliefs that they respect each other and work together.
Director of Communications - Harry Albright
Financial Administrator - Cathy Rowlands
Office Administrator/Database Manager - Kim Bond
* In 1991, the Fifth World Conference of Friends held on three sites - in The Netherlands, Honduras and Kenya – replaced the usual Triennial meeting.
As noted above, the second World Conference took place in Pennsylvania in 1937. The first had been held in the U.K. in 1920.
The third was held in Oxford, U.K. in 1952 and the fourth in Greensboro, North Carolina, U.S.A. in 1967. A World Conference will be held at Nairobi
in Kenya in 2012 in lieu of triennial gathering in 2010. In future Plenary Meetings may not be held on a Triennial basis.
After 70 years of insisting on a strict policy of non-recognition of “the Other Branch”; preventing Hicksite Friends from ministering publicly in Britain, and warning its members against connections with “the Other Branch,” a theological thaw is taking place in the solidly Orthodox London Yearly Meeting. Personal relationships are formed across the chasm. Hicksite Friends are welcomed on cycling tours and at summer schools in Scarborough, northern England.
Sarah Bancroft, a Hicksite Friend from Delaware, married Roger Clark, of the English Quaker shoe manufacturing company. Stanley Yarnall, a member of the Orthodox Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, attends the wedding, along with John Wilhelm Rowntree
, friend of Rufus Jones and who would be active in the foundation of Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre
. Sara settles in her husband’s home town of Street, Somerset
, and the certificate of transfer from her meeting is accepted by Friends in Street without incident. Eight years later her sister Lucy married into the Gillett family of England, further strengthening links across divide.
British Friends begin to cross the Atlantic to attend Friends General Conference
sessions.
1901
Edward Magill, the President of (Hicksite) Swarthmore College
, was given permission to attend London Yearly Meeting sessions.
1903
The Woodbrooke Quaker Study Center opens its doors in Birmingham
, UK. International students including North Americans from all branches are welcome from the inception.
1905
John Wilhelm Rowntree
died after arriving in the US for more intervisitation. His funeral at (Orthodox) Haverford meeting was attended by many Hicksite Friends.
1911-1912
400 Young Friends participated in conference in Swanwick
, Derbyshire
, UK; attendees include several from North America. Young Friends from Britain participated in conferences and gatherings in USA.
1914-18
More than 1,000 Young British and American Friends did alternative service during World War I; including in the Friends Ambulance Unit, which operated close to the battle lines.
1917
Carl Heath of Great Britain proposed setting up Embassies of Quakerism, “Rooted in spiritual life which centers in Christ” in every European capital city. The proposal was a seed of the future Quaker United Nations Offices. At the same time British Friends decide to invite representatives of all yearly meetings in the world to a conference in London, after the end of the war.
1920
Almost 1,000 Friends attended the All Friends’ Conference “Called to consider the nature and basis of our Peace Testimony and it application to the needs of the world today”. Over 800 are from Great Britain and the USA. Others come from Australia
, Denmark
, France
, Ireland
, Jamaica
, New Zealand
, Norway
and South Africa
. Its publication Friends and War declared that many theologians had subverted the Christian concept of love, and that true Christian practice makes “participation in war under any circumstances impossible.”
That same year 400 Friends gathered at an international Young Friends Conference at Jordans, Great Britain. It is organized in consultation with Young Friends’ committees on both sides of the Atlantic and the Friends Fellowship Christian Union.
J. Passmore Elkinton began traveling an average of 20,000 miles a year by rail throughout the US for his company, and worshiped with Friends whenever possible. It was the first time that a Philadelphia Quaker had been sighted in many Friends churches and meetinghouses.
1923
London Yearly Meeting rescinded its 1829 policy of not recognizing yearly meetings not on the official list of orthodox groups. It agreed that it would “extend the spirit of love and fellowship to all bodies of Friends, whether or not it is in complete agreement with their views or practices.”
1927
A small meeting in Cheyenne, Wyoming
, made up of Friends from California
, Kansas
, Oregon
, and Ohio
begins to consolidate the emerging grouping of Evangelical Friends in the USA. This led to the secession of several yearly meetings from Five Years Meeting (later Five Years Meeting became Friends United Meeting).
1928
50 Young Friends from 15 countries held a conference in Brussels, Belgium.
1929
A General Conference of Young Friends, called the Twentieth Conference of Young Friends gathered in Richmond, Indiana
. Thirty participants traveled to Oskaloosa, Iowa
for the Conference of All Friends in North America.
A conference representing “All Friends in North America” was held in Oskaloosa. The speakers represented a wide spectrum of belief, including those involved in the fundamentalist evangelical breakaways in Kansas and Oregon.
1932
An International Conference of European Friends was held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The Fellowship Committee of the American Friends Service Committee
(later to become the American Friends Fellowship Council) suggests holding a World Conference of Friends. A World Conference Planning Committee, representative of many yearly meetings in the USA, was formed, with Passmore Elkinton as chairman.
1934
A Conference of European Friends was held near Prague
, Czechoslovakia
. That year the permanent committee planning these conferences accepted Passmore Elkinton’s invitation to join the U.S.–based World Conference Planning Committee.
Anna Griscom Elkinton replaced her husband Passmore Elkinton as chairman of the World Conference Planning Committee.
Young Friends from 10 countries hold a conference in Denmark, in the shadow of the rise of Nazism
.
1936
The American Friends Fellowship Council was formed to further two concerns of Rufus Jones: the spiritual nurture of isolated small groups of Friends and the care of the Wider Quaker Fellowship program.
During an International Conference of European Friends held at Jordans, Great Britain, a memorandum on International Cooperation Among Friends was drafted. This document was included in large part in the report of Commission V of the 1937 World Conference. It contained the vision of a world organization of Friends in which organization would be subordinate to spirit and life.
1937
The Friends World Conference was held at Swarthmore and Haverford Colleges, Pennsylvania, USA. Approximately 1,000 Friends from 24 countries attended, including eight countries that were not represented at the 1920 conference: Austria
, Czechoslovakia
, Cuba
, Germany
, Mexico
, the Netherlands
, Sweden
and Switzerland
; 23 of the 25 yearly meetings in the USA are represented. The recommendations of Commission V International Cooperation of Friends, which included the setting up of a World Consultative Committee were presented. The minutes say that “animated discussion followed,” they called for a called session three days later before the recommendation was approved.
1938
The World Consultative Committee was formed. The new organization is given a temporary home in Friends House, London. The Committee held its first meeting in Vallekilde, Denmark, a year after its founding. Because of travel costs and the worsening situation in Europe, just 20 representatives from 14 yearly meetings attended. The meeting's minutes record the formation of the American and European Sections, and adopts the name recommended by the two Sections: Friends World Committee for Consultation. The staff are encouraged to revise the handbook of Friends Around the World, publish an annual calendar of yearly meetings and an international journal. Yearly meetings are asked to extend intervisitation.
The American Section holds its first meeting in January in Washington, DC, in tandem with the American Friends Fellowship Council. It holds a brief second meeting during the Friends General Conference Gathering in Cape May, New Jersey.
The International Committee convened in Doorn, the Netherlands, which changes its name to ‘European Section.’ The European Section then held a conference in Denmark.
1939
FWCC held its 2nd meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. It adopts a budget of £750. It was unable to meet again as a worldwide body until World War II
ended.
1940
The January Annual Meeting of the FWCC American Section appoints a committee to consider plans for future peace. A year later it forms a Peace Commission which produces as 79 page pamphlet Problems of Applied Pacifism which is distributed worldwide.
1941
The American Section held a Semi-Annual meeting in Holguín, Cuba. Eight Friends from outside Cuba were present. Three of the visitors traveled on to Jamaica for the founding meeting of Jamaica Yearly Meeting.
1942
Following the entry of the USA into World War II in late 1941, 250 Friends representing 25 of the 30 yearly meetings in Canada and the U.S. gathered for a Conference in April in Richmond, Indiana, convened by the FWCC American Section.
A Conference on Peace and Reconstruction is held in Wilmington, Ohio
, in September. Its statement is published as Looking Toward the Postwar World, and foreshadows both Friends postwar service work and the Quaker United Nations Offices.
1943
The American Section disbanded its Peace Commission and appointed Bertram and Irene Pickard as Consultants on Concerns for Peace. Other Consultants were appointed with concerns for Spiritual Life, Organization, Social Order, Education and Race Relations.
1944
The FWCC American Section sponsored a Conference in Richmond, Indiana, on Friends’ Work in the Caribbean and Latin America.
1945
The Orthodox and Wilburite yearly meetings reunite to form New England Yearly Meeting
, which affiliates to both Five Years Meeting and Friends General Conference.
1946
Because of the difficulties of international travel in the immediate post-war period, an Interim Executive Committee was appointed to hold occasional meetings. The Interim Executive Committee agreed that FWCC should meet in the USA in 1947. The first postwar meeting of the European Section took place in London.
1947
FWCC held its 3rd meeting – the first after World War II – in Richmond, Indiana. 80 Friends from 20 yearly meetings in Canada and the USA, and 9 meetings in Europe, Jamaica and Mexico participated. Australia, New Zealand
and Japan
were represented by recent visitors. The meeting approved holding a World Conference in England in 1952 to coincide with the 300th anniversary of the founding of Quakerism.
FWCC approves applying for consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. The UN Charter provides such standing for international Non-Governmental Organizations, but the decision does not come easily. Some feel it will take FWCC into the political arena beyond its agreed role of consultation among Friends. It accepts more easily a similar relationship with UNESCO, the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization, Paris.
The first postwar European Conference is held in Ommen, the Netherlands, on the theme The Spiritual Need of Europe and the Responsibility of Friends.
1948
D. Elton Trueblood
, USA, became Chairman of FWCC. The office moved from cramped quarters in the Friends Hostel for International Students to a room on the top floor of Friends House in London. Programming was lively, but funds were tight.
The Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) was founded with offices in New York and Geneva. Elmore Jackson is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO New York and Algie I. Newlin is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO Geneva. As agreed, the program is under the supervision of FWCC, but the administrative costs of the New York and Geneva office are covered by the American Friends Service Committee and London Yearly Meeting respectively.
1949
London Yearly Meeting’s Meeting for Sufferings authorizes FWCC to invite 1,000 Friends to a conference in England. The Yearly Meeting will provide accommodation and FWCC will plan the program.
The FWCC American Section holds its semi-annual meeting in Highgate, Jamaica, prior to the Jamaica Yearly Meeting sessions. Two North American Friends are visitors to the sessions of Cuba Yearly Meeting before arriving in Jamaica.
William H. Marwick, Great Britain, becomes Clerk of FWCC European Section.
A Young Friends conference is held in Oskaloosa, Iowa.
1950
The 4th meeting of FWCC takes place in Oxford, United Kingdom.
James F. Walker becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC American Section following Leslie Shaffer’s death. His immediate task is to raise $30,000 as the Section’s contribution to the costs of the planned 1952 World Conference.
Colin W. Bell is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO Geneva.
1951
Harry Silcock agrees to serve as Secretary of FWCC until the end of the 1952 World Conference.
1952
An International Young Friends Conference is held in Reading, United Kingdom, prior to the World Conference.
Asia – Pacific area Friends meet at Hampstead Meetinghouse in London prior to the World Conference to express hope for future connections.
900 Friends gather for the 3rd World Conference of Friends in Oxford, Great Britain. Participants stay in different Oxford colleges. Some sleep in hammocks, the more fortunate ones in beds. Through a personal gift of £30,000 FWCC Treasurer Barrow Cadbury makes it possible for them all to be guests of London Yearly Meeting. The proceedings are published under the title "Friends Face Their Fourth Century".
The 5th meeting of FWCC, immediately following the World Conference, is the most widely representative yet. 100 participants represent 38 yearly meetings and unaffiliated groups.
1953
The FWCC American Section plays a large part in the distribution of two publications by the Historic Peace Churches (Brethren, Friends and Mennonites) War is Contrary to the Will of God (1951) and Peace is the Will of God (1953.)
An American Young Friends Conference is held in Greensboro, North Carolina, with visitors from Great Britain, Ireland and Germany.
Erroll Elliott, USA, becomes Chairman of FWCC.
Norah Douglas, Northern Ireland, becomes Clerk of FWCC European Section.
Archer Tongue, Great Britain, resident in Switzerland, becomes Secretary of FWCC European Section.
1954
Ranjit M. Chetsingh, India, becomes Secretary of FWCC. The international office has only two staff and is heavily dependent on London Yearly Meeting for its modest funds.
The American Friends Fellowship Council merges with FWCC American Section. The Wider Quaker Fellowship becomes a program of the Section. Emma Cadbury continues to serve as Chairman (since 1943.)
The FWCC American Section opens an office in Wilmington, Ohio.
In the climate of “McCarthyism
” and the requirement of loyalty oaths, a National Conference of Friends on Civil Liberties is convened by the FWCC American Section at Scattergood Friends School
. There are 57 participants from 20 yearly meetings. The conference declares that God, and not the state, is the source of truth. 36,000 copies of its Queries are circulated.
1955
The 6th meeting of FWCC, the first to be described as a “Triennial”, is held at Camp Miami, Germantown, Ohio. Worldwide representation increases. 65 come from 20 yearly meetings in the USA. Nine are from Canada, Cuba, Jamaica and Mexico. Five European yearly meetings are represented, as are Australia, East Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. It sets intervisitation among yearly meetings as a top priority. It agrees that future meetings must be truly representative of the range of yearly meetings. It refers to yearly meetings for ‘sympathetic consideration’ a concern to abolish capital punishment. It reports “A new budget with increased sums for intervisitation requires increased contributions from yearly meetings and monthly meetings and individual Friends.” It accepts Ranjit Chetsingh’s recommendation that the principal staff position should be renamed “General Secretary” and that the office should move out of London to establish a measure of independence from the yearly meeting.
The American Section encourages Friends in Baltimore and North Carolina Yearly Meeting (Conservative) to hold a Conference on Race Relations in Woodland, North Carolina.
J. Duncan Wood is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO Geneva.
FWCC gives credentials to a Friend to attend the UN Bureau of Social Affairs Congress in Geneva on Prevention of Crime and Treatment of the Offender.
Most monthly meetings in Canada join the united Canadian Yearly Meeting, and Philadelphia Arch Street and Race Street yearly meetings form a united Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
The Hicksite and Orthodox New York Yearly Meetings reunite. The new yearly meeting decides to affiliate to both Five Years Meeting and Friends General Conference.
1956
Herbert M. Hadley, originally from Kansas, USA, becomes General Secretary of FWCC. His initial priorities are intervisitation, closer connections with the work of the United Nations, the need for Friends to look deeply into situations where there are strong differing opinions, and FWCC having a global worldview.
Ranjit and Doris Chetsingh attend FWCC’s first African Friends Conference in Nairobi, Kenya. Participants include Friends from Kenya, Madagascar and Pemba, for whom it is the first experience of FWCC.
The FWCC international office moves from London to a small building in the grounds of Woodbrooke, Birmingham, 100 miles to the north.
Building on the event in Woodland, NC, FWCC American Section works with Baltimore Yearly Meeting Friends to hold a National Friends Conference on Race Relations. It is held in Wilmington, Ohio.
The fourth Quaker Leadership Study Tour administered by FWCC American Section & Fellowship Council takes a group of adult Friends to Indiana, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington DC to see the work of Friends’ organizations. These tours are funded by Clement and Grace Biddle of New York Yearly Meeting.
Dorothy Gilbert Thorne, USA, becomes Chairman of FWCC American Section & Fellowship Council. The Section organizes a United Nations Seminar in New York for Friends pastors from the Midwest. These develop into a series of seminars on the UN in the Midwest, with speakers from QUNO New York.
Sigrid H. Lund, Norway, becomes Clerk and ‘Executive Chairman’ of FWCC European Section. The Section becomes less dominated by London Yearly Meeting and more reflective of the breadth meetings on the continent of Europe.
The Association of Evangelical Friends is formed in the USA.
1957
600 attend the Conference of Friends in the Americas, held at the invitation of Wilmington College, Ohio. Reflective of the variety of Friends in the Midwest, it encourages intervisitation and appoints visitors to the new meetings established under the care of FWCC’s American Section. There are only two keynote speakers, Douglas Steere and Kathleen Lonsdale. Most time is spent in discussion and worship-fellowship groups. Because of college’s capacity of 600, quotas have to be assigned to the different yearly meetings and groups. Friends from Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico and the USA. A children’s program is held at Quaker Knoll Camp.
The American Section also sponsors focused smaller conferences on issues of concern: civil liberties, race relations and criminal justice.
A Conference of European Friends is held in Birmingham, United Kingdom, with theme "From Fellowship to Action". A generous contribution from Barrow Cadbury makes it possible for a large representation of Friends from the continent of Europe, in addition to 131 from Great Britain. They exchange information about service carried out in the name of Friends in their countries and hear about the work of QUNO. The conference is conducted in English, French and German. The three co-chairmen are native speakers of each of these languages. To emphasize the worldwide character of Friends, visitors are invited from Australia, East Africa, South Africa and the USA.
The European Section cooperates with Swiss Friends in publishing materials in Italian.
William Cleveland, a teacher at George School near Philadelphia proposes a Quaker Youth Pilgrimage to be held in Northwest England. The captures the imagination of the American Section and the Northwest 1652 Committee of London Yearly Meeting, and the first pilgrimage is planned to take place in two years.
1958
The 7th Triennial meeting of FWCC is held at Bad Pyrmont, Germany. Of the 100 present, twelve European groups and Madagascar Friends are represented. With the theme "Sharing our Faith", it is a symposium which considers papers prepared in advance on Friends and Evangelism, Friends and Christian Missions, Friends and the Ecumenical Movement, and Friends and World Religions. FWCC later publishes the papers as Sharing our Quaker Faith. FWCC asks yearly meetings in those countries that have not ratified the Slavery Conventions of 1926 (League of Nations) and 1956 (United Nations) to urge their governments to do so. FWCC holds a Consultative Conference on the Work of Friends at the United Nations immediately following the meeting which includes 35 Friends from 17 countries.
James Walker writes “Everybody likes a birthday party, and in the last six months the American Section has celebrated the World Committee’s 20th birthday twenty-four times. The American Section Secretary has been present of twenty of those occasions and has eaten twenty excellent dinners...Clarence E Pickett appeared eleven times for the committee (and) Sumner Mills five times.”
A second National Friends Conference on Race Relations is held at Westtown School
, Pennsylvania. The FWCC American Section plans to sponsor conferences every two years but emphasizes its role “as facilitating Friends across the country to share and consult on this testimony and not (as) an action committee promoting the testimony.”
FWCC provides credentials for African Friends to attend Human Rights seminars, sponsored by the UN Economic Commission for Africa.
1959
The American and European Sections of FWCC cooperate in holding the first Quaker Youth Pilgrimage, with Lorraine and William Cleveland as leaders. The pilgrimage, which becomes a biennial event, is for 16-18 year olds. Pilgrims are from 9 yearly meetings in the USA, Germany, Great Britain, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland. They spend two weeks in the “1652 country” in daily worship, visiting historic sites and learning about the work of Friends, and two weeks on a work camp rebuilding a burnt youth club building.
With the support of Five Years Meeting and Friends General Conference, FWCC Section of the Americas calls a Conference on Crime and the Treatment of Offenders at Camp Miami, Germantown, Ohio. 80 Friends from Canada and the USA attend. The committee reaffirms opposition to the death penalty and calls on improvements to the penal system, probation, parole and the treatment of young offenders, and urges Friends to increase visiting of prisoners. Its Continuing Committee publishes What Do the Churches Say About Capital Punishment? which is reprinted in India and given to all delegates at the World Council of Churches Assembly in Delhi, 1961.
Elsa Cedergren, Sweden, becomes Chairman of FWCC.
1960
FWCC gives credentials to eight observers to attend the second UN Bureau of Social Affairs Congress in London on Prevention of Crime and Treatment of the Offender.
Five Years Meeting changes its name to Friends United Meeting
.
1961
Prior to the meeting of FWCC in Kenya, several FWCC representatives join Kenyan Friends for a Conference on the Friends Peace Testimony and its Application to Kenya. Other Friends attend a Consultation on NGO Responsibility to raise awareness of Friends work at the UN.
150 Friends attend the 8th Triennial meeting of FWCC in Kaimosi, Kenya – the first worldwide meeting of FWCC to be held in Africa, to the delight of many in the host communities. Joseph Kisia writes “They visited us. They came to us as a world body representing different nationalities, races and backgrounds, meeting as equals and give and take, to listen and learn and receive.” 40 African Friends attend, making it the largest FWCC worldwide meeting to date. The meeting has two themes: "Beyond Diversities to a Common Experience of God" and "The Application of Quaker Principles in Situations of Tension". Representatives worship at 11 different meetings on the two Sundays during the meeting, and local Friends are welcome to attend four days of the meeting, during which there is simultaneous interpretation from English to Luragoli. The Nairobi Christian Council hosts a morning reception after the meeting, and FWCC hosts a tea reception in the Nairobi City Hall courtyard for 80 government and civic leaders.
A number of Friends stay on for a consultation on Friends Work in Africa, organized by several Friends service bodies. FWCC representatives visit among Friends in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Pemba, South Africa, Southern Rhodesia and Uganda before or after the meeting. FWCC arranges for Raymond Wilson of Friends Committee on National Legislation to spend ten days in Kenya on his way back from the World Council of Churches Assembly in India, to consult with Kenyan Friends anticipating independence from Britain.
Invitations are received from Earlham College, Indiana, Whittier College, California and North Carolina Yearly Meeting to hold a World Conference of Friends in 1967. The American Section endorses the invitation from the President of Guilford College to meet in Greensboro, North Carolina, but several Friends express hesitation about holding a meeting at a segregated college, and there is uncertainty about how African and Asian Friends would be received. The conference accepts the invitation to meet in Greensboro, but defers the decision of the exact location until it can be assured of meeting in an integrated college. (The Women’s College of the University of North Carolina is already integrated and provides a possible location.)
FWCC begins sponsoring a series of visitors and ‘Resident Friends’ in South Korea.
The Quaker Youth Pilgrimage includes a Young Friend from Lebanon. The work camp involves digging foundations of houses in Germany for those resettling from the east.
The third National Friends Conference on Race Relations, planned by FWCC American Section’s Race Relations Conference Committee, is held at Earlham College
, Richmond, Indiana. There are workshops on fair housing, voting rights, fair employment, and desegregation of schools. FWCC and Five Years Meeting publish jointly a follow-up pamphlet In Whose Shoes?
A. Ward Applegate, USA, becomes Chairman of FWCC American Section & Fellowship Council.
George Loft is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO New York.
1962
FWCC arranges for British Friend Mary Nuttall, long concerned about the persistence of slavery, to work with Duncan Wood of QUNO Geneva to bring this concern to the UN’s ECOSOC Commission on Human Rights.
Representatives of six other European yearly meetings join with Norwegian Friends in forming an FWCC European Section project for Algerian refugees.
James F. Walker, USA, becomes Chairman of FWCC.
Blanche W. Shaffer, USA, becomes General Secretary of FWCC. In view of the increased work, the post of Associate Secretary is created.
1963
Income from a further gift made by Barrow Cadbury to London Yearly Meeting, it is possible to hold two more conferences of European Friends in Birmingham. The theme of this year’s gathering is God and Man - a Quaker Approach. The 250 participants come from the nine yearly meetings in the European Section, plus Greece, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Poland and Spain.
The American Section’s fourth National Friends Conference on Race Relations is held at Oakwood Friends School, Poughkeepsie, New York. It writes to Friends schools in the US expressing concern that so few African American students are enrolled.
German Young Friends hold an international conference in Udenhausen.
Herbert M. Hadley, USA, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC American Section & Fellowship Council.
William Huntington is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO New York.
Douglas Steere and Richard Ullman attend the 2nd Vatican Council as “delegated observers” from FWCC.
1964
The 9th Triennial meeting of FWCC is held in Waterford, Republic of Ireland. The meeting accepts the invitation to hold a World Conference at Guilford College on hearing that its policies had now changed and African American students were welcome there.
FWCC grants Seoul Friends group Monthly Meeting Status. Following a gift to the American Section for this purpose, a house is purchased to be used as the meeting place for Seoul Monthly Meeting.
Heinrich Carstens, Germany, becomes Clerk of FWCC European Section.
Margaret S. Gibbins, Great Britain, becomes Secretary of FWCC European Section.
The FWCC American Section publishes A Christian Response to Extremist Groups, which is reprinted many times.
1965
The fifth National Race Relations Conference is held at Earlham College under the theme The Fivefold Revolution: Race, Nuclear Weapons, Population, Automation-Poverty and the Required Moral Revolution. A further letter of concern is addressed to Friends schools and colleges. It decides to hold the next meeting in the South of the US.
An International Young Friends Conference is held in Norway.
The FWCC European Section assembles an ‘international library’ of resources for religious education for children. They also lend a parcel of books to meetings for three months and support Friends gifted in work with children to visit isolated meetings.
The FWCC American Section sets up International Quaker Aid, a program through which US residents can make donations towards Friends projects in other areas of the world. The program continues for more than 30 years, but is laid down because of the lack of staff capacity to ensure that the funds are being used for the purpose for which they were sought.
Douglas Steere, USA, becomes Chairman of FWCC.
Evangelical Friends Alliance (later Evangelical Friends International
) is formed.
1966
Margaret E. Jones becomes Chairman of the Wider Quaker Fellowship. The WQF Committee in the Netherlands translates and sends out materials in Dutch to 150 fellows there. Mailings are also sent to young conscientious objectors facing prison and to Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, Finland, Hungary, India, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey There are fellows for whom Spanish is the first language in Chile, Colómbia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
The FWCC American Section sends Friends from Atlanta to spend three months in South Africa. They visit the principal groups of Friends in South Africa, Rhodesia and Zambia.
1967
900 Friends attend the 4th World Conference of Friends in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA. 300 more attend the overflow ‘Greensboro Gathering’ at the University of North Carolina. FWCC publishes a collection of essays in preparation for the conference under the title "No Time But This Present" on the themes of The Nurture of the Spiritual Life, the Ecumenical Challenge, the Community of Friends, the Community of Peoples, and Peace Making and Peace Building. It goes through three printings – a total of 12,000 copies. The conference includes more Evangelical Friends than previous FWCC events, which opens up possibilities of more connections across the theological divisions in the US. North Carolina Friends provide home hospitality for 800 extra weekend visitors, many of whom come to worship with Friends and stay on to hear U Thant
, Secretary-General of the United Nations, address 8,000 people in a public session of the conference at the Greensboro Coliseum. His address is featured on radio and television throughout the US, further enhancing the impact of the conference. Sharing of the world’s resources, the Vietnam War and Racial Conflict are major themes running through the conference.
An international Young Friends Conference is held at Westtown School immediately prior to the World Conference.
FWCC’s 10th Triennial meeting is held immediately after the World Conference. The meeting minutes hope in the “…possibility of developing one day a Section of FWCC for the Asia-Pacific Area.”
The American Section’s sixth National Race Relations Conference is held in Black Mountain, North Carolina. The planning committee’s view is that Friends in the US suffer from ‘middle class bias’ and that they focus on individual, rather than structural change, that they are afraid of conflict and are distrustful of power. The conference urges Friends to examine strictly their motives in the lifestyles they maintain, and send out a message entitled Black Power-White Power-Shared Power.
1968
In response to the 1967 World Conference’s call on Friends to launch “an all-out attack on want”, yearly meetings’ responses varied. Some asked members to give 1% of their income to projects benefiting the world’s poorest communities, others 3%.
Edwin B. Bronner of Pennsylvania, formerly of California, becomes Chairman of FWCC American Section & Fellowship Council.
The two Baltimore yearly meetings finally reunite after holding their sessions jointly in the same location since 1957. The new yearly meeting decides to affiliate to both Five Years Meeting and Friends General Conference.
1969
FWCC holds the 2nd African Friends Conference in Tananarive, Madagascar. The host yearly meeting has recently merged their yearly meeting into the United Church of Jesus Christ of Madagascar. The 30 participants come from Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Rhodesia, South Africa and Zambia. The conference considered the church’s responsibility to relieve poverty and hunger, and to speak to problems of the world.
Six Friends, three from yearly meetings belonging to Evangelical Friends Alliance (now Evangelical Friends International) and three from yearly meetings belonging to Friends United Meeting invite each of the yearly meetings in North America to send a representative to a Friends Conference on Evangelism to be held in Minneapolis. Calling themselves ‘The Committee of Concerned Friends for Renewal,’ they issue a call for a conference to be held in St Louis in 1970 on The Future of Friends.
The final conference of European Friends funded by Barrow Cadbury’s gift is held in Birmingham. The theme is God and Spiritual Strength for Action-Oriented Living. The conference considers the situation of guest workers recruited to meet the labor shortages in Western Europe. It also encourages Friends individually to give one percent of income to projects that benefit the poorest nations to stimulate ‘Right Sharing of the World’s Resources’ – a theme picked up from the 4th World Conference two years earlier.
William E. Barton, Great Britain, becomes Associate Secretary of FWCC.
1970
11th FWCC Triennial meeting, Sigtuna, Sweden. Fourteen years since the idea was first proposed, Thomas Lung’aho is finally able to present the message from the conference in Madagascar recommending the formation of an FWCC Africa Section. Friends in South and West Africa are unable to unite with the proposal at this time.
All yearly meetings but three in the USA are represented at the St. Louis Conference on The Future of Friends, responding to the call ‘to seek, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, a workable, challenging and cooperative means whereby the Friends Church can be an active, enthusiastic, Christ-centered and Spirit-directed force...’ There is a sense of a new dawn of ecumenical conversation within the Religious Society of Friends. At the close of the conference, Evangelical Friend Everett Cattell suggests that FWCC’s American Section should administer the follow-up to the conference. The Section publishes the report What Future for Friends? Superintendents and Secretaries of yearly meetings at their annual meeting in St Louis propose a broadly representative follow-up body to be called the Faith and Life Planning Group, and suggest that each yearly meeting appoint two persons to a Faith and Life Planning Committee, with FWCC American Section providing the staff service.
Instead of another conference on Race Relations, the American Section plans a two-part ‘event’ in which 20 Young Friends would live in Washington, DC for six weeks to expand their knowledge of racism and seek to learn, think and create change. They would then be joined for a five day “gathering” by 200-300 Friends who would “learn new ways to talk about race…” Fewer Friends than hoped join the “gathering” but a committed minority form Friends for Human Justice. Meetings and individuals are encouraged to contribute to this program via the American Section.
The Europe and Near East Section authorizes its treasurer to receive One Percent Fund contributions. With the help of the Chace Fund, the American Section begins the One Percent More Program. John Sexton of Baltimore Yearly Meeting is released to serve for two years as Administrator. He works with Right Sharing committees in five yearly meetings.
Janice Clevenger, a former teacher at Tokyo Friends Girls School, is sponsored by FWCC, with support from the Japan Committee of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, to be Friend in Residence at Seoul Meeting, where she stays for four years.
Barrett (Barry) Hollister is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO New York.
1971
Faith and Life conferences are held in eight regions of North America over the next three years, building on the beliefs that had emerged as central at the St Louis conference.
The European Section’s first Quaker Family Camp is held in the Netherlands. The 50 participants come from Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. Its theme is How Does Your Quaker Faith Permeate and Sustain Your Family Life?
32 Quaker Youth Pilgrims from Jamaica, Europe and the US spend a month on a yellow school bus traveling along the East coast of the US and inland to North Carolina and Indiana.
FWCC plays a leading role at the UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden. Barry Hollister has, for three years, chaired a committee of NGOs working in support of the conference. Joseph Haughton and Heinrich Carstens are official observers, two Kenyan Friends are members of their government’s delegation and other Friends attend in various capacities. Elsa Cedergren, former FWCC chairman, lends her apartment to be a temporary “Quaker House” for quiet diplomacy. The conference creates the UN Environment Program (UNEP) based in Nairobi.
The FWCC Africa Section is established in the Friends International Center, N’gong Road, Nairobi. Filemon F. Indire becomes Chairman, and Nathan Luvai becomes Secretary. Political difficulties caused by the South African Government’s policy of Apartheid at first make intervisitation between the two countries difficult.
After fifteen years away from London to establish its independence of the yearly meeting, the FWCC international office moves back there.
Heinrich Carstens, Germany, becomes Chairman of FWCC.
William E. Barton, Great Britain, becomes General Secretary, and Tayeko Yamanouchi, Japan, becomes Associate Secretary of FWCC.
Gunnar Sundberg, Sweden, becomes Clerk of FWCC’s re-named ‘European & Near East’ Section.
1973
FWCC’s 12th Triennial meeting is held in Sydney, Australia. It has been impractical for a World Resources Group to function at a global level (as hoped for at the 1967 World Conference.) Instead, Sections are encouraged to develop appropriate programs.
Friends in the Americas are given a lesson in geographical sensitivity when they announce at the Sydney Triennial their decision to rename themselves the “Western Hemisphere Section.” An Australian voice at the back of the room asks “West of what?” and the plan goes back to the drawing board. Donald L. Moon, Western YM, becomes Chairman of FWCC American Section & Fellowship Council.
FWCC’s first International Mission and Service Conference brings together in London principal officers and staff of mission boards, service agencies and some of the Friends in areas where there is still active mission and service work. It asks: What is the spiritual basis of our mission and service work? What priorities ought we to apply to meeting spiritual and material needs? How do we strengthen our partnership in Quaker witness? The conference acknowledges that this work is under the leading of the Holy Spirit, and that ministry to the whole person must deal with peace, social justice and race relations. Participants ask FWCC to convene similar events every three years.
The American Section forms a new Right Sharing of World Resources standing committee and program. Jennifer Haines, a Young Friend, becomes part-time staff. Education of Friends is seen as a crucial priority. The program finally flourishes.
1974
With the completion of its work in Algeria, the FWCC European Sections Service Committee turns its attention to developing a play center for Palestinians at the Am’ary Refugee Camp.
Responding to a desire by Friends in Aotearoa/New Zealand for closer connection with the work of QUNO, FWCC holds a consultation on Quaker United Nations Work in London.
A Faith and Life Panel, consisting of nine Friends representing the spectrum of Quaker thought and knowledgeable in Bible, Quaker history and theology publishes Quaker Understanding of Christ and Authority, which is used in preparation for the continent-wide Faith and Life Conference in Indianapolis. Friends from as far away as Alaska, Canada and Central America participate.
The FWCC American Section & Fellowship Council is renamed ‘Section of the Americas’ to be more inclusive of Central, North and South America and the Caribbean
Edwin B. Bronner, USA, becomes Chairman of FWCC.
Madelaine Jéquier, Switzerland, becomes Clerk of FWCC European & Near East Section.
1975
FWCC gives credentials to Quaker women to be observers at the UN Conference in Mexico City on International Women’s Year.
The first conference of the FWCC Africa Section is held in Kaimosi, Kenya. Representatives come from Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, Pemba and South Africa.
The FWCC European Conference in the Netherlands discusses Responsibilities in Prosperity and Learning to Live with Anxiety. FWCC arranges for many of the 220 participants to visit among European meetings after the conference.
1976
FWCC’s 13th Triennial meeting is held in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. African Friends are asked to hold a consultation on the peace testimony.
New Call to Peacemaking, a movement of the three Historic Peace Churches in the USA, Brethren, Friends and Mennonites, is launched. Bob Rumsey, FWCC Section of the Americas, is its staff support until 1982.
FWCC’s second International Mission and Service Conference brings together a larger group from 16 agencies in New Windsor, Maryland. Paulina Titus of Mid-India Yearly Meeting is assisted to travel in the ministry in the Eastern US after the conference.
David Kikaya, Kenya, becomes Secretary of FWCC Africa Section.
1977
After several years of consultation and planning, the Conference of Friends in the Americas, a broad-based conference planned with the cooperation of several Friends organizations, is held in Wichita, Kansas, with the theme Living in the Spirit. The participants whose first language is Spanish meet every day in a ‘conference within a larger conference or Mesa Redonda (round table.) Before leaving Wichita, they propose the founding of COAL, the Committee of Latin American Friends. Mexicans Loida Fernández, Manuel Guzmán and Jorge Hernández are the initial working group. The quickly get to work producing a Boletín.
The Africa Section’s consultation on the peace testimony is held in Gaberone, Botswana. Participants come from Botswana, Kenya, Rhodesia, South Africa, Zambia, as well as Canada and the US.
The American Section lays down the Friends for Human Justice program, noting that issues of racial justice have been taken up in many yearly meetings and by the American Friends Service Committee.
Ingeborg Borgstrom, Sweden, becomes Associate Secretary of FWCC.
John Ward, Great Britain, resident in Switzerland, becomes Clerk of FWCC European & Near East Section.
1978
The first Friends conference in Asia is held in Hong Kong. 15 Friends come together from Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, the Philippines and Taiwan.
QUNO-New York organizes 23 seminars for delegates from 58 smaller nations prior to the UN Special General Assembly on Disarmament. On “NGO Day” representatives of 25 selected NGOs are permitted to address the Assembly for a maximum of 12 minutes. Salome Nolega of Kenya speaks on behalf of the FWCC delegation.
Between 1978 and 1980 FWCC sends Duncan and Katharine Wood, recently retired from QUNO Geneva, to visit meetings the USA, Australia and New Zealand, and Barry and Kay Hollister, recently retired from QUNO New York, to visit meetings across Africa and Europe to consult and interpret about the work of QUNO.
FWCC Section of the Americas Clerk Barry Hollister presides over the plenary sessions of a New Call to Peacemaking conference of 300 representatives from the three Historic Peace Churches at Green Lake, Wisconsin.
The FWCC Section of the Americas appoints Loida Fernández Associate Secretary with responsibility for COAL. Publication of the Boletín continues, Quaker materials in Spanish are distributed, with more translations in the pipeline.
The American Section sends Young Friend Jay Thatcher traveling to yearly meetings and gatherings to provide information about opportunities for Young Friends, and to consult with them about needs for volunteer service programs.
The second European & Near East Section International Family Camp in Waterford, Republic of Ireland, has 80 participants. Camps are particularly appreciated by Friends from the continent of Europe who are isolated from Friends meetings.
The FWCC European Section’s Service Committee develops a second play center for Palestinians, this time in Ramallah. It hands over control of the work to Friends in Ramallah, and lays itself down.
Philip L. Martin is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO Geneva.
1979
14th Triennial meeting takes place in Gwatt, Switzerland. FWCC’s International Membership Committee comes into existence, to take over the responsibility for Overseas Members (those not living close enough to be under the care of a yearly meeting), previously carried out by the Overseas Membership Committee of London Yearly Meeting’s Quaker Peace and Service.
At FWCC’s suggestion, the third International Mission and Service Conference is held in an area of the world where mission and service is still carried out. The chosen location is Chiquimula, Guatemala. With the help of COAL, the Section of the Americas’ Committee of Latin American Friends, Friends attend from Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, as well as Botswana, India, Jamaica, Kenya and Lebanon.
Zablon Malenge, Kenya, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Africa Section.
Barrett Hollister, USA, becomes Clerk of FWCC Section of the Americas.
Stephen Thierman is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO New York.
1980
FWCC gives credentials to Quaker women to be observers at the International Conference on the UN Decade for Women in Copenhagen.
COAL holds an Evaluation Conference in Monteverde, Costa Rica.
Joseph P Haughton, Ireland, becomes Chairman of FWCC.
Thomas Bodine, USA, becomes Acting General Secretary of FWCC.
Val Ferguson, Great Britain, becomes Associate Secretary of FWCC.
Peter Whittle is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO Geneva.
1981
Val Ferguson, newly-appointed General Secretary, organizes the fourth Mission and Service Conference in Ciudad Victoria, Mexico, assisted by Gordon Browne, new Executive Secretary of the Section of the Americas.
The European & Near East Section sponsors an intergenerational conference for 200 which includes daily worship and Bible study in Gwatt, Switzerland, with the theme Living Creatively in an Insecure World.
The third European & Near East Section International Family Camp takes place, with increased participation. The Section gives financial assistance to families with the furthest distance to travel.
Richard G. Meredith, Australia, becomes General Secretary of FWCC.
Gordon M. Browne, Jr. becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Section of the Americas.
1982
An international conference with the theme The Transforming Power of the Love of God, arising from the most recent Mission and Service consultation, precedes the 15th Triennial meeting. 575 are present, half from Africa.
An attempted coup in Nairobi does not prevent Friends reaching Kaimosi for the 15th FWCC Triennial. The meeting seeks an end to all discrimination based on race, and challenges Friends to eliminate racism in themselves and their meetings. A concern arises for a World Gathering of Young Friends, which is subsequently planned by an independent committee of Young Friends, clerked by Simon Lamb, Ireland, with support and cooperation from FWCC offices. A separate and complementary committee is set up in the Americas.
A second conference of Friends in Asia is held in India, as Friends traveled towards Kenya for the triennial. Another proposal to form an FWCC section with volunteer personnel and a modest organization was circulated.
Jonathan Fryer
, Great Britain, resident in Belgium, becomes Secretary of FWCC European & Near East Section.
1983
At the invitation of the FWCC Section of the Americas, the Clerk and another member of the German Democratic Republic Yearly Meeting are able to travel among Friends seven cities throughout the USA to share their concern for peace-building through mutual understanding.
Franco Perna, Italy, resident in Luxembourg, becomes Secretary of FWCC European & Near East Section.
Roger Nauman is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO New York.
Kevin Clements is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO Geneva.
1984
The Section of the Americas holds a cross-cultural, bilingual Quaker Youth Pilgrimage with visits to Friends meetings in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico and to the Rough Rock Friends Mission in Navajo Territory. It includes a work camp and wilderness camping. Three pilgrims are from Ciudad Victoria Friends in Mexico.
COAL supports the founding of a peace center in San José, Costa Rica. Nelson Salinas, a Chilean living in the US, becomes Associate Secretary for a year. He works with the COAL Executive Committee and travels among Friends in the US. The Section of the Americas encourages intervisitation among Friends in Latin America and between North and Latin America. Executive Secretary Gordon Browne travels for a month among Friends in Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. The Section arranges for Jorge Hernández to be Friend in Residence at Pendle Hill for two terms to strengthen its curriculum and interest to Latin American Friends, to provide a brief Spanish language course for those going to the 1985 Triennial in Mexico and to prepare a Quaker leadership training course of Latin American Friends.
The Wider Quaker Fellowship program begins annual mailings in Spanish.
European and Middle East Young Friends
(EMEYF) is established to facilitate Quaker youth exchange within and beyond the Europe and Middle East Section.
1985
The World Gathering of Young Friends at Guilford College is more representative of all groups of Friends than any world conference has ever been. 57 yearly meetings in 34 countries are represented. Young Friends raise the funds for participants from Africa, Asia and Central and South America. 30 participants go on to the 16th FWCC Triennial meeting in Oaxtepec, Mexico.
Andres Carranza of Honduras is appointed COAL staff in preparation for the Triennial. Afterwards, he visits Friends in Bolivia, Cuba and Peru. He arranges for a meeting of COAL representatives in Bolivia in 1987. Dinora Uvalle Vasquez, Mexico, succeeds him.
The 16th Triennial establishes a World Quaker Aid program to be administered by officers of FWCC, through which Friends throughout the world can participate in the work of meetings other than their own. The first project assists Cuban Friends with the repair of church buildings, another with repairs of historic Friends’ buildings in Kenya. The Triennial approves the proposal of FWCC General Secretary Richard Meredith to establish an FWCC Asia West Pacific Section. He agrees to be its volunteer secretary after his retirement.
FWCC gives credentials to Quaker women to be observers at the United Nations End Decade Women’s Forum in Nairobi.
A fifth and final Mission and Service Conference is held at Woodbrooke.
Heather Moir, USA, becomes Clerk of FWCC Section of the Americas.
Joel McClennan is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO Geneva.
1986
300 European Friends attend a Family Gathering in Waterford, Republic of Ireland.
After a number of years of cooperation between Friends General Conference and Friends United Meeting in preparing curriculum for the Scouting religious service awards, responsibility passes to FWCC’s Section of the Americas, which sets up the Friends Committee on Scouting to develop curriculum for boys and girls of different ages in the Scouting movement.
Simeon Shitemi, Kenya, becomes Clerk of FWCC.
Val Ferguson. Great Britain, becomes General Secretary of FWCC.
Thomas F. Taylor, USA, becomes Associate Secretary of FWCC.
Yoon-Gu Lee, Korea, becomes Clerk, and Richard G. Meredith, Australia, becomes Secretary/Treasurer of the new FWCC Asia West Pacific Section.
Erica Vere, Great Britain, becomes Clerk of FWCC European & Near East Section.
1987
FWCC celebrates its 50th anniversary. The Section of the Americas says it has topped its $750,000 campaign target in gifts and deferred giving.
The Right Sharing of World Resources is becoming strong and effective, with good leadership, effective communications and education, and a sense of connection being built up between donors and communities. It is heading towards becoming an independent NGO.
The FWCC Section of the Americas invites Jennifer Kinghorn and Duduzile Mtshazo of South Africa to travel among Friends in the USA.
Stephen Collett is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO New York.
Due, in part, to the steady and persistent work of QUNO Geneva, the right to conscientious objection is recognized by the UN Human Rights Commission.
1988
Two years after its formation, the FWCC Asia West Pacific Section hosts the 17th Triennial meeting in Tokyo, Japan – the first FWCC worldwide meeting in Asia. The Triennial agrees to join the World Council of Churches’ Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation program. It also agrees to hold a World Conference on three sites in 1991. It continues the World Quaker Aid program and approves assistance for renovations to Quaker Cottage, Belfast, a camp for Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong, and a transmitter for a Friends’ radio station project in El Salvador and Guatemala.
FWCC’s handbook Traveling Under a Religious Concern is approved.
Susumu Ishitani, Japan, becomes Clerk of FWCC Asia West Pacific Section.
By the end of 1988, FWCC’s International Membership Committee is supporting small worship groups in Bahrain, Cairo, Gaza, Hong Kong, Madrid, Managua, Lagos, Papua New Guinea, Rome, San José (Costa Rica) and Singapore. Three Monthly Meetings are also under its care: the General Conference of Friends in India, Hill House Meeting in Accra, Ghana and Seoul Monthly Meeting, Korea.
1989
Harold Smuck, USA, becomes Clerk, and Alex Morisey becomes Executive Secretary, of FWCC Section of the Americas.
1990
The First International Theological Conference of Quaker Women is held at Woodbrooke. Jointly sponsored by FWCC, Earlham School of Religion and Woodbrooke, it brings together 74 women from 21 countries.
1991
The 5th World Conference of Friends is held on three sites: Tela, Honduras, Chavakali, Kenya and Elspeet, Netherlands. Its theme, "Living Water", and its study materials, "In Spirit and in Truth", are taken from Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well in John’s gospel. The locations in Kenya and Honduras make it possible for larger numbers of Africans and Latin Americans to attend. Aymara Friends from Bolivia and Peru attend a worldwide FWCC event for the first time and make a strong impact. Quaker Bolivia Link, an independent non-profit organization, takes shape following the meeting in Tela, and subsequent marriage, of a couple from Great Britain and the USA. Because of the extensive work involved in organizing these meetings, no Triennial is held.
Young Friends participate in post-triennial gatherings in St. Gerard, Belgium, San Marcos de Ocotopeque, Honduras, and Chavakali, Kenya.
Heather Moir, USA, becomes Clerk of FWCC.
Thomas Taylor, USA, becomes General Secretary of FWCC.
Duduzile Mtshazo, South Africa, becomes Clerk of FWCC Africa Section.
Ruth Watson, Australia, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Asia West Pacific Section.
First Johan Maurer and then Corilda (Cilde) Grover, both USA, are Interim Executive Secretaries of FWCC Section of the Americas.
1992
Roger Sturge, Great Britain, becomes Associate Secretary of FWCC.
Malesi Kinaro, Kenya, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Africa Section.
Asia Bennett, USA, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Section of the Americas.
Michi Nakamura (Japan) becomes Clerk of FWCC Asia West Pacific Section.
Ena Mc George, Great Britain, becomes Clerk of the renamed FWCC Europe & Middle East Section.
1993
Hans Weening, Netherlands, becomes Executive Secretary of Europe & Middle East Section.
Loida Fernández, Mexico, becomes Executive Secretary of COAL once more.
1994
18th FWCC Triennial meeting, Abiquiu, New Mexico, USA. Theme: On Being Publishers of Truth.
Barnabas Lugonzo, Kenya, becomes volunteer Executive Secretary of FWCC Africa Section.
1995
Egil Hovdenak, Norway, becomes Clerk FWCC Europe & Middle East Section.
1996
Tom Hill, USA, becomes Clerk of FWCC Section of the Americas.
At the Annual Meeting of the Section of the Americas, COAL decides that, to create funds for intervisitation, publications and workshops in Latin America, a full representation of representatives will attend every other year. The COAL Executive Committee will meet at every Annual Meeting.
1997
19th FWCC Triennial meeting, Birmingham, Great Britain.
Elizabeth Duke, Aotearoa/New Zealand, becomes Associate Secretary of FWCC.
Steven Guloba, Uganda, becomes Clerk, and Joseph Andugu, Kenya, becomes Executive Secretary, of FWCC Africa Section.
Corilda (Cilde) Grover, USA, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Section of the Americas.
Linley Gregory, Aotearoa New Zealand, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Asia West Pacific Section.
1998
David Purnell, Australia, becomes Clerk, and Elizabeth Duke, Aotearoa/New Zealand, becomes General Secretary, of FWCC
Patricia Thomas, USA, becomes Associate Secretary of FWCC.
Arvind Swan, India, becomes Clerk of FWCC Asia West Pacific Section.
Tony Fitt, Great Britain, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Europe & Middle East Section.
1999
80 Central American Friends attend the first of a series of cross-border workshops organized by COAL on Quaker beliefs, testimonies and traditions. Ken Jacobsen, Ohio Yearly Meeting, leads the workshop based on Propositions 12 and 13 of Barclay’s Apology, which FWCC Section of the Americas has translated.
Annis Bleeke, USA, becomes Associate Secretary of FWCC.
La Donna Wallen, USA, becomes Clerk of FWCC Section of the Americas
Marianne IJspeert, Netherlands, becomes Clerk of FWCC Europe & Middle East Section.
2000
20th FWCC Triennial meeting, Center Harbor, New Hampshire, USA. Theme: Friends: a people called to listen, gathered to seek, sent forth to serve.
COAL workshop in Cuba based on the writings of Robert Barclay.
2001
FWCC Section of the Americas translates selections from the writings of George Fox.
Anita Wuyts, Belgium, becomes Clerk of FWCC Europe & Middle East Section.
2002
David Brindle, USA, becomes Associate Secretary of FWCC.
Margaret Fraser, Great Britain, resident in USA, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Section of the Americas.
Bronwyn Harwood, Great Britain, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Europe & Middle East Section.
2003
Nearly 300 Friends from Canada and the USA, a quarter of them young Friends, gather at Guilford College, North Carolina in January 2003 for FWCC Section of the Americas’ Friends’ Peace Witness in a Time of Crisis: A Conference on our Responses to the Growing Danger of Global War and Terrorism. The book of the same title, based on the proceedings, is a valuable religious education resource.
Friends travel from Guatemala and Honduras to attend a COAL workshop in El Salvador. Participant Bernabé Sánchez of Honduras asks to train to be a future workshop leader.
Devdas Shrisunder, India, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Asia West Pacific Section.
Annis Bleeke returns as Interim Associate Secretary of FWCC.
2004
21st FWCC Triennial meeting, Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand. Many representatives from India and Africa arrive late or not at all because of visa problems, mostly denials of transit visas on flights via Australia.
Manuel Guzmán, México, and Bernabé Sánchez, Honduras, co-lead workshops for Bolivian and Peruvian Friends in La Paz, based on Jack Willcuts’ Why Friends are Friends, translated by FWCC. Loida Fernández leads a workshop in Bolivia on The Biblical Approach to Peacemaking.
Duduzile Mtshazo, South Africa, becomes Clerk, and Nancy Irving, USA, becomes General Secretary, of FWCC.
Joseph Andugu, Kenya, becomes Associate Secretary of FWCC until the post is suspended to balance the budget.
Gladys Kang’ahi, Kenya, becomes Clerk, and Moses Musonga, Kenya, becomes Executive Secretary, of FWCC Africa Section.
Kenneth Co Ching-Po, Hong Kong, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Asia West Pacific Section.
2005
The Section of the Americas convenes a consultation on the availability of Quaker materials in Spanish for the religious education of adults and children. A digital divide emerges: those from Canada through Central America prefer downloading materials from the internet. Bolivian and Peruvian Friends need printed materials.
As in 1984, FWCC provides behind the scenes support and encouragement for the World Gathering of Young Friends at the University of Lancaster, Great Britain. Its theme, from John I5, is I am the vine, you are the branches, now what fruit shall we bear? Organizers, individuals and meetings raise the funds to ensure worldwide participation. Unfortunately, despite careful planning and reassurances, many participants, particularly from Africa, are denied entry into the UK. The Gathering decides to hold a second, smaller gathering later in the year in Kenya for those unable to come to England, and sends representatives there from each FWCC Section.
2006
Friends from 8 countries attend a second consultation in Chiquimula, Guatemala on religious education materials in Spanish. Cooperation in translation continues, and workshops begin to encourage Latin American Friends’ own writing.
Marit Kromberg, Norway, becomes Clerk of FWCC Europe & Middle East Section.
2007
FWCC Section of the Americas staff hold a workshop at Earlham College for those called to the ministry of interpretation among Friends.
22nd FWCC Triennial meeting, Dublin, Republic of Ireland. Its theme is "Finding the Prophetic Voice for our Time". Plans are made for a 6th World Conference of Friends to be held in the southern hemisphere in 2012.
FWCC Asia West Pacific Section ("AWPS") Executive Secretary Co Ching-po, Kenneth of Hong Kong resigns as Executive Secretary and is replaced as AWPS Executive Secretary by Valerie Joy of Australia. Dilawar Chetsingh is re-appointed as Clerk of AWPSEleanor Evans is re-appointed as Treasurer and Julian Stargardt is re-appointed as Assistant Treasurer of AWPS.
2008 FWCC Asia West Pacific Section agrees a Minute establishing a "Global Change Committee" to work on issues related to climate, environment and other forms of global change.
2009 FWCC AWPS Global Change Committee appoints Jo Valentine and Julian Stargardt as co-Clerks
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
organization that works to communicate between all parts of Quakerism. FWCC's world headquarters is based in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. It has Consultative NGO
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
status with the Economic and Social Council
United Nations Economic and Social Council
The Economic and Social Council of the United Nations constitutes one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and it is responsible for the coordination of the economic, social and related work of 14 UN specialized agencies, its functional commissions and five regional commissions...
of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. FWCC shares responsibility for the Quaker UN Office in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
with the American Friends Service Committee
American Friends Service Committee
The American Friends Service Committee is a Religious Society of Friends affiliated organization which works for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world...
and Britain Yearly Meeting
Britain Yearly Meeting
The Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends in Britain, also known as Britain Yearly Meeting , is a religious organisation in England, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, often defined as a denomination of Christianity.It is a part of the international religious...
.
FWCC was set up at the 1937 Second World Conference of Friends in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Swarthmore is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Swarthmore was originally named Westdale in honor of noted painter Benjamin West, who was one of the early residents of the town. The name was changed to Swarthmore after the establishment of Swarthmore College...
, US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
,
"to act in a consultative capacity to promote better understanding among Friends the world over, particularly by the encouragement of joint conferences and intervisitation, the collection and circulation of information about Quaker literature and other activities directed towards that end."
Structure
FWCC has four sections in addition to the world office in London:- Africa Section, based in NairobiNairobiNairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
, KenyaKenyaKenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east... - Asia and West Pacific Section, based in Australia
- Europe and Middle East Section, based in CambridgeCambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental... - Section of the Americas, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
In addition every three years FWCC organizes an international Triennial. The triennials are attended by about 175 representatives, appointed by the almost 70 affiliated yearly meetings and groups aiming to provide links among Friends. The 22nd Triennial was held in August 2007 in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, with the theme "Finding the Prophetic Voice for our Time".
Africa Section
Africa Section represents Friends throughout the continent of Africa. Most African Friends are from the evangelical and programmed traditions. However, a significant minority are from the unprogrammed tradition. South Africa Yearly Meeting is principally an unprogrammed Yearly Meeting and there are unprogrammed Meetings elsewhere in Africa, notably in Kenya. Africa Section is numerically the most numerous of the Sections and the administrative headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya. The 2012 Friends World Conference will be held in Kenya.Asia West Pacific Section
Asia West Pacific Section (AWPS) is geographically the largest FWCC Section stretching from Japan in the North to New Zealand and Australia in the South and from the Philippines in the East to India in the West. Asia West Pacific Section is growing significantly and recently welcomed into Membership the Philippine Evangelical Friends Church, a Filipino programmed and evangelical Friends Meeting; Marble Rock Friends and Mahoba Yearly Meeting in India. Some AWPS Friends Meetings are numerically small, e.g. those in Korea and Hong Kong but nonetheless give generously to Friends work internationally and contribute a lot to the life of Friends. Other Friends Meetings in the Section are relatively large with several thousand Friends. The geographical area of the AWPS region includes numerically numerous Friends Meetings of the evangelical programmed tradition which have not as yet affiliated with FWCC, although friendly relations are maintained locally. AWPS has led the way among Friends for action on what Friends call "Global Change" which we define as: "The unity, integration and the inter-connection of all change. Seemingly different or unrelated changes are in fact aspects of facets of a single greater change." (Quoted from Julian Stargardt: "Friends and Global Change", AWPS, 2008.) In 2008 AWPS established a Global Change Committee to network, research and work on the subject, the AWPS Global Change Committee is currently Clerked by Jo Valentine of Australia and Julian Stargardt of Hong Kong. AWPS also asked FWCC to take up this subject on behalf of Friends worldwide which FWCC is doing.Europe and Middle East Section
Europe and Middle East Section (EMES) is numerically the smallest of the Quaker Sections but historically the oldest and is growing in former East Block countries, though declining in so called Western countries. EMES includes Britain Yearly Meeting, the mother Meeting of Friends, being the heir to the former London Yearly Meeting. Britain Yearly Meeting's "Faith and Practice" or book of discipline is used by many Friends around the world as a guide to Friends' practices and procedures. Britain Yearly Meeting is the largest Meeting in the Section with approximately 16,000 Members, followed by Ireland Yearly Meeting with around 1,000 Members. Other Yearly Meetings in Europe are small, in some cases smaller than Monthly Meetings in Asia but retain the name and form of Yearly Meetings for historical reasons. Friends have a long standing presence in the Middle East and the PalestinePalestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, dating back to Ottoman times. For example, Friends School, Ramallah
Ramallah
Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority...
, is a noted educational centre and Friends are active in attempts to build peace at the grass roots in this troubled area. Britain Yearly Meeting's Quaker Peace and Social Witness (QPSW) is one of the significant international Friends agencies. The FWCC Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) in Geneva is partly supported by Britain Yearly Meeting. Friends presence at the United Nations has engaged and continues to engage in much quiet diplomacy to reduce violence and build peace around the world. Friends House in Geneva is a quiet haven in a busy international city and hosts Geneva Meeting.
Section of the Americas
Section of the Americas is numerically the second largest section and includes Friends from all Friends traditions in both North and South America as well as in the Caribbean and Central America. Section of the Americas is officially bi-lingual in Spanish and English, though Canada Yearly Meeting also operates in both English and French. FWCC's other QUNO branch is located adjacent to the New York UN Building and is closely connected with the quasi-Quaker organisation American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). AFSC was founded by Friends and still has a substantially Friends Board of Trustees, however, only the Director of AFSC is required to be a Friend and the vast majority of AFSC staff, including senior staff, are not Friends and are not familiar with Friends worship or testimonies leading to some Friends' Meetings distancing themselves from AFSC and its activities. In 1947 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Friends for 300 years of work for peace and received on behalf of Friends by AFSC and its London counterpart, the Friends Service Committee, now known as Quaker Peace and Social Witness. Approximately 160,000 Friends live in the USA and some 300,000 live in Latin America. US Friends are often relatively affluent whereas many Latin American Friends come from relatively impoverished and oppressed indigenous communities. As in Asia and Africa, in Latin America, Friends are a growing church. Section of the Americas Friends have a long history dating back to the mid-17th Century. Friends founded or helped found a number of the US States, notably Pennsylvania, named after distinguished 17th Century English Friend, William Penn; Rhode Island; New Jersey and Delaware all had substantial Friends' contributions in their founding. William Penn's constitutional documents for Pennsylvania formed an important and influential source for the later United States Constitution. In the early colonial period Friends were persecuted in Massachusetts and New York. Friends also had a substantial impact in the early days of colonisation of the Caribbean, for example in the 17th century and early 18th century 25% of the population of Barbados was Friends. The history of suffering is a uniting factor with Latin American Friends, many of whom live in difficult circumstances and find living the transformative Peace Testimony a daily commitment.It is difficult to speak about American Friends as a whole because they represent such a broad and diverse range of Friends traditions, however, it is a tribute to their commitment to Friends beliefs that they respect each other and work together.
World Office Staff (at June 2009)
General Secretary - Nancy IrvingDirector of Communications - Harry Albright
Harry Albright
Harry James Albright is the Director of Communications for the Friends World Committee for Consultation . He was editor of The Friend Magazine from 1997 to 2004. He is also the co-owner of a training company....
Financial Administrator - Cathy Rowlands
Office Administrator/Database Manager - Kim Bond
FWCC Triennials
| Location | Date | Theme |
|---|---|---|
| Mexico | 1985 | Profundizar Más = Digging deeper. |
| New Mexico New Mexico New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S... , USA |
August 1994 | On being publishers of truth |
| Birmingham Birmingham Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a... , England |
July 1997 | Answering the love of God : living our testimonies. |
| New Hampshire New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian... , USA |
July 2000 | “Friends: A People Called to Listen, Gathered to Seek, Sent Forth to Serve” |
| Aotearoa Aotearoa Aotearoa is the most widely known and accepted Māori name for New Zealand. It is used by both Māori and non-Māori, and is becoming increasingly widespread in the bilingual names of national organisations, such as the National Library of New Zealand / Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa.-Translation:The... /New Zealand New Zealand New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga... |
January 2004 | “Being Faithful Witnesses: Serving God in a Changing World”. |
| Dublin, Ireland Ireland Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth... |
11–19 August 2007 | “Finding the Prophetic Voice for our Time”. |
As noted above, the second World Conference took place in Pennsylvania in 1937. The first had been held in the U.K. in 1920.
The third was held in Oxford, U.K. in 1952 and the fourth in Greensboro, North Carolina, U.S.A. in 1967. A World Conference will be held at Nairobi
Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
in Kenya in 2012 in lieu of triennial gathering in 2010. In future Plenary Meetings may not be held on a Triennial basis.
Timeline
1900After 70 years of insisting on a strict policy of non-recognition of “the Other Branch”; preventing Hicksite Friends from ministering publicly in Britain, and warning its members against connections with “the Other Branch,” a theological thaw is taking place in the solidly Orthodox London Yearly Meeting. Personal relationships are formed across the chasm. Hicksite Friends are welcomed on cycling tours and at summer schools in Scarborough, northern England.
Sarah Bancroft, a Hicksite Friend from Delaware, married Roger Clark, of the English Quaker shoe manufacturing company. Stanley Yarnall, a member of the Orthodox Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, attends the wedding, along with John Wilhelm Rowntree
John Wilhelm Rowntree
John Wilhelm Rowntree was a chocolate and confectionery manufacturer and Quaker religious activist and reformer....
, friend of Rufus Jones and who would be active in the foundation of Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre
Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre
Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre is a Quaker college based in the Selly Oak area of Birmingham, England.The only Quaker Study Centre in Europe, it was founded by George Cadbury in 1903 and occupies his former home on the Bristol Road. Woodbrooke's first Director of Studies was the biblical scholar J...
. Sara settles in her husband’s home town of Street, Somerset
Street, Somerset
Street is a small village and civil parish in the county of Somerset, England. It is situated on a dry spot in the Somerset Levels, at the end of the Polden Hills, south-west of Glastonbury. The 2001 census records the village as having a population of 11,066...
, and the certificate of transfer from her meeting is accepted by Friends in Street without incident. Eight years later her sister Lucy married into the Gillett family of England, further strengthening links across divide.
British Friends begin to cross the Atlantic to attend Friends General Conference
Friends General Conference
Friends General Conference is a North American Quaker organization primarily serving the Quaker yearly and monthly meetings in the United States and Canada that choose to be members...
sessions.
1901
Edward Magill, the President of (Hicksite) Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
, was given permission to attend London Yearly Meeting sessions.
1903
The Woodbrooke Quaker Study Center opens its doors in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, UK. International students including North Americans from all branches are welcome from the inception.
1905
John Wilhelm Rowntree
John Wilhelm Rowntree
John Wilhelm Rowntree was a chocolate and confectionery manufacturer and Quaker religious activist and reformer....
died after arriving in the US for more intervisitation. His funeral at (Orthodox) Haverford meeting was attended by many Hicksite Friends.
1911-1912
400 Young Friends participated in conference in Swanwick
Swanwick
Swanwick may refer to:* The village of Swanwick, Derbyshire, England.* The village of Swanwick, Hampshire, England.* Helena Swanwick , British feminist and pacifist....
, Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
, UK; attendees include several from North America. Young Friends from Britain participated in conferences and gatherings in USA.
1914-18
More than 1,000 Young British and American Friends did alternative service during World War I; including in the Friends Ambulance Unit, which operated close to the battle lines.
1917
Carl Heath of Great Britain proposed setting up Embassies of Quakerism, “Rooted in spiritual life which centers in Christ” in every European capital city. The proposal was a seed of the future Quaker United Nations Offices. At the same time British Friends decide to invite representatives of all yearly meetings in the world to a conference in London, after the end of the war.
1920
Almost 1,000 Friends attended the All Friends’ Conference “Called to consider the nature and basis of our Peace Testimony and it application to the needs of the world today”. Over 800 are from Great Britain and the USA. Others come from Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. Its publication Friends and War declared that many theologians had subverted the Christian concept of love, and that true Christian practice makes “participation in war under any circumstances impossible.”
That same year 400 Friends gathered at an international Young Friends Conference at Jordans, Great Britain. It is organized in consultation with Young Friends’ committees on both sides of the Atlantic and the Friends Fellowship Christian Union.
J. Passmore Elkinton began traveling an average of 20,000 miles a year by rail throughout the US for his company, and worshiped with Friends whenever possible. It was the first time that a Philadelphia Quaker had been sighted in many Friends churches and meetinghouses.
1923
London Yearly Meeting rescinded its 1829 policy of not recognizing yearly meetings not on the official list of orthodox groups. It agreed that it would “extend the spirit of love and fellowship to all bodies of Friends, whether or not it is in complete agreement with their views or practices.”
1927
A small meeting in Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cheyenne is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming and the county seat of Laramie County. It is the principal city of the Cheyenne, Wyoming, Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Laramie County. The population is 59,466 at the 2010 census. Cheyenne is the...
, made up of Friends from California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, and Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
begins to consolidate the emerging grouping of Evangelical Friends in the USA. This led to the secession of several yearly meetings from Five Years Meeting (later Five Years Meeting became Friends United Meeting).
1928
50 Young Friends from 15 countries held a conference in Brussels, Belgium.
1929
A General Conference of Young Friends, called the Twentieth Conference of Young Friends gathered in Richmond, Indiana
Richmond, Indiana
Richmond is a city largely within Wayne Township, Wayne County, in east central Indiana, United States, which borders Ohio. The city also includes the Richmond Municipal Airport, which is in Boston Township and separated from the rest of the city...
. Thirty participants traveled to Oskaloosa, Iowa
Oskaloosa, Iowa
Oskaloosa is the county seat of Mahaska County, Iowa, United States. The population was 11,463 in the 2010 census, an increase from 10,938 in the 2000 census. -History:...
for the Conference of All Friends in North America.
A conference representing “All Friends in North America” was held in Oskaloosa. The speakers represented a wide spectrum of belief, including those involved in the fundamentalist evangelical breakaways in Kansas and Oregon.
1932
An International Conference of European Friends was held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The Fellowship Committee of the American Friends Service Committee
American Friends Service Committee
The American Friends Service Committee is a Religious Society of Friends affiliated organization which works for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world...
(later to become the American Friends Fellowship Council) suggests holding a World Conference of Friends. A World Conference Planning Committee, representative of many yearly meetings in the USA, was formed, with Passmore Elkinton as chairman.
1934
A Conference of European Friends was held near Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
. That year the permanent committee planning these conferences accepted Passmore Elkinton’s invitation to join the U.S.–based World Conference Planning Committee.
Anna Griscom Elkinton replaced her husband Passmore Elkinton as chairman of the World Conference Planning Committee.
Young Friends from 10 countries hold a conference in Denmark, in the shadow of the rise of Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
.
1936
The American Friends Fellowship Council was formed to further two concerns of Rufus Jones: the spiritual nurture of isolated small groups of Friends and the care of the Wider Quaker Fellowship program.
During an International Conference of European Friends held at Jordans, Great Britain, a memorandum on International Cooperation Among Friends was drafted. This document was included in large part in the report of Commission V of the 1937 World Conference. It contained the vision of a world organization of Friends in which organization would be subordinate to spirit and life.
1937
The Friends World Conference was held at Swarthmore and Haverford Colleges, Pennsylvania, USA. Approximately 1,000 Friends from 24 countries attended, including eight countries that were not represented at the 1920 conference: Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
; 23 of the 25 yearly meetings in the USA are represented. The recommendations of Commission V International Cooperation of Friends, which included the setting up of a World Consultative Committee were presented. The minutes say that “animated discussion followed,” they called for a called session three days later before the recommendation was approved.
1938
The World Consultative Committee was formed. The new organization is given a temporary home in Friends House, London. The Committee held its first meeting in Vallekilde, Denmark, a year after its founding. Because of travel costs and the worsening situation in Europe, just 20 representatives from 14 yearly meetings attended. The meeting's minutes record the formation of the American and European Sections, and adopts the name recommended by the two Sections: Friends World Committee for Consultation. The staff are encouraged to revise the handbook of Friends Around the World, publish an annual calendar of yearly meetings and an international journal. Yearly meetings are asked to extend intervisitation.
The American Section holds its first meeting in January in Washington, DC, in tandem with the American Friends Fellowship Council. It holds a brief second meeting during the Friends General Conference Gathering in Cape May, New Jersey.
The International Committee convened in Doorn, the Netherlands, which changes its name to ‘European Section.’ The European Section then held a conference in Denmark.
1939
FWCC held its 2nd meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. It adopts a budget of £750. It was unable to meet again as a worldwide body until World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
ended.
1940
The January Annual Meeting of the FWCC American Section appoints a committee to consider plans for future peace. A year later it forms a Peace Commission which produces as 79 page pamphlet Problems of Applied Pacifism which is distributed worldwide.
1941
The American Section held a Semi-Annual meeting in Holguín, Cuba. Eight Friends from outside Cuba were present. Three of the visitors traveled on to Jamaica for the founding meeting of Jamaica Yearly Meeting.
1942
Following the entry of the USA into World War II in late 1941, 250 Friends representing 25 of the 30 yearly meetings in Canada and the U.S. gathered for a Conference in April in Richmond, Indiana, convened by the FWCC American Section.
A Conference on Peace and Reconstruction is held in Wilmington, Ohio
Wilmington, Ohio
Wilmington is a city in and the county seat of Clinton County, Ohio, United States. The population was 12,520 at the 2010 census. At city entrances from state routes, county roads, and U.S. highways, the city slogan of "We Honor Our Champions" is seen, accompanied by signs that highlight various...
, in September. Its statement is published as Looking Toward the Postwar World, and foreshadows both Friends postwar service work and the Quaker United Nations Offices.
1943
The American Section disbanded its Peace Commission and appointed Bertram and Irene Pickard as Consultants on Concerns for Peace. Other Consultants were appointed with concerns for Spiritual Life, Organization, Social Order, Education and Race Relations.
1944
The FWCC American Section sponsored a Conference in Richmond, Indiana, on Friends’ Work in the Caribbean and Latin America.
1945
The Orthodox and Wilburite yearly meetings reunite to form New England Yearly Meeting
New England Yearly Meeting
New England Yearly Meeting is a body of the Religious Society of Friends headquartered in Worcester, Massachusetts that includes Friends from the New England region of the United States....
, which affiliates to both Five Years Meeting and Friends General Conference.
1946
Because of the difficulties of international travel in the immediate post-war period, an Interim Executive Committee was appointed to hold occasional meetings. The Interim Executive Committee agreed that FWCC should meet in the USA in 1947. The first postwar meeting of the European Section took place in London.
1947
FWCC held its 3rd meeting – the first after World War II – in Richmond, Indiana. 80 Friends from 20 yearly meetings in Canada and the USA, and 9 meetings in Europe, Jamaica and Mexico participated. Australia, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
were represented by recent visitors. The meeting approved holding a World Conference in England in 1952 to coincide with the 300th anniversary of the founding of Quakerism.
FWCC approves applying for consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. The UN Charter provides such standing for international Non-Governmental Organizations, but the decision does not come easily. Some feel it will take FWCC into the political arena beyond its agreed role of consultation among Friends. It accepts more easily a similar relationship with UNESCO, the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization, Paris.
The first postwar European Conference is held in Ommen, the Netherlands, on the theme The Spiritual Need of Europe and the Responsibility of Friends.
1948
D. Elton Trueblood
D. Elton Trueblood
David Elton Trueblood , who was usually known as "Elton Trueblood" or "D. Elton Trueblood", was a noted 20th century American Quaker author and theologian, former chaplain both to Harvard and Stanford universities....
, USA, became Chairman of FWCC. The office moved from cramped quarters in the Friends Hostel for International Students to a room on the top floor of Friends House in London. Programming was lively, but funds were tight.
The Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) was founded with offices in New York and Geneva. Elmore Jackson is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO New York and Algie I. Newlin is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO Geneva. As agreed, the program is under the supervision of FWCC, but the administrative costs of the New York and Geneva office are covered by the American Friends Service Committee and London Yearly Meeting respectively.
1949
London Yearly Meeting’s Meeting for Sufferings authorizes FWCC to invite 1,000 Friends to a conference in England. The Yearly Meeting will provide accommodation and FWCC will plan the program.
The FWCC American Section holds its semi-annual meeting in Highgate, Jamaica, prior to the Jamaica Yearly Meeting sessions. Two North American Friends are visitors to the sessions of Cuba Yearly Meeting before arriving in Jamaica.
William H. Marwick, Great Britain, becomes Clerk of FWCC European Section.
A Young Friends conference is held in Oskaloosa, Iowa.
1950
The 4th meeting of FWCC takes place in Oxford, United Kingdom.
James F. Walker becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC American Section following Leslie Shaffer’s death. His immediate task is to raise $30,000 as the Section’s contribution to the costs of the planned 1952 World Conference.
Colin W. Bell is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO Geneva.
1951
Harry Silcock agrees to serve as Secretary of FWCC until the end of the 1952 World Conference.
1952
An International Young Friends Conference is held in Reading, United Kingdom, prior to the World Conference.
Asia – Pacific area Friends meet at Hampstead Meetinghouse in London prior to the World Conference to express hope for future connections.
900 Friends gather for the 3rd World Conference of Friends in Oxford, Great Britain. Participants stay in different Oxford colleges. Some sleep in hammocks, the more fortunate ones in beds. Through a personal gift of £30,000 FWCC Treasurer Barrow Cadbury makes it possible for them all to be guests of London Yearly Meeting. The proceedings are published under the title "Friends Face Their Fourth Century".
The 5th meeting of FWCC, immediately following the World Conference, is the most widely representative yet. 100 participants represent 38 yearly meetings and unaffiliated groups.
1953
The FWCC American Section plays a large part in the distribution of two publications by the Historic Peace Churches (Brethren, Friends and Mennonites) War is Contrary to the Will of God (1951) and Peace is the Will of God (1953.)
An American Young Friends Conference is held in Greensboro, North Carolina, with visitors from Great Britain, Ireland and Germany.
Erroll Elliott, USA, becomes Chairman of FWCC.
Norah Douglas, Northern Ireland, becomes Clerk of FWCC European Section.
Archer Tongue, Great Britain, resident in Switzerland, becomes Secretary of FWCC European Section.
1954
Ranjit M. Chetsingh, India, becomes Secretary of FWCC. The international office has only two staff and is heavily dependent on London Yearly Meeting for its modest funds.
The American Friends Fellowship Council merges with FWCC American Section. The Wider Quaker Fellowship becomes a program of the Section. Emma Cadbury continues to serve as Chairman (since 1943.)
The FWCC American Section opens an office in Wilmington, Ohio.
In the climate of “McCarthyism
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
” and the requirement of loyalty oaths, a National Conference of Friends on Civil Liberties is convened by the FWCC American Section at Scattergood Friends School
Scattergood Friends School
Scattergood Friends School educates students in grades nine through twelve. It is in Cedar County, Iowa, two miles east and one half mile south of the town of West Branch. Founded in 1890 by Iowa Wilburite Quakers to provide a "guarded education" for their own children, it is owned and operated...
. There are 57 participants from 20 yearly meetings. The conference declares that God, and not the state, is the source of truth. 36,000 copies of its Queries are circulated.
1955
The 6th meeting of FWCC, the first to be described as a “Triennial”, is held at Camp Miami, Germantown, Ohio. Worldwide representation increases. 65 come from 20 yearly meetings in the USA. Nine are from Canada, Cuba, Jamaica and Mexico. Five European yearly meetings are represented, as are Australia, East Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. It sets intervisitation among yearly meetings as a top priority. It agrees that future meetings must be truly representative of the range of yearly meetings. It refers to yearly meetings for ‘sympathetic consideration’ a concern to abolish capital punishment. It reports “A new budget with increased sums for intervisitation requires increased contributions from yearly meetings and monthly meetings and individual Friends.” It accepts Ranjit Chetsingh’s recommendation that the principal staff position should be renamed “General Secretary” and that the office should move out of London to establish a measure of independence from the yearly meeting.
The American Section encourages Friends in Baltimore and North Carolina Yearly Meeting (Conservative) to hold a Conference on Race Relations in Woodland, North Carolina.
J. Duncan Wood is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO Geneva.
FWCC gives credentials to a Friend to attend the UN Bureau of Social Affairs Congress in Geneva on Prevention of Crime and Treatment of the Offender.
Most monthly meetings in Canada join the united Canadian Yearly Meeting, and Philadelphia Arch Street and Race Street yearly meetings form a united Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
The Hicksite and Orthodox New York Yearly Meetings reunite. The new yearly meeting decides to affiliate to both Five Years Meeting and Friends General Conference.
1956
Herbert M. Hadley, originally from Kansas, USA, becomes General Secretary of FWCC. His initial priorities are intervisitation, closer connections with the work of the United Nations, the need for Friends to look deeply into situations where there are strong differing opinions, and FWCC having a global worldview.
Ranjit and Doris Chetsingh attend FWCC’s first African Friends Conference in Nairobi, Kenya. Participants include Friends from Kenya, Madagascar and Pemba, for whom it is the first experience of FWCC.
The FWCC international office moves from London to a small building in the grounds of Woodbrooke, Birmingham, 100 miles to the north.
Building on the event in Woodland, NC, FWCC American Section works with Baltimore Yearly Meeting Friends to hold a National Friends Conference on Race Relations. It is held in Wilmington, Ohio.
The fourth Quaker Leadership Study Tour administered by FWCC American Section & Fellowship Council takes a group of adult Friends to Indiana, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington DC to see the work of Friends’ organizations. These tours are funded by Clement and Grace Biddle of New York Yearly Meeting.
Dorothy Gilbert Thorne, USA, becomes Chairman of FWCC American Section & Fellowship Council. The Section organizes a United Nations Seminar in New York for Friends pastors from the Midwest. These develop into a series of seminars on the UN in the Midwest, with speakers from QUNO New York.
Sigrid H. Lund, Norway, becomes Clerk and ‘Executive Chairman’ of FWCC European Section. The Section becomes less dominated by London Yearly Meeting and more reflective of the breadth meetings on the continent of Europe.
The Association of Evangelical Friends is formed in the USA.
1957
600 attend the Conference of Friends in the Americas, held at the invitation of Wilmington College, Ohio. Reflective of the variety of Friends in the Midwest, it encourages intervisitation and appoints visitors to the new meetings established under the care of FWCC’s American Section. There are only two keynote speakers, Douglas Steere and Kathleen Lonsdale. Most time is spent in discussion and worship-fellowship groups. Because of college’s capacity of 600, quotas have to be assigned to the different yearly meetings and groups. Friends from Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico and the USA. A children’s program is held at Quaker Knoll Camp.
The American Section also sponsors focused smaller conferences on issues of concern: civil liberties, race relations and criminal justice.
A Conference of European Friends is held in Birmingham, United Kingdom, with theme "From Fellowship to Action". A generous contribution from Barrow Cadbury makes it possible for a large representation of Friends from the continent of Europe, in addition to 131 from Great Britain. They exchange information about service carried out in the name of Friends in their countries and hear about the work of QUNO. The conference is conducted in English, French and German. The three co-chairmen are native speakers of each of these languages. To emphasize the worldwide character of Friends, visitors are invited from Australia, East Africa, South Africa and the USA.
The European Section cooperates with Swiss Friends in publishing materials in Italian.
William Cleveland, a teacher at George School near Philadelphia proposes a Quaker Youth Pilgrimage to be held in Northwest England. The captures the imagination of the American Section and the Northwest 1652 Committee of London Yearly Meeting, and the first pilgrimage is planned to take place in two years.
1958
The 7th Triennial meeting of FWCC is held at Bad Pyrmont, Germany. Of the 100 present, twelve European groups and Madagascar Friends are represented. With the theme "Sharing our Faith", it is a symposium which considers papers prepared in advance on Friends and Evangelism, Friends and Christian Missions, Friends and the Ecumenical Movement, and Friends and World Religions. FWCC later publishes the papers as Sharing our Quaker Faith. FWCC asks yearly meetings in those countries that have not ratified the Slavery Conventions of 1926 (League of Nations) and 1956 (United Nations) to urge their governments to do so. FWCC holds a Consultative Conference on the Work of Friends at the United Nations immediately following the meeting which includes 35 Friends from 17 countries.
James Walker writes “Everybody likes a birthday party, and in the last six months the American Section has celebrated the World Committee’s 20th birthday twenty-four times. The American Section Secretary has been present of twenty of those occasions and has eaten twenty excellent dinners...Clarence E Pickett appeared eleven times for the committee (and) Sumner Mills five times.”
A second National Friends Conference on Race Relations is held at Westtown School
Westtown School
Westtown School is a coeducational, college preparatory day and boarding school for students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade.-About Westtown School:...
, Pennsylvania. The FWCC American Section plans to sponsor conferences every two years but emphasizes its role “as facilitating Friends across the country to share and consult on this testimony and not (as) an action committee promoting the testimony.”
FWCC provides credentials for African Friends to attend Human Rights seminars, sponsored by the UN Economic Commission for Africa.
1959
The American and European Sections of FWCC cooperate in holding the first Quaker Youth Pilgrimage, with Lorraine and William Cleveland as leaders. The pilgrimage, which becomes a biennial event, is for 16-18 year olds. Pilgrims are from 9 yearly meetings in the USA, Germany, Great Britain, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland. They spend two weeks in the “1652 country” in daily worship, visiting historic sites and learning about the work of Friends, and two weeks on a work camp rebuilding a burnt youth club building.
With the support of Five Years Meeting and Friends General Conference, FWCC Section of the Americas calls a Conference on Crime and the Treatment of Offenders at Camp Miami, Germantown, Ohio. 80 Friends from Canada and the USA attend. The committee reaffirms opposition to the death penalty and calls on improvements to the penal system, probation, parole and the treatment of young offenders, and urges Friends to increase visiting of prisoners. Its Continuing Committee publishes What Do the Churches Say About Capital Punishment? which is reprinted in India and given to all delegates at the World Council of Churches Assembly in Delhi, 1961.
Elsa Cedergren, Sweden, becomes Chairman of FWCC.
1960
FWCC gives credentials to eight observers to attend the second UN Bureau of Social Affairs Congress in London on Prevention of Crime and Treatment of the Offender.
Five Years Meeting changes its name to Friends United Meeting
Friends United Meeting
Friends United Meeting is an association of twenty-six yearly meetings of the Religious Society of Friends in North America, Africa, and the Caribbean. In addition there are several individual Monthly meetings and organizations that are members of FUM...
.
1961
Prior to the meeting of FWCC in Kenya, several FWCC representatives join Kenyan Friends for a Conference on the Friends Peace Testimony and its Application to Kenya. Other Friends attend a Consultation on NGO Responsibility to raise awareness of Friends work at the UN.
150 Friends attend the 8th Triennial meeting of FWCC in Kaimosi, Kenya – the first worldwide meeting of FWCC to be held in Africa, to the delight of many in the host communities. Joseph Kisia writes “They visited us. They came to us as a world body representing different nationalities, races and backgrounds, meeting as equals and give and take, to listen and learn and receive.” 40 African Friends attend, making it the largest FWCC worldwide meeting to date. The meeting has two themes: "Beyond Diversities to a Common Experience of God" and "The Application of Quaker Principles in Situations of Tension". Representatives worship at 11 different meetings on the two Sundays during the meeting, and local Friends are welcome to attend four days of the meeting, during which there is simultaneous interpretation from English to Luragoli. The Nairobi Christian Council hosts a morning reception after the meeting, and FWCC hosts a tea reception in the Nairobi City Hall courtyard for 80 government and civic leaders.
A number of Friends stay on for a consultation on Friends Work in Africa, organized by several Friends service bodies. FWCC representatives visit among Friends in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Pemba, South Africa, Southern Rhodesia and Uganda before or after the meeting. FWCC arranges for Raymond Wilson of Friends Committee on National Legislation to spend ten days in Kenya on his way back from the World Council of Churches Assembly in India, to consult with Kenyan Friends anticipating independence from Britain.
Invitations are received from Earlham College, Indiana, Whittier College, California and North Carolina Yearly Meeting to hold a World Conference of Friends in 1967. The American Section endorses the invitation from the President of Guilford College to meet in Greensboro, North Carolina, but several Friends express hesitation about holding a meeting at a segregated college, and there is uncertainty about how African and Asian Friends would be received. The conference accepts the invitation to meet in Greensboro, but defers the decision of the exact location until it can be assured of meeting in an integrated college. (The Women’s College of the University of North Carolina is already integrated and provides a possible location.)
FWCC begins sponsoring a series of visitors and ‘Resident Friends’ in South Korea.
The Quaker Youth Pilgrimage includes a Young Friend from Lebanon. The work camp involves digging foundations of houses in Germany for those resettling from the east.
The third National Friends Conference on Race Relations, planned by FWCC American Section’s Race Relations Conference Committee, is held at Earlham College
Earlham College
Earlham College is a liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. It was founded in 1847 by Quakers and has approximately 1,200 students.The president is John David Dawson...
, Richmond, Indiana. There are workshops on fair housing, voting rights, fair employment, and desegregation of schools. FWCC and Five Years Meeting publish jointly a follow-up pamphlet In Whose Shoes?
A. Ward Applegate, USA, becomes Chairman of FWCC American Section & Fellowship Council.
George Loft is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO New York.
1962
FWCC arranges for British Friend Mary Nuttall, long concerned about the persistence of slavery, to work with Duncan Wood of QUNO Geneva to bring this concern to the UN’s ECOSOC Commission on Human Rights.
Representatives of six other European yearly meetings join with Norwegian Friends in forming an FWCC European Section project for Algerian refugees.
James F. Walker, USA, becomes Chairman of FWCC.
Blanche W. Shaffer, USA, becomes General Secretary of FWCC. In view of the increased work, the post of Associate Secretary is created.
1963
Income from a further gift made by Barrow Cadbury to London Yearly Meeting, it is possible to hold two more conferences of European Friends in Birmingham. The theme of this year’s gathering is God and Man - a Quaker Approach. The 250 participants come from the nine yearly meetings in the European Section, plus Greece, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Poland and Spain.
The American Section’s fourth National Friends Conference on Race Relations is held at Oakwood Friends School, Poughkeepsie, New York. It writes to Friends schools in the US expressing concern that so few African American students are enrolled.
German Young Friends hold an international conference in Udenhausen.
Herbert M. Hadley, USA, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC American Section & Fellowship Council.
William Huntington is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO New York.
Douglas Steere and Richard Ullman attend the 2nd Vatican Council as “delegated observers” from FWCC.
1964
The 9th Triennial meeting of FWCC is held in Waterford, Republic of Ireland. The meeting accepts the invitation to hold a World Conference at Guilford College on hearing that its policies had now changed and African American students were welcome there.
FWCC grants Seoul Friends group Monthly Meeting Status. Following a gift to the American Section for this purpose, a house is purchased to be used as the meeting place for Seoul Monthly Meeting.
Heinrich Carstens, Germany, becomes Clerk of FWCC European Section.
Margaret S. Gibbins, Great Britain, becomes Secretary of FWCC European Section.
The FWCC American Section publishes A Christian Response to Extremist Groups, which is reprinted many times.
1965
The fifth National Race Relations Conference is held at Earlham College under the theme The Fivefold Revolution: Race, Nuclear Weapons, Population, Automation-Poverty and the Required Moral Revolution. A further letter of concern is addressed to Friends schools and colleges. It decides to hold the next meeting in the South of the US.
An International Young Friends Conference is held in Norway.
The FWCC European Section assembles an ‘international library’ of resources for religious education for children. They also lend a parcel of books to meetings for three months and support Friends gifted in work with children to visit isolated meetings.
The FWCC American Section sets up International Quaker Aid, a program through which US residents can make donations towards Friends projects in other areas of the world. The program continues for more than 30 years, but is laid down because of the lack of staff capacity to ensure that the funds are being used for the purpose for which they were sought.
Douglas Steere, USA, becomes Chairman of FWCC.
Evangelical Friends Alliance (later Evangelical Friends International
Evangelical Friends International
Evangelical Friends Church International is a branch of Quaker yearly meetings around the world that profess evangelical Christian beliefs.- History :...
) is formed.
1966
Margaret E. Jones becomes Chairman of the Wider Quaker Fellowship. The WQF Committee in the Netherlands translates and sends out materials in Dutch to 150 fellows there. Mailings are also sent to young conscientious objectors facing prison and to Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, Finland, Hungary, India, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey There are fellows for whom Spanish is the first language in Chile, Colómbia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
The FWCC American Section sends Friends from Atlanta to spend three months in South Africa. They visit the principal groups of Friends in South Africa, Rhodesia and Zambia.
1967
900 Friends attend the 4th World Conference of Friends in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA. 300 more attend the overflow ‘Greensboro Gathering’ at the University of North Carolina. FWCC publishes a collection of essays in preparation for the conference under the title "No Time But This Present" on the themes of The Nurture of the Spiritual Life, the Ecumenical Challenge, the Community of Friends, the Community of Peoples, and Peace Making and Peace Building. It goes through three printings – a total of 12,000 copies. The conference includes more Evangelical Friends than previous FWCC events, which opens up possibilities of more connections across the theological divisions in the US. North Carolina Friends provide home hospitality for 800 extra weekend visitors, many of whom come to worship with Friends and stay on to hear U Thant
U Thant
U Thant was a Burmese diplomat and the third Secretary-General of the United Nations, from 1961 to 1971. He was chosen for the post when his predecessor, Dag Hammarskjöld, died in September 1961....
, Secretary-General of the United Nations, address 8,000 people in a public session of the conference at the Greensboro Coliseum. His address is featured on radio and television throughout the US, further enhancing the impact of the conference. Sharing of the world’s resources, the Vietnam War and Racial Conflict are major themes running through the conference.
An international Young Friends Conference is held at Westtown School immediately prior to the World Conference.
FWCC’s 10th Triennial meeting is held immediately after the World Conference. The meeting minutes hope in the “…possibility of developing one day a Section of FWCC for the Asia-Pacific Area.”
The American Section’s sixth National Race Relations Conference is held in Black Mountain, North Carolina. The planning committee’s view is that Friends in the US suffer from ‘middle class bias’ and that they focus on individual, rather than structural change, that they are afraid of conflict and are distrustful of power. The conference urges Friends to examine strictly their motives in the lifestyles they maintain, and send out a message entitled Black Power-White Power-Shared Power.
1968
In response to the 1967 World Conference’s call on Friends to launch “an all-out attack on want”, yearly meetings’ responses varied. Some asked members to give 1% of their income to projects benefiting the world’s poorest communities, others 3%.
Edwin B. Bronner of Pennsylvania, formerly of California, becomes Chairman of FWCC American Section & Fellowship Council.
The two Baltimore yearly meetings finally reunite after holding their sessions jointly in the same location since 1957. The new yearly meeting decides to affiliate to both Five Years Meeting and Friends General Conference.
1969
FWCC holds the 2nd African Friends Conference in Tananarive, Madagascar. The host yearly meeting has recently merged their yearly meeting into the United Church of Jesus Christ of Madagascar. The 30 participants come from Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Rhodesia, South Africa and Zambia. The conference considered the church’s responsibility to relieve poverty and hunger, and to speak to problems of the world.
Six Friends, three from yearly meetings belonging to Evangelical Friends Alliance (now Evangelical Friends International) and three from yearly meetings belonging to Friends United Meeting invite each of the yearly meetings in North America to send a representative to a Friends Conference on Evangelism to be held in Minneapolis. Calling themselves ‘The Committee of Concerned Friends for Renewal,’ they issue a call for a conference to be held in St Louis in 1970 on The Future of Friends.
The final conference of European Friends funded by Barrow Cadbury’s gift is held in Birmingham. The theme is God and Spiritual Strength for Action-Oriented Living. The conference considers the situation of guest workers recruited to meet the labor shortages in Western Europe. It also encourages Friends individually to give one percent of income to projects that benefit the poorest nations to stimulate ‘Right Sharing of the World’s Resources’ – a theme picked up from the 4th World Conference two years earlier.
William E. Barton, Great Britain, becomes Associate Secretary of FWCC.
1970
11th FWCC Triennial meeting, Sigtuna, Sweden. Fourteen years since the idea was first proposed, Thomas Lung’aho is finally able to present the message from the conference in Madagascar recommending the formation of an FWCC Africa Section. Friends in South and West Africa are unable to unite with the proposal at this time.
All yearly meetings but three in the USA are represented at the St. Louis Conference on The Future of Friends, responding to the call ‘to seek, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, a workable, challenging and cooperative means whereby the Friends Church can be an active, enthusiastic, Christ-centered and Spirit-directed force...’ There is a sense of a new dawn of ecumenical conversation within the Religious Society of Friends. At the close of the conference, Evangelical Friend Everett Cattell suggests that FWCC’s American Section should administer the follow-up to the conference. The Section publishes the report What Future for Friends? Superintendents and Secretaries of yearly meetings at their annual meeting in St Louis propose a broadly representative follow-up body to be called the Faith and Life Planning Group, and suggest that each yearly meeting appoint two persons to a Faith and Life Planning Committee, with FWCC American Section providing the staff service.
Instead of another conference on Race Relations, the American Section plans a two-part ‘event’ in which 20 Young Friends would live in Washington, DC for six weeks to expand their knowledge of racism and seek to learn, think and create change. They would then be joined for a five day “gathering” by 200-300 Friends who would “learn new ways to talk about race…” Fewer Friends than hoped join the “gathering” but a committed minority form Friends for Human Justice. Meetings and individuals are encouraged to contribute to this program via the American Section.
The Europe and Near East Section authorizes its treasurer to receive One Percent Fund contributions. With the help of the Chace Fund, the American Section begins the One Percent More Program. John Sexton of Baltimore Yearly Meeting is released to serve for two years as Administrator. He works with Right Sharing committees in five yearly meetings.
Janice Clevenger, a former teacher at Tokyo Friends Girls School, is sponsored by FWCC, with support from the Japan Committee of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, to be Friend in Residence at Seoul Meeting, where she stays for four years.
Barrett (Barry) Hollister is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO New York.
1971
Faith and Life conferences are held in eight regions of North America over the next three years, building on the beliefs that had emerged as central at the St Louis conference.
The European Section’s first Quaker Family Camp is held in the Netherlands. The 50 participants come from Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. Its theme is How Does Your Quaker Faith Permeate and Sustain Your Family Life?
32 Quaker Youth Pilgrims from Jamaica, Europe and the US spend a month on a yellow school bus traveling along the East coast of the US and inland to North Carolina and Indiana.
FWCC plays a leading role at the UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden. Barry Hollister has, for three years, chaired a committee of NGOs working in support of the conference. Joseph Haughton and Heinrich Carstens are official observers, two Kenyan Friends are members of their government’s delegation and other Friends attend in various capacities. Elsa Cedergren, former FWCC chairman, lends her apartment to be a temporary “Quaker House” for quiet diplomacy. The conference creates the UN Environment Program (UNEP) based in Nairobi.
The FWCC Africa Section is established in the Friends International Center, N’gong Road, Nairobi. Filemon F. Indire becomes Chairman, and Nathan Luvai becomes Secretary. Political difficulties caused by the South African Government’s policy of Apartheid at first make intervisitation between the two countries difficult.
After fifteen years away from London to establish its independence of the yearly meeting, the FWCC international office moves back there.
Heinrich Carstens, Germany, becomes Chairman of FWCC.
William E. Barton, Great Britain, becomes General Secretary, and Tayeko Yamanouchi, Japan, becomes Associate Secretary of FWCC.
Gunnar Sundberg, Sweden, becomes Clerk of FWCC’s re-named ‘European & Near East’ Section.
1973
FWCC’s 12th Triennial meeting is held in Sydney, Australia. It has been impractical for a World Resources Group to function at a global level (as hoped for at the 1967 World Conference.) Instead, Sections are encouraged to develop appropriate programs.
Friends in the Americas are given a lesson in geographical sensitivity when they announce at the Sydney Triennial their decision to rename themselves the “Western Hemisphere Section.” An Australian voice at the back of the room asks “West of what?” and the plan goes back to the drawing board. Donald L. Moon, Western YM, becomes Chairman of FWCC American Section & Fellowship Council.
FWCC’s first International Mission and Service Conference brings together in London principal officers and staff of mission boards, service agencies and some of the Friends in areas where there is still active mission and service work. It asks: What is the spiritual basis of our mission and service work? What priorities ought we to apply to meeting spiritual and material needs? How do we strengthen our partnership in Quaker witness? The conference acknowledges that this work is under the leading of the Holy Spirit, and that ministry to the whole person must deal with peace, social justice and race relations. Participants ask FWCC to convene similar events every three years.
The American Section forms a new Right Sharing of World Resources standing committee and program. Jennifer Haines, a Young Friend, becomes part-time staff. Education of Friends is seen as a crucial priority. The program finally flourishes.
1974
With the completion of its work in Algeria, the FWCC European Sections Service Committee turns its attention to developing a play center for Palestinians at the Am’ary Refugee Camp.
Responding to a desire by Friends in Aotearoa/New Zealand for closer connection with the work of QUNO, FWCC holds a consultation on Quaker United Nations Work in London.
A Faith and Life Panel, consisting of nine Friends representing the spectrum of Quaker thought and knowledgeable in Bible, Quaker history and theology publishes Quaker Understanding of Christ and Authority, which is used in preparation for the continent-wide Faith and Life Conference in Indianapolis. Friends from as far away as Alaska, Canada and Central America participate.
The FWCC American Section & Fellowship Council is renamed ‘Section of the Americas’ to be more inclusive of Central, North and South America and the Caribbean
Edwin B. Bronner, USA, becomes Chairman of FWCC.
Madelaine Jéquier, Switzerland, becomes Clerk of FWCC European & Near East Section.
1975
FWCC gives credentials to Quaker women to be observers at the UN Conference in Mexico City on International Women’s Year.
The first conference of the FWCC Africa Section is held in Kaimosi, Kenya. Representatives come from Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, Pemba and South Africa.
The FWCC European Conference in the Netherlands discusses Responsibilities in Prosperity and Learning to Live with Anxiety. FWCC arranges for many of the 220 participants to visit among European meetings after the conference.
1976
FWCC’s 13th Triennial meeting is held in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. African Friends are asked to hold a consultation on the peace testimony.
New Call to Peacemaking, a movement of the three Historic Peace Churches in the USA, Brethren, Friends and Mennonites, is launched. Bob Rumsey, FWCC Section of the Americas, is its staff support until 1982.
FWCC’s second International Mission and Service Conference brings together a larger group from 16 agencies in New Windsor, Maryland. Paulina Titus of Mid-India Yearly Meeting is assisted to travel in the ministry in the Eastern US after the conference.
David Kikaya, Kenya, becomes Secretary of FWCC Africa Section.
1977
After several years of consultation and planning, the Conference of Friends in the Americas, a broad-based conference planned with the cooperation of several Friends organizations, is held in Wichita, Kansas, with the theme Living in the Spirit. The participants whose first language is Spanish meet every day in a ‘conference within a larger conference or Mesa Redonda (round table.) Before leaving Wichita, they propose the founding of COAL, the Committee of Latin American Friends. Mexicans Loida Fernández, Manuel Guzmán and Jorge Hernández are the initial working group. The quickly get to work producing a Boletín.
The Africa Section’s consultation on the peace testimony is held in Gaberone, Botswana. Participants come from Botswana, Kenya, Rhodesia, South Africa, Zambia, as well as Canada and the US.
The American Section lays down the Friends for Human Justice program, noting that issues of racial justice have been taken up in many yearly meetings and by the American Friends Service Committee.
Ingeborg Borgstrom, Sweden, becomes Associate Secretary of FWCC.
John Ward, Great Britain, resident in Switzerland, becomes Clerk of FWCC European & Near East Section.
1978
The first Friends conference in Asia is held in Hong Kong. 15 Friends come together from Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, the Philippines and Taiwan.
QUNO-New York organizes 23 seminars for delegates from 58 smaller nations prior to the UN Special General Assembly on Disarmament. On “NGO Day” representatives of 25 selected NGOs are permitted to address the Assembly for a maximum of 12 minutes. Salome Nolega of Kenya speaks on behalf of the FWCC delegation.
Between 1978 and 1980 FWCC sends Duncan and Katharine Wood, recently retired from QUNO Geneva, to visit meetings the USA, Australia and New Zealand, and Barry and Kay Hollister, recently retired from QUNO New York, to visit meetings across Africa and Europe to consult and interpret about the work of QUNO.
FWCC Section of the Americas Clerk Barry Hollister presides over the plenary sessions of a New Call to Peacemaking conference of 300 representatives from the three Historic Peace Churches at Green Lake, Wisconsin.
The FWCC Section of the Americas appoints Loida Fernández Associate Secretary with responsibility for COAL. Publication of the Boletín continues, Quaker materials in Spanish are distributed, with more translations in the pipeline.
The American Section sends Young Friend Jay Thatcher traveling to yearly meetings and gatherings to provide information about opportunities for Young Friends, and to consult with them about needs for volunteer service programs.
The second European & Near East Section International Family Camp in Waterford, Republic of Ireland, has 80 participants. Camps are particularly appreciated by Friends from the continent of Europe who are isolated from Friends meetings.
The FWCC European Section’s Service Committee develops a second play center for Palestinians, this time in Ramallah. It hands over control of the work to Friends in Ramallah, and lays itself down.
Philip L. Martin is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO Geneva.
1979
14th Triennial meeting takes place in Gwatt, Switzerland. FWCC’s International Membership Committee comes into existence, to take over the responsibility for Overseas Members (those not living close enough to be under the care of a yearly meeting), previously carried out by the Overseas Membership Committee of London Yearly Meeting’s Quaker Peace and Service.
At FWCC’s suggestion, the third International Mission and Service Conference is held in an area of the world where mission and service is still carried out. The chosen location is Chiquimula, Guatemala. With the help of COAL, the Section of the Americas’ Committee of Latin American Friends, Friends attend from Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, as well as Botswana, India, Jamaica, Kenya and Lebanon.
Zablon Malenge, Kenya, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Africa Section.
Barrett Hollister, USA, becomes Clerk of FWCC Section of the Americas.
Stephen Thierman is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO New York.
1980
FWCC gives credentials to Quaker women to be observers at the International Conference on the UN Decade for Women in Copenhagen.
COAL holds an Evaluation Conference in Monteverde, Costa Rica.
Joseph P Haughton, Ireland, becomes Chairman of FWCC.
Thomas Bodine, USA, becomes Acting General Secretary of FWCC.
Val Ferguson, Great Britain, becomes Associate Secretary of FWCC.
Peter Whittle is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO Geneva.
1981
Val Ferguson, newly-appointed General Secretary, organizes the fourth Mission and Service Conference in Ciudad Victoria, Mexico, assisted by Gordon Browne, new Executive Secretary of the Section of the Americas.
The European & Near East Section sponsors an intergenerational conference for 200 which includes daily worship and Bible study in Gwatt, Switzerland, with the theme Living Creatively in an Insecure World.
The third European & Near East Section International Family Camp takes place, with increased participation. The Section gives financial assistance to families with the furthest distance to travel.
Richard G. Meredith, Australia, becomes General Secretary of FWCC.
Gordon M. Browne, Jr. becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Section of the Americas.
1982
An international conference with the theme The Transforming Power of the Love of God, arising from the most recent Mission and Service consultation, precedes the 15th Triennial meeting. 575 are present, half from Africa.
An attempted coup in Nairobi does not prevent Friends reaching Kaimosi for the 15th FWCC Triennial. The meeting seeks an end to all discrimination based on race, and challenges Friends to eliminate racism in themselves and their meetings. A concern arises for a World Gathering of Young Friends, which is subsequently planned by an independent committee of Young Friends, clerked by Simon Lamb, Ireland, with support and cooperation from FWCC offices. A separate and complementary committee is set up in the Americas.
A second conference of Friends in Asia is held in India, as Friends traveled towards Kenya for the triennial. Another proposal to form an FWCC section with volunteer personnel and a modest organization was circulated.
Jonathan Fryer
Jonathan Fryer
Jonathan Fryer is a British writer, broadcaster, lecturer and Liberal Democrat politician.He was the LibDem candidate for the constituency of Poplar and Limehouse in the 2010 general election, coming in fourth.-Early life:...
, Great Britain, resident in Belgium, becomes Secretary of FWCC European & Near East Section.
1983
At the invitation of the FWCC Section of the Americas, the Clerk and another member of the German Democratic Republic Yearly Meeting are able to travel among Friends seven cities throughout the USA to share their concern for peace-building through mutual understanding.
Franco Perna, Italy, resident in Luxembourg, becomes Secretary of FWCC European & Near East Section.
Roger Nauman is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO New York.
Kevin Clements is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO Geneva.
1984
The Section of the Americas holds a cross-cultural, bilingual Quaker Youth Pilgrimage with visits to Friends meetings in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico and to the Rough Rock Friends Mission in Navajo Territory. It includes a work camp and wilderness camping. Three pilgrims are from Ciudad Victoria Friends in Mexico.
COAL supports the founding of a peace center in San José, Costa Rica. Nelson Salinas, a Chilean living in the US, becomes Associate Secretary for a year. He works with the COAL Executive Committee and travels among Friends in the US. The Section of the Americas encourages intervisitation among Friends in Latin America and between North and Latin America. Executive Secretary Gordon Browne travels for a month among Friends in Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. The Section arranges for Jorge Hernández to be Friend in Residence at Pendle Hill for two terms to strengthen its curriculum and interest to Latin American Friends, to provide a brief Spanish language course for those going to the 1985 Triennial in Mexico and to prepare a Quaker leadership training course of Latin American Friends.
The Wider Quaker Fellowship program begins annual mailings in Spanish.
European and Middle East Young Friends
European and Middle East Young Friends
European and Middle East Young Friends is a Quaker organisation based in Europe for young Quaker adults. Its aims are to fostering communication amongst, and spread information about, young Friends communities in different parts of Europe and the Middle East.EMEYF is run autonomously by young...
(EMEYF) is established to facilitate Quaker youth exchange within and beyond the Europe and Middle East Section.
1985
The World Gathering of Young Friends at Guilford College is more representative of all groups of Friends than any world conference has ever been. 57 yearly meetings in 34 countries are represented. Young Friends raise the funds for participants from Africa, Asia and Central and South America. 30 participants go on to the 16th FWCC Triennial meeting in Oaxtepec, Mexico.
Andres Carranza of Honduras is appointed COAL staff in preparation for the Triennial. Afterwards, he visits Friends in Bolivia, Cuba and Peru. He arranges for a meeting of COAL representatives in Bolivia in 1987. Dinora Uvalle Vasquez, Mexico, succeeds him.
The 16th Triennial establishes a World Quaker Aid program to be administered by officers of FWCC, through which Friends throughout the world can participate in the work of meetings other than their own. The first project assists Cuban Friends with the repair of church buildings, another with repairs of historic Friends’ buildings in Kenya. The Triennial approves the proposal of FWCC General Secretary Richard Meredith to establish an FWCC Asia West Pacific Section. He agrees to be its volunteer secretary after his retirement.
FWCC gives credentials to Quaker women to be observers at the United Nations End Decade Women’s Forum in Nairobi.
A fifth and final Mission and Service Conference is held at Woodbrooke.
Heather Moir, USA, becomes Clerk of FWCC Section of the Americas.
Joel McClennan is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO Geneva.
1986
300 European Friends attend a Family Gathering in Waterford, Republic of Ireland.
After a number of years of cooperation between Friends General Conference and Friends United Meeting in preparing curriculum for the Scouting religious service awards, responsibility passes to FWCC’s Section of the Americas, which sets up the Friends Committee on Scouting to develop curriculum for boys and girls of different ages in the Scouting movement.
Simeon Shitemi, Kenya, becomes Clerk of FWCC.
Val Ferguson. Great Britain, becomes General Secretary of FWCC.
Thomas F. Taylor, USA, becomes Associate Secretary of FWCC.
Yoon-Gu Lee, Korea, becomes Clerk, and Richard G. Meredith, Australia, becomes Secretary/Treasurer of the new FWCC Asia West Pacific Section.
Erica Vere, Great Britain, becomes Clerk of FWCC European & Near East Section.
1987
FWCC celebrates its 50th anniversary. The Section of the Americas says it has topped its $750,000 campaign target in gifts and deferred giving.
The Right Sharing of World Resources is becoming strong and effective, with good leadership, effective communications and education, and a sense of connection being built up between donors and communities. It is heading towards becoming an independent NGO.
The FWCC Section of the Americas invites Jennifer Kinghorn and Duduzile Mtshazo of South Africa to travel among Friends in the USA.
Stephen Collett is appointed Quaker Representative at QUNO New York.
Due, in part, to the steady and persistent work of QUNO Geneva, the right to conscientious objection is recognized by the UN Human Rights Commission.
1988
Two years after its formation, the FWCC Asia West Pacific Section hosts the 17th Triennial meeting in Tokyo, Japan – the first FWCC worldwide meeting in Asia. The Triennial agrees to join the World Council of Churches’ Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation program. It also agrees to hold a World Conference on three sites in 1991. It continues the World Quaker Aid program and approves assistance for renovations to Quaker Cottage, Belfast, a camp for Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong, and a transmitter for a Friends’ radio station project in El Salvador and Guatemala.
FWCC’s handbook Traveling Under a Religious Concern is approved.
Susumu Ishitani, Japan, becomes Clerk of FWCC Asia West Pacific Section.
By the end of 1988, FWCC’s International Membership Committee is supporting small worship groups in Bahrain, Cairo, Gaza, Hong Kong, Madrid, Managua, Lagos, Papua New Guinea, Rome, San José (Costa Rica) and Singapore. Three Monthly Meetings are also under its care: the General Conference of Friends in India, Hill House Meeting in Accra, Ghana and Seoul Monthly Meeting, Korea.
1989
Harold Smuck, USA, becomes Clerk, and Alex Morisey becomes Executive Secretary, of FWCC Section of the Americas.
1990
The First International Theological Conference of Quaker Women is held at Woodbrooke. Jointly sponsored by FWCC, Earlham School of Religion and Woodbrooke, it brings together 74 women from 21 countries.
1991
The 5th World Conference of Friends is held on three sites: Tela, Honduras, Chavakali, Kenya and Elspeet, Netherlands. Its theme, "Living Water", and its study materials, "In Spirit and in Truth", are taken from Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well in John’s gospel. The locations in Kenya and Honduras make it possible for larger numbers of Africans and Latin Americans to attend. Aymara Friends from Bolivia and Peru attend a worldwide FWCC event for the first time and make a strong impact. Quaker Bolivia Link, an independent non-profit organization, takes shape following the meeting in Tela, and subsequent marriage, of a couple from Great Britain and the USA. Because of the extensive work involved in organizing these meetings, no Triennial is held.
Young Friends participate in post-triennial gatherings in St. Gerard, Belgium, San Marcos de Ocotopeque, Honduras, and Chavakali, Kenya.
Heather Moir, USA, becomes Clerk of FWCC.
Thomas Taylor, USA, becomes General Secretary of FWCC.
Duduzile Mtshazo, South Africa, becomes Clerk of FWCC Africa Section.
Ruth Watson, Australia, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Asia West Pacific Section.
First Johan Maurer and then Corilda (Cilde) Grover, both USA, are Interim Executive Secretaries of FWCC Section of the Americas.
1992
Roger Sturge, Great Britain, becomes Associate Secretary of FWCC.
Malesi Kinaro, Kenya, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Africa Section.
Asia Bennett, USA, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Section of the Americas.
Michi Nakamura (Japan) becomes Clerk of FWCC Asia West Pacific Section.
Ena Mc George, Great Britain, becomes Clerk of the renamed FWCC Europe & Middle East Section.
1993
Hans Weening, Netherlands, becomes Executive Secretary of Europe & Middle East Section.
Loida Fernández, Mexico, becomes Executive Secretary of COAL once more.
1994
18th FWCC Triennial meeting, Abiquiu, New Mexico, USA. Theme: On Being Publishers of Truth.
Barnabas Lugonzo, Kenya, becomes volunteer Executive Secretary of FWCC Africa Section.
1995
Egil Hovdenak, Norway, becomes Clerk FWCC Europe & Middle East Section.
1996
Tom Hill, USA, becomes Clerk of FWCC Section of the Americas.
At the Annual Meeting of the Section of the Americas, COAL decides that, to create funds for intervisitation, publications and workshops in Latin America, a full representation of representatives will attend every other year. The COAL Executive Committee will meet at every Annual Meeting.
1997
19th FWCC Triennial meeting, Birmingham, Great Britain.
Elizabeth Duke, Aotearoa/New Zealand, becomes Associate Secretary of FWCC.
Steven Guloba, Uganda, becomes Clerk, and Joseph Andugu, Kenya, becomes Executive Secretary, of FWCC Africa Section.
Corilda (Cilde) Grover, USA, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Section of the Americas.
Linley Gregory, Aotearoa New Zealand, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Asia West Pacific Section.
1998
David Purnell, Australia, becomes Clerk, and Elizabeth Duke, Aotearoa/New Zealand, becomes General Secretary, of FWCC
Patricia Thomas, USA, becomes Associate Secretary of FWCC.
Arvind Swan, India, becomes Clerk of FWCC Asia West Pacific Section.
Tony Fitt, Great Britain, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Europe & Middle East Section.
1999
80 Central American Friends attend the first of a series of cross-border workshops organized by COAL on Quaker beliefs, testimonies and traditions. Ken Jacobsen, Ohio Yearly Meeting, leads the workshop based on Propositions 12 and 13 of Barclay’s Apology, which FWCC Section of the Americas has translated.
Annis Bleeke, USA, becomes Associate Secretary of FWCC.
La Donna Wallen, USA, becomes Clerk of FWCC Section of the Americas
Marianne IJspeert, Netherlands, becomes Clerk of FWCC Europe & Middle East Section.
2000
20th FWCC Triennial meeting, Center Harbor, New Hampshire, USA. Theme: Friends: a people called to listen, gathered to seek, sent forth to serve.
COAL workshop in Cuba based on the writings of Robert Barclay.
2001
FWCC Section of the Americas translates selections from the writings of George Fox.
Anita Wuyts, Belgium, becomes Clerk of FWCC Europe & Middle East Section.
2002
David Brindle, USA, becomes Associate Secretary of FWCC.
Margaret Fraser, Great Britain, resident in USA, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Section of the Americas.
Bronwyn Harwood, Great Britain, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Europe & Middle East Section.
2003
Nearly 300 Friends from Canada and the USA, a quarter of them young Friends, gather at Guilford College, North Carolina in January 2003 for FWCC Section of the Americas’ Friends’ Peace Witness in a Time of Crisis: A Conference on our Responses to the Growing Danger of Global War and Terrorism. The book of the same title, based on the proceedings, is a valuable religious education resource.
Friends travel from Guatemala and Honduras to attend a COAL workshop in El Salvador. Participant Bernabé Sánchez of Honduras asks to train to be a future workshop leader.
Devdas Shrisunder, India, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Asia West Pacific Section.
Annis Bleeke returns as Interim Associate Secretary of FWCC.
2004
21st FWCC Triennial meeting, Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand. Many representatives from India and Africa arrive late or not at all because of visa problems, mostly denials of transit visas on flights via Australia.
Manuel Guzmán, México, and Bernabé Sánchez, Honduras, co-lead workshops for Bolivian and Peruvian Friends in La Paz, based on Jack Willcuts’ Why Friends are Friends, translated by FWCC. Loida Fernández leads a workshop in Bolivia on The Biblical Approach to Peacemaking.
Duduzile Mtshazo, South Africa, becomes Clerk, and Nancy Irving, USA, becomes General Secretary, of FWCC.
Joseph Andugu, Kenya, becomes Associate Secretary of FWCC until the post is suspended to balance the budget.
Gladys Kang’ahi, Kenya, becomes Clerk, and Moses Musonga, Kenya, becomes Executive Secretary, of FWCC Africa Section.
Kenneth Co Ching-Po, Hong Kong, becomes Executive Secretary of FWCC Asia West Pacific Section.
2005
The Section of the Americas convenes a consultation on the availability of Quaker materials in Spanish for the religious education of adults and children. A digital divide emerges: those from Canada through Central America prefer downloading materials from the internet. Bolivian and Peruvian Friends need printed materials.
As in 1984, FWCC provides behind the scenes support and encouragement for the World Gathering of Young Friends at the University of Lancaster, Great Britain. Its theme, from John I5, is I am the vine, you are the branches, now what fruit shall we bear? Organizers, individuals and meetings raise the funds to ensure worldwide participation. Unfortunately, despite careful planning and reassurances, many participants, particularly from Africa, are denied entry into the UK. The Gathering decides to hold a second, smaller gathering later in the year in Kenya for those unable to come to England, and sends representatives there from each FWCC Section.
2006
Friends from 8 countries attend a second consultation in Chiquimula, Guatemala on religious education materials in Spanish. Cooperation in translation continues, and workshops begin to encourage Latin American Friends’ own writing.
Marit Kromberg, Norway, becomes Clerk of FWCC Europe & Middle East Section.
2007
FWCC Section of the Americas staff hold a workshop at Earlham College for those called to the ministry of interpretation among Friends.
22nd FWCC Triennial meeting, Dublin, Republic of Ireland. Its theme is "Finding the Prophetic Voice for our Time". Plans are made for a 6th World Conference of Friends to be held in the southern hemisphere in 2012.
FWCC Asia West Pacific Section ("AWPS") Executive Secretary Co Ching-po, Kenneth of Hong Kong resigns as Executive Secretary and is replaced as AWPS Executive Secretary by Valerie Joy of Australia. Dilawar Chetsingh is re-appointed as Clerk of AWPSEleanor Evans is re-appointed as Treasurer and Julian Stargardt is re-appointed as Assistant Treasurer of AWPS.
2008 FWCC Asia West Pacific Section agrees a Minute establishing a "Global Change Committee" to work on issues related to climate, environment and other forms of global change.
2009 FWCC AWPS Global Change Committee appoints Jo Valentine and Julian Stargardt as co-Clerks