Quakers in Birmingham, Coventry, Warwick, the Black Country, Walsall, & Sutton Coldfield

A Framework for Action

In the morning of May 9th, Derrick Whitehouse led some Friends of Area Meeting to consider how a meeting can strengthen its spiritual roots. He offered us the idea of “gospel order” as understood by George Fox. To those who had difficulty with this term, Derrick said that we should not be misled by “gospel preaching” or “gospel music”, but understand it as “good news” and inspiration. Similarly “order” was not about giving commands, but about a community “in good
order”.

Fox’s gospel order had three elements braided together: worship, social witness and community. Where these are in the right balance, a meeting comes alive. The worship needs to be steadfast and exploratory, trusting in Quaker processes of discernment. Then enquirers sense an atmosphere which encourages them to come back; and business meetings become exciting because they grapple with important issues.

Derrick’s analysis and suggestions arise from his work with a number of Meetings, and he has developed them in a workbook for Friends. He offers four connected ways of achieving this balance: there must be “cultural architects” (he apologised for the term!) who help to inspire and shape the whole life of the meeting; the way the meeting manages itself needs to be progressive rather than conservative; it needs adequate resources of space, people, time and materials for both learning and action; and it requires energy in the form of committed participation by its members.

Our clerk, Chris Martin, introduced the day by saying that this session concentrated on our spiritual lives, as the other parts of the Framework for Action (discussed in the afternoon) depend on getting that right first.

John Lampen, Stourbridge