FUM Concern - Letter to Meetings 2007

Baltimore Yearly Meeting	301/774-7663
of the Religious Society of Friends	800/962-4766
17100 Quaker Lane	Fax: 301/774-7087
Sandy Spring, Maryland 20860-1296	bym@bym-rsf.org
	http://www.bym-rsf.org

October 20, 2007

Dear Friends,

A few years ago, Baltimore Yearly Meeting asked our Monthly Meetings to discuss the yearly meeting’s financial contributions to Friends United Meeting. At last Annual Session, our representatives to the FUM General Board raised new issues about our membership in FUM. Rachel Stacy and John Smallwood closed their report with these words:

It is difficult to send money to an organization with the dysfunctional aspects described [in their report]. On the other hand, it is also difficult to remain within FUM, advocating change, but not to contribute financially… It is difficult to participate in an organization with the corporate governance problems and the spiritual direction which FUM exhibits. The path that the FUM leadership is presently traveling does not seem to lead to our inclusion.

It is also difficult to sever ties with part of our history [for example with Ramallah Friends School in Palestine and Lugulu Hospital in Africa]. We have members who are committed Christians... We have members to whom FUM’s mission statement deeply resonates. To separate from FUM, may leave such members without avenues of expression, fellowship and nurture. The care and development of all BYM members must be considered.

While both of us are united in our assessment of FUM… Rachel feels it is time for BYM to depart from this damaged organization. John is willing to continue another year, only with BYM’s clear mandate to do so and to advocate serious FUM corporate reform. He is not hopeful of change, but feels a tug of common history with orthodox Friends. As Thomas Hamm said at the FUM Board retreat, separations in Quaker history have rarely brought the peace and tranquility that some had expected.

During consideration of this issue at last Annual Session, we reminded ourselves as a yearly meeting that:

We need to witness to the truths we hold as Quakers even in cultures where those truths are unwelcome.
Most Quakers are to be found in Africa, and that we cut ourselves off from a major part of the body of Quakerism when we refuse to support the work of Friends United Meeting.
Justice without mercy is merely vengeance, and that we need to stay grounded in compassion and the desire for unity as we seek our way forward.
Conflict resolution skills and approaches may be helpful in healing the divisions among us.
We should not only listen to each other, but listen for what God’s will is for us.
We may need simply to wait with open hearts until such guidance comes, even though the wait seems long.

Friends at Annual Session AGREED we all need to listen deeply and prayerfully to each other, so that we can return to consideration of this issue next August with new Light.

As was said of the 1968 merger the two Baltimore Yearly Meetings—Orthodox and Hicksite—how we relate to FUM and FGC (Friends General Conference) defines our yearly meeting. Decisions on these affiliations should be guided by our Monthly Meetings. To support your discernment of these concerns, we have included the information listed below.

Please forward your guidance by Tuesday, April 1, 2008 so that we might compile individual meeting and worship group responses and return them all for your further consideration.

Howard Fullerton
Clerk

Queries from Riley Robinson, BYM General Secretary given during Annual Session, Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Riley Robinson, General Secretary, challenged us to reframe the questions we are asking about our relationship with FUM, and suggested the following queries:

If we want to support Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) people in the Religious Society of Friends, in America and elsewhere, how can we best do that?
If we want to have meaningful relationships with other parts of the Religious Society of Friends, how can we best do that?
If we want to be of service to and in relationship with Friends in other countries, particularly Africa, how can we best do that?
How can these goals be pursued in a harmonious way?

He urged us not define Friends in FUM as somehow outside of our circle of responsibility.

Enclosed: