Faith and Practice Committee

Faith and Practice Committee

The Faith & Practice Committee maintains a Google Doc with information on its current activities as well as a more extensive history of its work and the revisions that it has made to the Faith & Practice. Please see this document linked here. Below is a brief introduction about the committee.

The Faith and Practice Committee consists of six to ten persons nominated by the Nominating Committee and appointed by the Yearly Meeting. This committee will benefit from having members with diverse perspectives of theology and Quaker practice, as well as members of diverse ages, races, and backgrounds, and from diverse regions.

The Faith and Practice Committee is charged with the care of our Faith and Practice and will regularly review it. The Committee engages with the constituents of the Yearly Meeting to explore and clarify our continually evolving experience with Quaker faith and practice and seeks to have the published Faith and Practice reflect this experience. The Faith and Practice Committee is expected to be in close communication with other committees, particularly the Ministry and Pastoral Care Committee. The Committee is responsible for printing, posting, and distribution of Faith and Practice or its revised sections, as needed.

Faith and Practice is a living document; changes to it are brought forward as needed. Seasoned changes to Faith and Practice may be proposed by:

• The Faith and Practice Committee itself 

• Monthly Meetings, Preparative Meetings, and Worship Groups 

• Worshiping communities, such as the camps, Young Friends, Young Adult Friends Baltimore

• Yearly Meeting Committees

• Quarterly Meetings

  The Faith and Practice Committee will disseminate proposed changes to local Meetings and others as appropriate for their consideration and discernment. After considering feedback, the Committee will bring recommendations for change to Interim Meeting for a first reading and then to Annual Session. An individual with a proposed change is expected to work through one of the groups listed above. The Faith and Practice Committee is available to help with this process, working to ensure that all concerns are seasoned at the appropriate level. In the interest of accuracy and clarity, the Faith and Practice Committee may copy-edit Faith and Practice.

  The Faith and Practice Committee is charged with maintaining the Style Manual of the Yearly Meeting and is empowered to make changes as the Committee is led. The Style Manual will be made available to Friends through the Yearly Meeting website. Manual of Procedure, p. 266-267 of 2024 Yearbook

In 2017, the Yearly Meeting approved changes to charge, processes, and name of the committee. In particular, the committee was advised to revise Faith and Practice section by section with approval sought at Annual Session for each individual section, not the book as a whole. Since the committee was re-established in 2018, major revisions have included changes to the following sections: 

• Life of the Spirit, subsection I.B.9.b. Quaker Marriage and Practices and Procedures subsection III.B.6. The Quaker Wedding and Marriage (2021), 

• Life of the Spirit, subsection I.B.1. The Quaker Experience and subsection and B.2. Meeting for Worship (2023), and 

• Life of the Spirit, subsection I.B.20. Care of the Earth (2025). 

Other edits have included copy-editing that, in part, addressed changes to racist and otherwise inappropriate language. Also, in 2019, the Yearly Meeting approved adding its Vision Statement to the Faith & Practice.

Contact the Committee at fandp@bym-rsf.org