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Section of the Americas
| June 21, 2012
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Greetings!
Why did we have a World Conference? Was it worth all the time, energy and expense? Here is the briefest answer I can give:
- Friends experienced the presence and the power of God in all our various forms of Quaker worship.
- We came to know other Friends, from other parts of the world, who share the same leadings and concerns, spiritual and practical.
- We were challenged to consider what makes us Friends in the broadest possible context and in our individual lives, and how to live out this calling in the world.
The worldwide conversation about what it means to be salt and light and how Friends are living the Kingdom of God in this broken world has brought us closer together. The local gatherings throughout the Americas in the last couple of years have made a difference in our knowing one another in that which is eternal and in the very ordinariness of our lives. In the coming year, we will continue our series of gatherings with the new theme, "Let the Living Water Flow! Friends Serving God's Purposes."
To read the rest of my report and to listen to the recording of our conference call with Representatives to the Section, please visit our World Conference Report Back page.
To learn more about our follow up programming, continue reading this newsletter...
In friendship,
Robin Mohr, Executive Secretary
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| Let the Living Water Flow! Friends Serving God's Purposes
Drawing inspiration from speakers and threads running through the World Conference, this "Living Water" theme is deeply spiritual, and a call for renewal. With Biblical roots in John 4:7-14 ('whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst'), Philippians 2:13 ('For it is God who is at work in you') and others, the theme is also a practical expression for the ecological concerns of Friends worldwide, recognizing water as a life-giving and increasingly scarce resource.
This theme will guide our work in the Section of the Americas from now through March 2013. Friends traveling in the ministry will address the theme at many local gatherings over the course of the coming year, in locations now being planned.
Read more about what inspired the theme.
Friends who participated in the World Conference and who have felt a call to travel in the ministry are encouraged to apply for scholarship funds for this purpose. Some Friends who apply may be asked to serve the Section of the Americas as speakers at our local "Living Water" gatherings. For more information click here or contact us.
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| How will your meeting let the Living Water flow?
Would you like to feel the energy, the witness, and the power of ministry inspired by the Sixth World Conference?
Would you like your meeting to discern together how the Living Water can flow through you to serve God's purposes?
Can you see your meeting inviting other groups of Friends, or the local interfaith community, to your meeting or church to hear together the messages of Friends 'on fire'?
If the answer is yes, please contact us right away to find out about hosting a Friends World Committee program on the Living Water theme.
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| Latin American Friends and the Sixth World Conference
About 50 Friends from eight countries represented Latin America at the Sixth World Conference; this was the largest, most diverse group gathered in one place in recent history. Jorge Luis Peņa Reyes of Cuba, and a regional clerk, tells us that among the important questions addressed in Kenya that directly affected Latin American Quakers were
- the review of the Committee of Latin American Friends (COAL) program,
- the sharing of messages that demonstrated the brokenness of the world that extends beyond the barriers of geography or language, and
- the involvement in new leadership responsibilities of Latin American representatives, important for FWCC's future.
"The Kabarak experience shook foundations and raised up new challenges: to be the salt and the light will remain before us as the influence of God's kingdom."
Photo, left, of a group of mostly Bolivian Friends at the World Conference.
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Stories from the Sixth World Conference: personal testimonies from Latin America
"The most important thing that the conference left me with is challenge: What will  I do in my society to shine as God would want me to? What projects should I initiate that I have not yet been involved with? One of my first intentions that I will work on will be to listen to the call to serve in the area of violence in our cities."-Karen Gregorio de Calderon, Guatemala Holiness Friends Yearly Meeting "I was surprised at the way in which the evangelical Friends churches have grown in Kenya; that awakened my faith to work more in my country, aided by the guidance of the Holy Spirit."
-Ernesto Ramirez, who attended with his wife Elizabeth Gomez, Yearly Meeting of the Valley of Mexico
 "This conference has helped me also to understand the way Friends work with respect to taking the Kingdom of God to those in need through social aid and missions. I was moved by the testimonies offered by Friends from countries such as Nepal, Rwanda and other African countries where there has been much warfare, and how Friends have worked for healing and restoration." -Milton Garcia, YM of the Evangelical Friends Church in El Salvador I was surprised by the socioeconomic similarities between Kenya and Bolivia. Both were colonized countries and today they are pretty much at the same standard of living. I was moved by what some of the speakers said: "We are so busy trying to get to heaven that we miss doing things here on earth," and "We must do what we pray about". Ruben Hilare, Bolivian Holiness Mission Evangelical Friends Church  
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 Quaker Youth prepare for European Pilgrimage next monthTwenty-four youth ages 16-18 are getting ready for the biennial Quaker Youth Pilgrimage sponsored by Friends World Committee, this time to the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands. The Section of the Americas is well represented and includes several pilgrims, and one pilgrimage leader, from Latin American yearly meetings.
Please pray for the pilgrims, leaders, and all those who are working to prepare the group for this experience, including Friends at Chatham-Summit Monthly Meeting (New York YM) who will be hosting the Americas Section pilgrims just prior to their European departure. Follow where the pilgrims will be by checking out their itinerary here. |
| We need your support today!
Can you sense the excitement that Friends are bringing back from the historic World Conference in Kenya? The leadership and prophetic witness of young adults from around the world was keenly felt. Our goal in the coming year is to bring the spiritual fruits of the collective experience back to Friends in the Section. But we need your support to make this and all our work possible.
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Travel fund appreciation
Many Friends have expressed gratitude for being able to participate in the World Conference thanks to the those who gave to the Travel Fund. Ruben Maydana Torres, from the National Evangelical Friends Church of Bolivia, sent this particularly moving message:
I was able to meet Friends from around the world and learn many things that I will apply in my life and with other youth from my yearly meeting. But the most splendid thing would be for all of my Friends, who helped to make this great dream in my heart become a reality, to read this message. As I said in my home group, with tears in my eyes: thank you, because I know there is a Friend somewhere in the world who has not met me nor I him, but God planted a desire in your heart and because of you this [travel to the World Conference] became reality. I want to share this message with you even though all I can do is say thank you, thank you for listening to the voices of Friends in Latin America and for supporting us in this great adventure.
Ruben Maydana Torres can be seen in the photo of a group of Bolivian Friends, in an article above. He is in the top row, third from the right, in a blue shirt.
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