Friends from 31 yearly meetings across five branches were woven together at the Meeting of FWCC's Americas Section. The meeting was held March 9-15 near Mexico City. Friends worshiped in multiple styles, shared experiences and prayer in small, diverse home groups, heard reports on FWCC work in the last two years, and approved sweeping programmatic changes during bilingual business to prepare FWCC for the years ahead, in accordance with the new strategic plan for 2015-2020: Weaving the Tapestry. Read more details at fwccamericas.org.

         
From our evaluations:

"Benigno's talk was transformative."

"All in all this was the best section meeting I have attended starting in 2010.  It was inspiring...."

"The worship became deeper & more spiritual as the weekend progressed, which may be an indication of the profound benefits of coming together face to face. It's something that electronic media won't replace."

"Getting people together, whether locally or at a distance, is the key to exploring and crossing boundaries of belief, practice, and culture, and thus the way to a richer Quaker community at every level."

"The best part was meeting Friends from nearby yearly meetings and making contacts...I anticipate getting considerable practical information that I can bring back to my own yearly meeting."

"We share so much with the different kinds of Friends represented: continuing revelation, dedication to peace, letting our lives shine....."

"There is hope for people to communicate with each other despite differences in theology, methodology of worship, and/or language and culture. This was and is much needed right now."

The next FWCC World Plenary Meeting (formerly called Triennials) will be held in Pisac, Peru from January 19-27, 2016.  Watch our short video inviting you to the conference, Living the Transformation: Creation is waiting...

Yearly Meetings are currently being asked to name their representatives for this Meeting. This is sure to be an inspiring and fulfilling event for those who attend, so why not apply for an open place and be part of it? Friends attending on an open place are full participants in the Plenary Meeting, and we welcome the gifts they bring.

Come join other Friends from around the world and gather with Friends from Peru and Bolivia for worship, fellowship, strengthening our shared sense of living ministry as Quakers. This is a unique opportunity to learn from our Friends in South America and to experience yet another way of worshiping. Our diversity is rich, and we have much to learn and to teach in mutually loving Friendship.

For more information and to apply for an open place, visit www.fwccworld.org/peru.  

To make a donation to the Travel Fund to support the participation of African and Asian Friends, visit www.fwccamericas.org/donate.  

We've switched payment processors, and we're proud to unveil our new online donations page! Visit http://weblink.donorperfect.com/fwccsoa, and you can make a donation with your MasterCard, Visa, or Discover card, or directly from your bank account. Our new page is a little cleaner and brighter, and it's all in English--we now have a dedicated Spanish-language page too! Our new processor allows us to create and update multiple donation pages easily, and it should streamline several administrative tasks. Try it out for yourself! 

Last November, we announced the completion of "Jugar llenos de fe," the Spanish translation of the popular youth religious education materials "Faith and Play."  At the Section Meeting, Caryl Menkhus Creswell, a bilingual Godly Play trainer from West Hills Friends (Northwest YM) in Portland, OR taught Friends from Latin America how to use this curriculum in their home meetings, offering a 5-hour workshop, follow-up Interest Groups and many informal conversations.

This method recounts Bible and Quaker stories in simple, elegant ways that open hearers to deep wondering about how the story speaks to them. The Godly Play curriculum affirms the spirituality of children. The training was really a time of worship and learning as Godly Play invites Friends of all ages to encounter the Spirit through the words of the story. After hearing The Great Family about Abraham and Sarah leaving Haran to go through the desert to a new home to which God was leading them, one Friend asked himself, "Do I have the faith to leave the comfortable place and go where God leads me?" For the Latin American Friends and for Caryl, the training was a time of profound sharing of personal experiences of God at work in Friends' lives and expressions of the scope and challenges faced in their ministries in their local and yearly meetings.

As the Mexico City meeting ended, Friends invited Caryl to travel to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador in the fall of 2015 and to attend the World Plenary in Peru in January 2016 to continue her ministry sharing Godly Play and Faith & Play. This program developed from relationships made by Friends through FWCC, including the sister YM relationship between New England and Cuban Friends and support from many Friends from different YMs, traditions and countries.