BDRC 25-26 January 2025

What is this committee responsible for?

Also known as our book of discipline, Quaker Faith & Practice is used to describe our faith and our organisation. Britain Yearly Meeting decided in 2018 that it needs to be updated. In February 2019, 24 Friends were appointed to be the Book of Discipline Revision Committee (BDRC). We have a great mix of people with different lives, ages and experiences of Quakerism.

What did it do at this meeting?

The key messages from this meeting are:

Friends are reminded that our 5th report to Meeting for Sufferings in December 2024 is available now on the Revising Quaker Faith & Practice page of the BYM website.

We have been using suggestions sent through our submissions system and thank everyone who has helped us in this way. We also continue to look for text, images, music, and other non-text materials which express a wide range of Quaker experience of all aspects of life, today and in previous generations. Please keep sending ideas via our submission tool or padlet.

We plan to consult with Crynwyr Cymru-Quakers in Wales on how we can best work together to ensure that content in Welsh in our new book will meet the needs of Welsh-speaking Friends.

We have reviewed the use of social media for the current phase of our work and will be communicating updates via BYM channels. Follow Quakers in Britain on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Bluesky.

We are on track to present a first full draft of the new book for consideration at Yearly Meeting 2027. We are starting work on the final topics in our list; this includes looking at Advices and Queries, and we have shared different approaches to drafting a revised Advices & Queries. We have also started looking at the big task of reviewing all of our work so far to bring together this first full draft.

Friends will be able to register to join our Special Interest Group at Britain Yearly Meeting online at 7pm on Monday evening 28 April 2025. We will offer both an update on our work and the chance to explore the purpose and impact of the current Advices & Queries with us.

How can I find out more?

Please use the links above, or keep an eye on the dedicated page on our website.