FGConnections Summer 2005
Friends and Safety
| Editor’s Note: We are grateful to the many Friends who responded to the spring issue of FGConnections on “State of the Society.” We are glad to learn that the articles sparked discussion and debate within the FGC community and encourage you to keep sending feedback and comments. However, a “letters to the editor” is not a feature we expect to include in future issues. The current issue on “Friends & Safety” has articles that overlap in content, even more than usual. This was a deliberate choice to emphasize the weight of the message. As one of the article’s mentions, in Japanese culture a speaker must make an important point at least three times before it is heard because new information takes awhile to absorb. It’s a challenging message to hear and an even harder message to absorb. We hope and expect to create discussion and debate as we all labor to deepen the love, trust and safety of our communities. |
Where Might Jesus Stand?
By Christie Duncan-Tessmer. "A Friend in my meeting asked: If Jesus walked in through the door of our meetinghouse and wanted the little children to come unto him, what would we say? 'No! Where are your references and background checks?' In a Society that wants to create a world of peace, such suspicion seems to be a poor place to start."
Faithfully Caring for the Faithful
By Charles Bone. "There always has been and may always be a general tension between completely trusting God for your care and doing those common sense acts that help ensure a safe, secure and ongoing ministry."
Creating Loving, Safe Communities
By Liz Perch. "Some Friends have the idea that child abuse does not and will not happen to Quakers. Or, that it happens much less in Quaker meetings because there are no ministers (who are thought to be the perpetrators in other religious communities). The only reason child abuse may happen less within Quaker meetings is when the whole meeting community struggles together and embraces a policy of child safety that they are ready and able to use as needed." Also online: FGC's child abuse prevention policy.
QUIP Annual Meeting 2005
By Rosalie V. Grafe. Twenty-eight Friends from the United States and Great Britain gathered at Twin Rocks Friends Camp, Rockaway, Oregon for the annual meeting of Quakers United in Publishing (QUIP).
The Importance of Friendship between Adult and Young Friends
By Claire Reddy. "I’ve found that I know only certain adults—ones with whom I have interacted more specifically over the years as I have grown up. Often these are parents of other young Friends in the meeting or people who have been involved in youth group events. What’s missing is the connection to the rest of the adults in my meeting; I’ve been attending Durham Friends Meeting since I was born and I feel like most members of the meeting have no idea who I am. In addition to that, I’ve not known how to communicate my involvement in various wider Quaker communities..."
