Background to the proposed Consultation

The FWCC Central Executive Committee has received minutes from numerous yearly meetings urging Friends’ actions of various sorts in response to environmental, climate, and global change generally. The FWCC Triennial in 2007 responded to some of these minutes with a minute that was distributed to yearly meetings world-wide.  In late 2008, Asia West Pacific Section wrote a minute that, among other suggestions, asked the Central Executive Committee to move forward to bring Friends together in consultation on the subject of global change. A feasibility ad hoc committee produced a report and recommendations which were received positively by the CEC. The following combines the report of the ad hoc committee and the CEC decision as minuted.

There is a need for FWCC and Friends to take action. Friends sense urgency in the face of external conditions and the predictions of scientists for disruption.  At the same time we see many Friends working in apparent isolation and at times duplicating one another’s efforts.  Knowing that the Quaker ethic of simple living has in some ways put us in the forefront of thinking and behaviour, nonetheless we feel a desire to empower a radical and deep transformation that delves deeper than outward behaviour and words

There may be a distinctive Quaker response, not so much some new action to decrease individual contributions to global warming (although these are important), but perhaps in the arena of spiritual grounding and preparation to take action in the face of the upheavals and socio-economic dislocations that may arise. How might Friends embody the spirit of “shalom”, the way of peace, which grows out of the abundance of God’s love rather than the fear which scarcity engenders, so that all might be treated justly?

When we use the term Global Change, we see it as being about “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.” (Quote from Julian Stargardt.)  This is a very broad term encompassing the waves of change we see not only relating to the environment but also to the economy, migration, agriculture, and how we will live in the near future and beyond.

In the face of substantial evidence that the world climate is changing and access to basic resources and necessities of life is becoming increasingly threatened by depletion and exhaustion of non-renewable resources, pollution, economic, social & spiritual dislocations, FWCC is calling for a consultation among Friends worldwide.   We are asking how God’s justice, peace and integrity of creation can be made visible in our responses to these challenges.

This consultation process will help Friends articulate what that distinctive might be and create space for discernment and dialogue. FWCC sees that a genuine consultation (without a preconceived result) could lead to new directions and initiatives and be helpful.

The purpose of the Consultation is to ask ourselves how our lives are contributing to the causes of detrimental changes, what actions we might take to live in right relationships as part of the global community and to discern what Friends have to offer to each other and to the world at large.  Underlying all our conversation is the understanding that as the Lord keeps and sustains us, so must we keep and sustain our Lord's creation.  Here, we understand “keep” to mean a caring, loving action to sustain all people and creation in full beauty and vitality, as in the prayer, “the Lord bless you and keep you.”

The theme for the cluster gatherings and the international Consultation is: Mending the World: A Broken Covenant? Friends’ responses to global change.

To supplement this theme, a quotation from William Penn:

True Godliness doesn't turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it, and excites their endeavours to mend it. We have nothing that we can call our own; no, not our selves: for we are all but Tenants, and at Will, too, of the great Lord of our selves, and the rest of this great farm, the World that we live upon.

And from the Bible:

The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers; the heavens languish together with the earth. The earth lies polluted under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. (Isaiah 24:4, 5)

And from Jonathan Schell from The Fate of the Earth and The Abolition

In weighing the fate of the earth and, with it, our own fate, we stand before a mystery, and in tampering with the earth we tamper with a mystery. We are in deep ignorance. Our ignorance should dispose us to wonder, our wonder should make us humble, our humility should inspire us to reverence and caution, and our reverence and caution should lead us to act without delay to withdraw the threat we now pose to the earth and to ourselves.

As a first step FWCC World Office will develop a simple web page, under the FWCC banner, which would provide links to statements, minutes and documents on this subject from Yearly Meetings and from other churches, and point to other helpful resource material. It feels very much FWCC’s work to be facilitating this sharing.

Face-to-face encounters in settings where people can tell their stories in response to queries has the potential to be the most powerful way we can reflect on our response, as Friends, in the face of pending change.  The costs in terms of finances and carbon footprint as well as the complexities of international visas, make regional cluster gatherings the most viable opportunity for large number of Friends to consider these complex issues.  The hope is that the clusters will also encourage the formation or strengthening networks of Friends committed to address the challenges posed by Global Change.

Such regional clusters would be assembled as quickly as possible, in locations with the greatest concentrations of Friends. Not every yearly meeting in the world would be covered and the structure of the individual cluster would be adapted to the local region.  Where possible, these gatherings, especially examples of individual story-telling, can be taped and shared with other gatherings.  Individuals and yearly meetings distant from the cluster sites would be invited to circulate their statements or testimonies or perhaps connect electronically.

Queries will be useful to help the Clusters focus and to provide a common thread among the Clusters. Here are proposed Queries:

The responses to queries and the stories shared during the regional clusters may be passed on to other clusters and to the international consultation. In this way we might link those who contribute to the causes of environmental problems with those who must face living with the consequences.  Communication between these groups can bring to life the often-abstract concept of global change through the shared connection of membership in the Religious Society of Friends.

The most likely clusters we see happening are:

Being carbon neutral as much as possible is a priority and therefore not all yearly meetings will be within a cluster area. However, this is an opportunity to avail ourselves of technology advances to be inclusive. FWCC wants to build upon existing networks where available and to use Friends who are technically savvy to record and help us share the stories from the clusters. We would anticipate a written report from each Cluster and perhaps other forms of communication preparatory to the consultation.

FWCC will convene a worldwide Consultation on Global Change specifically to address this question of the broken covenant between humanity and God that is triggering planetary change. This consultation will bring together representatives who participated in each regional cluster, plus others who have specific wisdom to bring – a total of perhaps 50 to 60 people. We anticipate the consultation to include 2 reps from each of the 8 clusters, the committee and a few FWCC trustees, invited speakers, and about 25 people on an at large basis by application or invitation.

Some individuals attending the Consultation would be asked to prepare reports in advance on each of the regional gatherings. These reports would offer a sense of each clusters’ response to the queries and other important perspectives raised at the clusters. These reports may also include some of the taped examples of story-telling so that the whole group might gain a better sense of the range of concerns and responses worldwide.

Other individuals would be asked to prepare reflection papers, considering the “state of society” of Friends on the queries which were addressed by the Clusters.  Together, these could inform the awareness of our own contribution to the broken covenant, the damage done to us, and changes in our own behaviour we may need to consider.  These presenters will also be asked to reflect on what Friends might be able to offer as a Testimony to the whole world.

The members of the Consultation Committee will be asked to prepare a statement on their actions for circulation to Yearly Meetings around the world.

"Just as we seek unity in the Lord, so there is a unity and inter-connectedness in the challenge of change we face, unity of natural change and man-made change. All changes are inter-connected. The challenge before us is how do we – creation on this earth - survive the change we face? How do we survive and flourish? These are challenges to our survival which face us now and face the survival of our children. What is the role of Friends in this?

“We do not own this planet. It is not ours to consume. Yet in our efforts to improve the material quality of life for all humans we have brought about fundamental changes to both human society and to the natural environment which put our survival at risk. (Julian Stargardt.: "Friends and Global Change" 2008)

The CEC agrees to set up a Steering Committee from among the membership of the Feasibility Steering Group and CEC itself plus other appointments by the Clerk, to consider the issues raised by our questions and bring to birth what the Feasibility Study has outlined. This committee is to co-ordinate and steer the process, develop guidelines, parameters and boundaries for the work, and set up the cluster committees and the consultation planning committee. The Steering Committee will also identify possible outcomes from this process.

Based primarily on the report of the ad hoc Feasibility Committee and CEC Minute 09-16 - as of March 2009

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