You are right at least to be concerned and wonder whether "... this essential refreshment [of the ongoing presence of Christ] is readily available now in Britain Yearly Meeting...." I am benefitting this year from the wonderful generosity of one of the independent institutions within the Yearly Meeting (namely Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre) but the Yearly Meeting as a whole seems to be something almost entirely different from the movement begun by George Fox and his friends.
Nor do I see dramatically effective social justice outreach - that is, outreach that is so effective that the small numbers in the yearly meeting don't matter. There is great dedication to several social concerns, but the impact is so limited because both the numbers of people and the budgets involved are so small. I wonder how many in the yearly meeting actually know how much prophetic as well as palliative work is being done by people who are not ashamed to be identified wholeheartedly as Christians. It is also sad to see Friends, when addressing diversity, to be focusing almost exclusively on sexual and theological diversity and leaving racial, economic and cultural diversity to more conservative Christian groups.
This page is moderated by Johan Maurer as part of the "Evangelism and the Friends Testimonies" project, supported during the academic year 2003-04 by the Ferguson Quaker Fellowship program of Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre. Johan has a minute of service from Reedwood Friends Church.
