American Friends could learn a thing or two from British Friends about how to do good outreach, I think. At least judging from what I've been hearing about them lately. There are at least two brilliant things they're doing: National Quaker Week and updating their terminology.

National Quaker Week

First, they've created an event called National Quaker Week, which is under way right now. In their own words:

What if there was a week in 2007 where Quakers popped into public view, not once, but many times? What if energy and resources for outreach came together for one big push? This could significantly multiply the impact of our work on outreach. It wouldn't replace regular work on outreach, but it would give the Quaker profile a huge boost.

National Quaker Week, from 22-30 September 2007, aims to do just that. By combining national media work and advertising with local events and activities, the week will raise the profile of Quakers across the UK. "A joint effort on advertising and events throughout the country is a great way of boosting the Quaker profile," says Steve Cappleman, Outreach Co-ordinator, "If people hear about Quakers from a number of sources at the same time, it will hopefully arouse their curiosity."

As part of National Quaker Week, a long list of local meetings are hosting open houses, lectures, garden parties, and writing articles in their local papers (as well as national ones like The Guardian [hat tip to Simon]). There are ads in the London subway, and a competition for summing up the essence of Quakerism in 10 words or less. There's even a Facebook group. I think this is an idea that deserves to be spread beyond the UK, as one blogger already suggested. I talked about it as an "announcement" while visiting Fallsington (PA) Monthly Meeting this weekend, and several people really liked the idea. It'd be exciting enough here in New England; in the areas with overlapping YMs it could get really interesting. Outreach is important, because like-minded people can't join us if they don't know we exist. But what if they know we exist, but can't understand what we're about? That brings us to the other brilliant thing British Quakers are doing: making some of our old-fashioned terminology more intuitive.

Using intuitive names

Most Friends have gotten used to terms like "monthly meeting" and "quarterly meeting," and even more exotic ones like "Shelburne Allowed Meeting" or "Connecticut Friends Meeting Indulged." But if we try to imagine how these names sound to outsiders, it only takes a moment to realize that they're a little confusing and non-intuitive. Ask 10 people what they imagine a "monthly meeting" is, and probably all 10 of them will assume it refers to an event that happens once a month – not a community that happens, among many other activities, to meet once a month for business. And technical terms like "Preparative Meeting," "Allowed Meeting," "Indulged Meeting," etc. are perhaps even more confusing; I don't think even most Quakers are sure what they mean! If we want our public names to be intelligible to anyone who isn't already a Quaker process wonk, terms like that should be restricted to internal use, for descriptive purposes only. Based on this sort of reasoning, British Friends this summer decided to give plainer names to their meetings. Local meetings will henceforth be called "____ Quaker Meeting," and referred to as "local meetings" – Oxford Quaker Meeting, for example. Regional groupings of local meetings (what in North America are usually called Quarterly Meetings) will be called "Area Meetings" -- Bristol Area Meeting, for example. It may seem like a small thing. But to me it seems significant, a sign of good spiritual health. It's a sign that they care about outreach to non-Quakers more than tradition-for-tradition's sake, and an expression of plain speech and simplicity. Friends worldwide should consider following their example.

Zach Alexander