logo
 
Section of the Americas
November 5, 2015
In This Issue
Living the Transformation on World Quaker Day
Cross-Branch WQD Celebrations in California
QuakerSpeak Video with Spanish Subtitles
Emerging Opportunities Fund
Quick Links

Like us on Facebook

 donate_now_blue3_btn.gif
 

Just six months into the implementation of our new Weaving the Tapestry strategic plan, we have made progress on our three strategic issues: addressing the polarization among Friends, communicating the inspiring story of the Friends World Committee, and funding innovation.

Last week, I was part of the first meeting of the Traveling Ministry Corps Program Group. Friends from seven yearly meetings in the U.S. and Bolivia gathered in North Carolina to begin the formation of the volunteer corps. You'll hear much more about that in the coming year.

We're proud to be launching our third QuakerSpeak video on November 12th, this time featuring Traveling Ministry among Friends. Look for an email from us next week on that! Last month, we completed the Spanish subtitles for our first QuakerSpeak video featuring Benigno Sanchez-Eppler, Clerk of the Section of the Americas, " Why I Worship with Other Kinds of Friends."

God willing, and with your support, we will make more progress over the coming year.  Robin in El Salvador


In friendship, 
Robin Mohr 
Robin Mohr
Executive Secretary
Friends Witness Living the Transformation on World Quaker Day

On October 4, 2015, meetings, churches, and worship groups all over the globe celebrated World Quaker Day. Across the branches of the Society, Friends took time to honor their shared connections and reflected on the theme of the upcoming World Plenary in Peru, "Living the Transformation."

Friends gathered to watch the sun rise over Wairoa, Gisborne - the first place in New Zealand to see the sun on World Quaker Day! Thomas Owen shares that they brought instruments and the day was "ushered in with music and laughter." 
Young Friends on the beach in NZ
 
Ayrshire Meeting in Scotland watched two QuakerSpeak videos, "Why I Worship With Other Kinds of Quakers" and "What's the Difference Between Programmed and Unprogrammed Quaker Worship?" after meeting for worship. These provoked lively and wide ranging discussions for several hours which continued over a shared meal.
 
Friends at Hill House Meeting in Ghana decided that they'd celebrate by organizing a clean-up in the community. Edwina Assan granted an interview to Radio Ghana, the national broadcaster, and spoke about the history of Quakers in Ghana and the significant roles Quakers have been playing in maintaining peace as well as protecting human rights. She also explained that Friends throughout the world were celebrating World Quaker Day by exploring and demonstrating transformation.
 
Friends in Canberra, Australia gathered late in the afternoon to contact Friends all over the world. Using Skype, Facetime, Google Hangout, Facebook, and email, they contacted Friends in the Philippines, Sweden, and London, as well as other Australian meetings.

Check out more reports on World Quaker Day!
Cross-Branch WQD Celebrations in California
 
Many Friends gathered on World Quaker Day
 
 
Orange Grove Meeting, an historic 100-year-old unprogrammed Meeting in Pasadena, had an "exchange program" with Whittier First Friends Church, a pastoral meeting 20 miles southeast of Pasadena. Friends in these two Meetings have had close ties in the past and World Quaker Day gave them an opportunity to renew and deepen their friendships.
 
Sarah Rose House and Shayne Lightner of Orange Grove Meeting went to Whittier Friends Church along with Hulda Muaka, a Kenyan Friend who attends Palo Alto Meeting in Northern California. Hulda spoke and Shayne showed his documentary about the World Conference of Friends in Kenya.
 
Deanna_Anthony_Jill_Sarah_Gretchen Deanna Woirhaye of Whittier Friends Church came to Orange Grove and shared about her experiences at the World Conference. She and Anthony Manousos of Orange Grove Meeting had gotten to know each other at this Conference and have become friends. Anthony shared a slide presentation about World Quaker Day and the FWCC Mexico gathering he attended along with his wife, Jill Shook.
 
Asked what Quakers around the world have in common, Anthony replied, "I believe that one of the important things that connects Friends world-wide is our Peace Testimony. This was especially clear when we went to Kenya and saw the amazing work that Kenyans are doing to promote peace and nonviolence."
 
Click here for the full report!

World Quaker Day in San Salvador

3 Friends in WQD tshirts
For the second year on the first Sunday in October, Salvadoran Friends had a program to celebrate World Quaker Day and think about the world family of Friends. This year they noted that Quakerism was 368 years old, dating from the year 1648. El Salvador Yearly Meeting is part of the Evangelical and programmed tradition.
 
Their program started with a missionary breakfast and an offering in support of their missionaries in Nicaragua and Cambodia. Then Pastor Maudiel Arévalo gave a talk about the history of Quakers starting with George Fox, who went around passionately preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ. Friends then prayed and sang inspirational hymns.

Their report on the event says in part: "We used this time to pray for Friends churches around the world. Among a series of songs, times of prayer, and readings about the history of Friends, we celebrated this time, which invited us to live TRANSFORMATION. Together we experienced the presence of God among us, or as the children said, "a clear ray of light through Christ"--- or in the language of early Friends, "the Inner Light," which came into our lives, is among us, and moves us to follow passionately and proclaim the same message that moved George Fox on Pendle Hill."

The Bible passage that was the theme for the day was John 1: 9-13: "The true light that enlightens every person was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God. They were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of human beings, but of God."

"To live the TRANSFORMATION means to live it in all the areas of our lives, but we have to believe and to receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, in order to be called his children, sons and daughters of transformation. A transformation that is born within us and gets revealed outwardly by all of our actions, every aspect of our conduct, every detail, and every word we speak. It is a transformation that is revealed even in our practices of hygiene, of eating, and of caring for the environment around us.

The call in our Quaker Day was to live that transformation from within ourselves."

Click here for the complete report in Spanish, and more photos.

Thanks to Velinda Landaverde for the original report and to Jeff Keith for assistance with a summary in English.

Emerging Opportunities Fund

  

Are you excited about the new opportunities to release traveling ministers? Are you ready to connect and communicate with Friends across the Americas? Are you interested in using social enterprise endeavors to develop vital networks and sustainable funding sources to expand the work of FWCC?

Please donate generously to support our Traveling Ministry Corps, ongoing QuakerSpeak video collaborations, Representative Engagement programs, new website development, or young Friends leadership programs.