Quakers share their faith in third national Quaker Week
Quakers in Britain will be marking their third national Quaker Week from 3-11 October with events around the country where they will be speaking up about their faith, saying how it has challenged and changed their lives. Their message to enquirers will be: “this is a faith where you can fit in”.
Many will be inviting enquirers to a Quaker meeting for worship to experience the communal gathered stillness from which Quakers get their strength to work for simplicity, truth, equality and peace.
Dozens of events are planned around England, Scotland and Wales. In London, Quaker Week marks a milestone for Friends House, the home of Quakers in Britain. Award-winning architects, Patrick Theis and Soraya Khan have created a new café, bookshop, resource centre and worship space. The new Quaker Centre opens with a series of events, including a chance to meet Sheila Hancock and hear what being a Quaker means to her. (Phone 020 7663 1030/1041 to reserve a place for this session, from 11.00am to 12.30pm on Tuesday 6 October.)
Tom Harris, Outreach Officer for Quakers in Britain says: “In these uncertain times people are rethinking what really matters and are searching for others who share their values. Many people feel left out and on the edge of society. In Quaker Week we hope that with Quakers they will find acceptance and respect and a faith where they can fit in.”
Quakers share a way of life rather than a set of beliefs. They seek to experience God directly, within themselves and in their relationships with others and the world around them. They have no ministers and emphasise that all are equal. Earlier this year Quakers concluded a long and profound process of discernment about the way forward for Quaker marriage. They decided to work to change the law to allow Quaker registering officers to register same sex and different sex marriages in the same way. They will revise parts of Quaker Faith and Practice, the book of Christian discipline, to treat same sex and different sex marriages in the same way.
A special website has been launched for the Week with resources for newcomers. See http://www.quaker.org.uk/you
Events include:
- Getting to the Heart of the Matter – Restorative Justice Day, from 10.00am to 4.00pm on Sunday 3 October at Taunton Friends Meeting House, with speakers: Juliet Lyon - The Prison Reform Trust; Val Keitch - Community Justice Panel; Camilla Carr - The Forgiveness Project; PC Adrian Hooper - Avon and Somerset Police.
- Cambridge Quakers have an event for each day of the week beginning at 11.00am on Saturday 3 October with a one hour silent vigil for peace outside the Guildhall in Market Square, Cambridge; a talk by Tim Harling, co-ordinating chaplain at Peterborough Prison, on Women in Prison and the children of imprisoned mothers, at 7.30pm on Sunday 4 October at Jesus Lane Meeting House; and Quakers in Music and Words plus an exhibition and collection for the Quaker Congo Partnership at 7.30pm on Friday 9 October at Michaelhouse Centre, Trinity Street; and a Quiet Garden Opening following meeting for worship at 10.30am on Sunday 11 October at Friends Meeting House, 21 Thorpe Road, Crescent Bridge, Peterborough.
- Quaker Theatre Group will perform “Now we are sixty – the joys and challenges of aging”. Discussion follows the performance, from 7.30pm to 9.00pm on Saturday 10 October at Friends Meeting House, 59 Church Hill, Winchmore Hill, London.
- Malvern Quakers have an event each day including an evening on the British asylum system and the work of Amnesty International on Monday; an discussion on Equality for committed relationships, on Tuesday and Community response to climate change on Friday, all at 7.30pm Malvern Quaker Meeting House, 1 Orchard Road.
Ends
Notes to editor:
- Media are welcome to attend the morning with Sheila Hancock. Places must be booked with Anne van Staveren on 07958 009703.
- For events around England, Scotland and Wales see http://www.quakerweek.org.uk/happening/
- Approximately 25,000 people attend Quaker Meetings for Worship in Great Britain, and there are more than 475 Meetings.
- Quakers are known formally as the Religious Society of Friends.
Media Information
Anne van Staveren
0207 663 1048
07958 009703