FWCC programs coming to Kansas, Iowa & Florida in early March  

For the past few years FWCC has offered workshops and presentations throughout the Section in order to "bring FWCC to where Friends are" with speakers on a common theme.  First it was "Being Salt and Light," in anticipation of last year's Sixth World Conference of Friends held in Kenya.

A new theme emerged after the conference: Let the Living Water Flow! By engaging Friends in the Americas on this topic, we continue to spread the message and the enthusiasm of the Sixth World Conference. Now, many local events are gearing up for March and April.  Plan now to attend.    

 

Kansas and Iowa are the next locations to feature Karen & José Luis Calderón, active members of the Guatemala Holiness Friends Yearly Meeting in Chiquimula. From an early age Karen and José Luis have served in leadership roles working with children, youth and adults.  Their current work includes leading a new project called "New Light" which they began after their return from the Sixth World Conference. This project trains economically disadvantaged women to make handicrafts that they can sell to earn income to support their families. They also recently started the Alternatives to Violence Program (AVP) training, with support from other Friends, which is bringing good results into the community.  Come hear Karen and José Luis speak:

• Friday, March 1 at Heartland Friends Meeting, Wichita, KS, 6:30 pm  
• Sunday, March 3 at Iglesia Evangélica Amigos de Wichita, all day services
• Monday, March 4 at Barclay College, Haviland, KS
• Tuesday, March 5 at Northridge Friends Church, Wichita, 7:00 pm
• Wednesday, March 6 at Emporia Friends Church, 7:00 pm
• Friday, March 8 at Middle River Friends Church, Carlisle, IA, 7:00 pm
• Saturday, March 9 at Middle River, 9:00 am - 1:00 pm [read more about Iowa programs] 

All Friends welcome to attend these events. For more information please visit our website or contact the FWCC office.   

Also in early March Ramón González Longoria (Cuba YM), clerk of the Friends World Committee, will offer a Living Water program at Miami Friends Church.  On Saturday, March 8 the program will run from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm.  Sunday's program will run from 10:30 am - 1:00 pm.   

 

In late March and April "Living Water" programs will continue:  

• March 21-24: Denver, Colorado.  First Denver Friends Church and Mountain View Friends Meeting. With Ramon Gonzalez Longoria [read more] 
• March 23: Portland, Maine. Portland Friends Meeting. With Simon Lamb and John Fitzgerald  [read more]  
• March 23: Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis Friends Meeting. With Cristela Martínez and David Millar. [read more] 
• March 25-31: Southern California.  With Ramon Gonzalez Longoria. [details coming] 
• April 5-7: Portland, Oregon: Reedwood Friends Church. With Esther Mombo (Nairobi YM Kenya) [details coming, save the date] 
• April 12-14: Greensboro, North Carolina, with Esther Mombo.  [details coming, save the date] 

Read more about our events.  

L to R: Ramón González Longoria; Cristela Martínez; David Millar. 

Sign up now to attend the Section Meeting that will take place March 14-17 in Indiana. Registration fees increase after Friday.  Learn more about this meeting.  

All Friends are welcome to attend the Section Meeting. Want to know who is coming? Click here.  

This year's program includes

• Presentations on how the Spirit of the Sixth World Conference is moving among Friends throughout the world
• News from FWCC's World Office offered by new General Secretary Gretchen Castle 
• A celebration of Friends World Committee's 75th anniversary
• Information on activities such as the Quaker Youth Pilgrimage, the next International Representatives Meeting (IRM, formerly called the Triennial) and our programs   
• Singing and worship in a variety of Friends' traditions
• Evening interest groups on a range of topics relevant for Friends  
• Worship sharing in small groups with Friends from many places 

On Saturday, March 16, we will pause from business meetings to hear young adult Friends from around the world lead a program on the theme "Let the Living Water Flow: Friends Serving God's Purposes." This will be followed by a showing of the "Salt and Light" documentary from the Sixth World Conference and a celebration of FWCC's 75th anniversary.  If you only wish to attend for one day please register here to let us know you are coming.  

For questions consult our website or contact us. 

See the draft program here.    

Read about some of the Central Executive Committee members who will be coming to Indiana in the article below. This month we profile Friends from the Americas Section. 

The Central Executive Committee (CEC) meets annually to conduct business between sessions of the International Representatives Meetings. It includes members from all four Sections of the Friends World Committee. This year they are holding their meeting in the United States, right after the Section of the Americas meeting. This month we are continuing our profiles of CEC members with the Friends from the Americas:

Ramon Gonzalez Longoria Escalona (photo in article above) from Cuba Yearly Meeting is the Clerk of the Friends World Committee for the next four years. As such, he will be the Presiding Clerk at the next International Representatives Meeting. He holds a theology degree from the Seminario Evangélico de Teología in Matanzas, Cuba, and has been a pastor for 36 years and clerk of his yearly meeting. He is now the director of the Quaker Peace Institute in Cuba (ICCP). He has four grandchildren.

Elizabeth (Betsy) Cazden, left, from New England Yearly Meeting, is the Clerk of the Central Executive Committee. A former lawyer, she teaches writing at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, and is working on a book on Quakers and slavery in New England. She has two grown children.

Cristela Martinez (photo in article above) from El Salvador Friends Church is an At-Large Member of the CEC. She works as an English teacher, and enjoys listening to music, preaching and teaching young people in her church. She is one of several international visitors who will be leading our "Living Water" program in the US following the Section and CEC meetings.  

Jane Snyder, right, from North Pacific Yearly Meeting, is the Clerk of the Section of the Americas. Jane is a retired middle school (ages 11-14) teacher.  Aside from loving Friends, education and her family, she loves to sew.   

Robin Mohr, left, Executive Secretary for the Americas, is also a member of the CEC. She is married to Chris, with two sons at home in Philadelphia. She is trying to keep up her blog, a garden and her pie baking skills in between traveling frequently for her work.

One of the joys of FWCC work is that you meet so many good and interesting people. Friends who are committed to connecting Friends and crossing cultures. However, when we step out of our comfortable circles of the people we know, we encounter Friends who have different ways of expressing themselves, theologically and culturally, and it can be hard to understand Friends from different geographic, class, ethnic, or age groups. We know from experience that our good intentions to love one another are not enough, that we all have room to improve our skills in speaking so that others can understand us, listening beyond the words, and forgiving when others hurt us, even unintentionally. Even just reading this article may be hard for some Friends.

A long term goal of the Friends World Committee is to achieve full participation from the broad diversity of Friends in the work of the Section. Broader participation by younger Friends, evangelical Friends, Friends of color, and Latin American Friends is a priority for the Section. As part of this effort, the Section of the Americas will be working to intentionally build the communication skills, sometimes called cultural competencies, of Friends in all our work.

In the next week, you will receive an invitation to complete an electronic survey about your interest and experience with FWCC and with cross-cultural work. Please take a few minutes to fill it out.

One opportunity for developing stronger cross-cultural communication skills that Friends can bring to Quaker gatherings and their whole lives will be the White Privilege Conference (WPC) in Seattle, Washington, April 10-13, 2013. This conference, a program of the  Matrix Center for the Advancement of Social Equity & Inclusion at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, examines challenging concepts of privilege and oppression and offers solutions and team building strategies to work toward a more equitable world. WPC is open to everyone and invites diverse perspectives to provide a comprehensive look at issues of privilege including: race, gender, sexuality, class, disability, etc. - the ways we all experience some form of privilege, and how we're all affected by that privilege. WPC welcomes folks with varying levels of experience addressing issues of diversity, cultural competency, and multiculturalism. In 2012, about 60 Quakers attended WPC13 and took advantage of a 55% discount on registration.

Friends General Conference is sponsoring a group discount for the WPC for a third year. For members of the Quaker community to qualify for FGC's group discount, you must pre-register with FGC by February 28, 2013. For those who pre-register, local Friends will provide home hospitality as well as help arrange for local transportation. For more information visit here. Friends do not have to be affiliated with Friends General Conference to take advantage of this discount.