Dear Friends, For some people, the last five months have felt like time slowed down and the days have been endless. For others, it feels like time has sped up and everything feels more urgent. You may feel like you have received a lot of emails from FWCC in the last few months – there are a few more coming, but we’ll take a break for the last week of August. In September, we will be re-calibrating, making new plans for all our programs and committees leading up to the Section Meeting in March 2021 and beyond. Even in times of pandemic, we all need to rest and recreate. That may mean exercise videos in the living room, or hikes on secluded trails, or just more sleep. Someone said, it’s like taking a breath in the orchestra – we all have to take a breath, but we don’t do it all at the same time, so the music keeps playing even when we are not blowing. I don’t know about you, but I have to be reminded of this regularly. In friendship,
Robin Mohr Executive Secretary
The 2021 Section Meeting will Be Held Online
The Executive Committee met on July 23, 2020, and made some important decisions regarding travel for the Section. The Section Meeting in March of 2021 will be an online event only. Given that it seems unlikely that all Friends would be able to safely attend an in-person meeting in March, we will choose now to focus our time and efforts on planning an inclusive online event. A Working Group will begin meeting very soon to address the specific needs of our first ever virtual Section Meeting. In addition, the Executive Committee recommends that no Section committee or program group meet in person for the remainder of 2020. This means that all the committees and program groups that typically have in-person meetings in between September and November will need to plan for alternative, online meeting formats, with staff support. Robin, Nancy, Karen and Heather are already looking at new tools we may want to use, and new rhythms of meeting that may work better for the coming months. This is an opportunity for Friends to participate without the limits of national borders, visas or money for long distance travel. The experience of many Friends during the pandemic has already provided an unexpected apprenticeship in online meetings. We expect that we will have more attendance, not less.
Latin American Women’s Conference Bendecidas para Bendecir (Blessed to Bless Others)
Saturday, August 15, 2020 at 7pm EST
For many years, women Friends in the Latin American yearly meetings dreamt of an opportunity to meet and support one another in their ministries, families, and spiritual lives. Finally, their dream will become a reality for 500 women! We ask God’s blessing on our work together. If you’d like to attend this Spanish language conference, click here to register and receive the Zoom link. Over 100 women from 8 countries, including the U.S., El Salvador, Bolivia, and Cuba, are already registered! We have launched a crowdfunding campaign to support the women of the FWCC Traveling Ministry Corps and the work of Karen Gregorio de Calderon and other all-female members of FWCC’s staff. If you have been touched by the experience of Friends women’s conferences, please join our campaign and invite your friends to make a donation and share it on your social media. You can helpusreach the $5,000 goal. We are so close! So far 39 Friends have donated $4,180. This includes 12 new or renewed donors (donors who didn’t give last fiscal year also count ). Our goal for new donors is 100. So we have a ways to go there. Invite your friends and family to join you using the new create your own pagetool. EVENTS
CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF FRIENDS’ TESTIMONY AGAINST WAR
GLOBAL ONLINE WORSHIP:4am PDT, 5am MDT, 6am CDT/Jamaica, 7am EDT (12:00 – 1:30pm UK )|August 15, 2020
CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF FRIENDS’ TESTIMONY AGAINST WAR: 1920 ALL FRIENDS’ CONFERENCE TO TODAY 2020 Join Quakers worldwide for a Global Online Worship to mark one hundred years since the first All Friends’ Conference! What happened in 1920? From August 12-20, 963 Friends met in London in the United Kingdom for the first world conference of Friends. Friends met to garner a worldwide opposition to war. The conference brought Evangelical Friends, Conservative Friends, and mystical Friends (Gurneyites, Wilburites, and Hicksites) in a common approach to post-war social and political problems. One hundred years on, we want to come together to mark the occasion and to continue to express our longing for a peaceful world. What will happen in 2020? The FWCC World Office is inviting Friends to 90 minutes of worship to mark 100 years on from the first world gathering. What compelled Friends in a post-war environment and what inspires us now to continue in our work for a peaceful world? How has God called us for these 100 years? To what can we testify today? This will include a quick orientation to how the worship will work on Zoom. As a global family, we welcome Friends across the branches, across sections, and across time zones. Please join us! Registration and additional information here!WORLD OFFICE
Young Friends Worldwide for Climate Action, Peace and Justice
To Young Friends around the world: We invite you to join Young Friends around the world, and across the Quaker branches, for a series of 5 online workshops over 10 weeks. Join us for one or all five! These sessions will be run by young Quakers for young Quakers through Friends World Committee for Consultation World Office on 5 Saturdays between August 29 and October 24, 2020. These events are for Friends aged 16-35. We look forward to listening to and thinking about Young Friends’ experiences from around the world! Tell your friends! Share the link on your social media! Find out more about the workshops and how to register here: http://ow.ly/o9Xs50AKeDi
Southwest Virtual Regional GatheringSeptember 19, 202012 pm Hawaii/3 pm Pacific/4 pm Mountain/5 pm Mexico City Save the date for an afternoon with Friends in Pacific Yearly Meeting, Intermountain Yearly Meeting, the Western Association of the Religious Society of Friends, and Evangelical Friends Church Southwest! More details coming soon. We will have some time for worship, and for getting to know each other in small groups. EVENTS
Virtual Ministry Corps
The Spanish speaking ministers of the VMC have continued their series of large online events. Saturday, July 18, they held the first Latin American Children’s Conference, “Shine for Christ.” 200 children from seven countries arrived with their parents, aunts and uncles, First Day School teachers, etc. It was a close collaboration with the Christian Education committee of El Salvador Yearly Meeting. In June, we had the second youth conference, “We are One in Christ” with more than 200 young adults from 11 countries. Both conferences benefited from the leadership of the current and former members of the VMC. The support of the Program Group, plus Karen Gregorio de Calderón and Heather Gosse have been essential. Thanks to a grant from the D’Olier Foundation, we hosted the final training for for our 10 Spanish-speaking traveling ministers for this year, which included two new ministers from Cuba and Nicaragua, from July 23-26, 2020. This online spiritual retreat in collaboration with Pendle Hill – Kairos: Tiempo de Encuentro con Dios (or Time of Encounter with God) replaced the cancelled training in Central America and Cuba that we weren’t able to hold in person due to the pandemic and travel restrictions. The training also included sessions specifically about the Traveling Ministry Corps and FWCC. The Kairos retreat was rooted in prayer, contemplation, the practice of lectio divina or prayerful reading of the Bible, community experience, study and celebration. Participants had the opportunity to live an experience of spiritual enrichment based on contemplative prayer and reflection, and to share their learning in an environment of mutual support. Participants described the experience as “excellent” and “a lovely mix of younger and older people, evangelical and unprogrammed Friends, etc.” VIRTUAL MINISTRY CORPS
Help Us Stay Social!
Let others know about the good work of the Friends World Committee for Consultation. Forward our e-news or other publications to your Friends. In the 21st century, our Quaker message to the world is more necessary and relevant than ever. Follow FWCC on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
Update or Share our Facebook page. We are looking for one or more Friends who can regularly post specific messages to our Facebook page, and share our messages widely.
COVID-19 ResourcesFWCC is still collecting resources from many yearly meetings and associations to support local churches and meetings as they make plans and decisions regarding annual sessions, worship, prevention, community, and pastoral care concerns relating to the new coronavirus. COVID-19
For many years, women Friends in the Latin American yearly meetings dreamt of an opportunity to meet and support one another in their ministries, families, and spiritual lives. Finally, their dream will become a reality for 500 women! We ask God’s blessing on our work together. If you’d like to attend this Spanish language conference, click here to register and receive the Zoom link. Over 100 women from 8 countries, including the U.S., El Salvador, Bolivia, and Cuba, are already registered! We have launched a crowdfunding campaign to support the women of the FWCC Traveling Ministry Corps and the work of Karen Gregorio de Calderon and other all-female members of FWCC’s staff. If you have been touched by the experience of Friends women’s conferences, please join our campaign and invite your friends to make a donation and share it on your social media. You can help usreach the $5,000 goal. We are so close! So far 39 Friends have donated $4,180. This includes 12 new or renewed donors (donors who didn’t give last fiscal year also count ). Our goal for new donors is 100. So we have a ways to go there. Invite your friends and family to join you using the new create your own page tool. EVENTS
The Spanish speaking ministers of the VMC have continued their series of large online events. Saturday, July 18, they held the first Latin American Children’s Conference, “Shine for Christ.” 200 children from seven countries arrived with their parents, aunts and uncles, First Day School teachers, etc. It was a close collaboration with the Christian Education committee of El Salvador Yearly Meeting. In June, we had the second youth conference, “We are One in Christ” with more than 200 young adults from 11 countries. Both conferences benefited from the leadership of the current and former members of the VMC. The support of the Program Group, plus Karen Gregorio de Calderón and Heather Gosse have been essential. Thanks to a grant from the D’Olier Foundation, we hosted the final training for for our 10 Spanish-speaking traveling ministers for this year, which included two new ministers from Cuba and Nicaragua, from July 23-26, 2020. This online spiritual retreat in collaboration with Pendle Hill – Kairos: Tiempo de Encuentro con Dios (or Time of Encounter with God) replaced the cancelled training in Central America and Cuba that we weren’t able to hold in person due to the pandemic and travel restrictions. The training also included sessions specifically about the Traveling Ministry Corps and FWCC. The Kairos retreat was rooted in prayer, contemplation, the practice of lectio divina or prayerful reading of the Bible, community experience, study and celebration. Participants had the opportunity to live an experience of spiritual enrichment based on contemplative prayer and reflection, and to share their learning in an environment of mutual support. Participants described the experience as “excellent” and “a lovely mix of younger and older people, evangelical and unprogrammed Friends, etc.” VIRTUAL MINISTRY CORPS
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