Quaker organizations
Since the 19th century, the Quakers have split into numerous wings, reunited, reformed and created a number of organizations for sub-tasks. There is a similarly confusing variety of groups, organizations and associations like the Mennonites and also scattered and networked all over the world.
Historically grown internal structures
The structures described here differ in some points from the situation in Germany. This is not discussed further in this article, see → main article German annual meeting .
Historical background
The first Quaker headquarters was Swarthmoor Hall, the residence of Margaret Fell . From there she coordinated communications, mission trips, and relief efforts for persecuted Quakers. This task was passed on to the London Yearly Meeting, founded in 1668 . The first Yearly Meeting (YM) was the New England YM, founded in 1661.
Rough structure
A YM (in German also " annual assembly") is an assembly of delegates of the quarterly assemblies (in German-speaking countries "district assemblies" ). The quarterly meetings are in turn advisory meetings of the monthly meetings (MV, English: Monthly Meeting ). The MV is the smallest organizational unit in Quakerism to this day. As a rule, the MV are completely autonomous. There are MV who do not belong to a YM (“Independent Meetings”). An example is the Ripley Quaker Meeting , which is not affiliated with the 'Britain Yearly Meeting' although they are in their area. The superordinate assemblies are primarily of an advisory nature.
Explanation of the diagram on the right: In the Liberal and Conservative branches of Quakerism, the understanding of the church is such that it is believed that the church is directly led by God as His will is revealed through the Inner Light in the members of the MV . Every member who feels a concern can present it as a request in the general meeting. If there is a sense of the meeting , i.e. the general meeting is unanimously of the opinion that they can feel the will of God, a decision is made. The MV appoints so-called clerks for their organizational tasks and elders for pastoral tasks . The General Assembly appoints committees for complex tasks and preparation of resolutions. Several MVs can join together to form quarterly meetings . These are composed of delegates from the general meeting and other guests. The general meeting is not authorized to issue instructions to the quarterly meeting and is more informal and recommending. Since decisions are only made unanimously here, decisions are usually supported by the general meeting. An annual meeting has a similar relationship to the quarterly meetings as the quarterly meetings to the MVs. Each congregation has its own committees, elders and clerks (and in some cases other appointed ministries).
Explanation of the diagram on the left: The evangelical wing deviates from the principle outlined above. Here God's guidance is also understood indirectly through pastors and the Bible. There are no pastors in liberal or conservative Quakerism, the Bible has secondary importance. But even in evangelical quakery, the direct revelation of God (for the individual) is an important element of theology, but not in the leadership of the church.
Order of coexistence
What unites the MVs through their membership in a YM is the common "order of coexistence" (formerly also breeding of friends ). This "order of coexistence" regulates very basic community matters. Admission, marriage, lifestyle, community decisions, etc. Not all YM use the same "order of coexistence" . That depends much more on which branch the respective YM belongs to. The Ohio YM has something different from the London or British YM. The Ohio YM is what is called "Conservative" and the British YM is "Liberal". The German YM ( German Annual Meeting ) does not have the same "order of coexistence" as the British YM, although it is also "Liberal" because the conditions in Germany are completely different (significantly lower membership numbers).
Quaker Belief and Action
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Associations of annual meetings (YM)
The YMs, in turn, usually have memberships in informal organizations. One or more, or none at all. Examples are the Friends United Meeting (FUM) or the Friends General Conference (FGC). The affiliation (usually) says something about the theological orientation of a YM. More on this below in the list of the individual organizations.
Church leadership
In the organizational structure of the Quakers there is only the function of a clerk instead of a chairman . The principle of consensus applies to all levels of decision-making in their “business meetings”, ie all decisions that affect the Religious Society of Friends are made unanimously in the search for (God's) truth (“Sense of the Meeting”). A “democratic compromise” that would come about according to the majority principle would not correspond to the friends' understanding of truth. If no consensus can be reached, the decision will be postponed to a later date or a committee will be formed to deal with the question more intensively and to work out further possible solutions. The so-called "elders" are responsible for pastoral care. As Ministry referred to preach. Recorded ministers are members who are certified as having a special teaching post (in the spiritual-spiritual sense). With Weighty Friend members are called, which represent an authority on others and their word therefore a certain weight has. Birthright Friend means members who are members of a Quaker family because of their birth (not recognized by all Quakers. This is also not the case in the German YM). Convinced Friend is a term used for members who profess Quakerism because they have been persuaded. This does not necessarily have to go hand in hand with formal membership in a particular monthly meeting.
Overview and membership numbers
The three major global umbrella organizations, all based in the USA, are the Friends General Conference (FGC), the Friends United Meeting (FUM) and the Evangelical Friends International (EFI). They each represent their associated devotional groups. Here is an overview of the distribution of members among the individual organizations and of the number of those who are not in an umbrella organization (independents).
| Wing / organization | Members | percent |
|---|---|---|
| FUM | 184,000 | 48% |
| EFI | 114,000 | 30% |
| FGC | 34,000 | 8.9% |
| Independent liberals | 26,000 | 6.8% |
| Independent Evangelicals | 22,500 | 5.9% |
| Conservative | 1,600 | 0.4% |
On the right, a graph with the development of the number of members based on their country affiliation. The number of members has the greatest increases in Africa and Central and South America. In Europe, the Middle East and North America, they are declining. Most of the Quakers in Africa and Central and South America are members of the Evangelical wing. A new development is that of the growth of Evangelical communities in the Baltic region (Hungary, Romania, Croatia and Serbia). According to self-assessment, there are 2000 (as of 2009) members who can be assigned to the Evangelical wing. That would be twice as much as the rest of mainland Europe (including Moscow) combined in liberal Quakers.
Individual organizations with their topics (sorted alphabetically)
Amnesty International (AI) went to a. on the initiative of Quakers. Co-founder Eric Baker was a workfriendof Peter Benenson , a labor law attorney with Jewish roots. AI was founded in 1961 in London, England, but was - like most Quaker initiatives with goals for society as a whole - never a pure Quaker organization. Baker was also a co-initiator of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), a peace initiative. It is from this group that themost well-known symbol of peacecomes from (alongside Pablo Picasso's dove of peace). The Easter marches originally came from the CND and were u. a. carried to Germany by the Quaker couple Tempel.
The Friends General Conference (FGC) represents the classical liberal theology of the Quakers. It was founded in 1900 and has most members in the United States and Canada. The main offices are in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania .
The Friends United Meeting (FUM), meanwhile the largest association in terms of numbers, is largely pastoral and rather conservative. The headquarters are in Richmond , Indiana . They also have an office in Kisumu , Kenya . The FUM brings together 26 Yearly Meetings ( YM) in North America, Africa, and the Caribbean. In addition, it has other month meetings ( Monthly meetings, connected MM). The FUM 1965 ultimately emerged from the rifts surrounding the Richmond Declaration of 1887, when five of the Orthodox Yearly Meetings split off in 1902. In 1947 the Association of Evangelical Friends was founded as an umbrella organization and in 1965 the Evangelical Friends Association , which in turn led to the establishment of Evangelical Friends International in 1989 . There were a number of reunions in the 1950s. Evangelical Friends International or Evangelical Friends Church International (EFCI) is strongly biblical-evangelical-Christocentric. At the FUM it is not possible for homosexual members to hold offices, for which the FUM has been repeatedly and publicly criticized by other Quaker associations and annual meetings.
Internationally, the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) in London endeavors to ensure that all annual meetings, wings and currents around the world work together.
Many Quakers were among the founding members of Greenpeace on October 14, 1979. But Greenpeace was never a pure Quaker organization either.
The " Together for Africa " project is not a Quaker project, but is supported by the German annual meeting .
Oxfam is an independent aid and development organization that has been active since 1942 and campaigns against hunger, poverty and social injustice worldwide. Oxfam Germany was founded in 1995 and is a member of Oxfam International. The name Oxfam goes back to the "Oxford Committee for Famine Relief" (Oxford Committee for the Relief of Famine), which was founded in Great Britain in 1942 by the Anglican canon Theodore Richard Milford (1896–1987) and the Oxford prayer group (meeting) of the Quakers (with whose members Edith Pye and Arthur and Margaret Gillett) was founded. Oxfam is not a purely Quaker organization either.
The Alternatives to Violence Project (PAG) was also founded by Quakers. It is an organization for inmate care with a special focus on preventing violence. The project began in 1975 in the New York penal system. It is now active worldwide and is no longer a purely Quaker organization.
The roots of the organization Quaker Peace and Social Witness (QPSW) lie in the mission work under the name Friends Foreign Mission Association (1868-1927). With a realignment, the organization was merged with the Council for International Service (1919–1927) to form Friends Service Council (1927–1978). It was renamed Quaker Peace and Service (1979-2000) and has been called Quaker Peace & Social Witness since 2001 . The organization tries to coordinate peace work and other social tasks internationally. The QPSW is still a central committee of the Britain Yearly Meeting .
The Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) is a Quaker lobbying organization that tries to influence United Nations politicians to ensure that their interests are taken into account.
The Service Civil International organization was founded by the Quaker Pierre Cérésole . The organization has been providing relief and peace services since 1920. In 1987 the organization was awarded the Messenger of Peace award by the United Nations .
The Switzerland Yearly Meeting (SYM) is the annual meeting of the Swiss Quakers. Founded in 1947, the SYM belongs to the Liberal Wing. Quaker meetings exist in Zurich, Bern, Basel, Lausanne and Geneva, which usually meet every two weeks for silent prayer. Every Whitsun, the Swiss Quakers meet in Äschi for the annual meeting, which is regularly attended by between 50 and 100 people.
The Quaker Aid Foundation (QHS) is a foundation founded in 1996 by the German Annual Meeting and the American Friends Service Committee, which primarily deals with the fundraising of donations. Recently, the QHS has also made public appearances such as the awarding of a peace prize to the human rights defender Peter Steudtner.
Membership numbers in detail
In 2005 there were 367,808 Quakers worldwide. Since YM is not always identical to a country (Austria and Germany are united under one YM and the USA has several YMs) it also makes no sense to split the membership numbers by country. Here is a table based on figures from the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC):
Internationally, the total number of Quakers is distributed as follows (as of 1994):
Explanation:
- Affiliated refers to FWCC
- YM = Yearly Meeting
- MM = Monthly Meeting
- FUM = Friends United Meeting
- C = Conservative
| category | Assembly (org.) | Members |
|---|---|---|
| Africa | ||
| Affiliated Group | ||
| Burundi YM | 12,000 | |
| Bware YM | 7215 | |
| Central & South Africa YM | 144 | |
| Central YM | 10,000 | |
| Chavakali YM | 7,294 | |
| East Africa YM | 6,153 | |
| East Africa YM (North) | 13,000 | |
| Elgon East YM | 12,000 | |
| Elgon RSF | 13,000 | |
| Kakamega YM | 7,000 | |
| Lugari YM | 14,300 | |
| Malava YM | 12,000 | |
| Nairobi YM | 7,500 | |
| Rwanda YM | 3.234 | |
| Tanzania YM | 3,000 | |
| Tuloi YM | 4,565 | |
| Uganda YM | 3.4500 | |
| Vihiga YM | 14,797 | |
| Vokoli YM | 5,000 | |
| Together Africa | 157.153 | |
| Asia | ||
| Affiliated Group | ||
| Australia YM | 949 | |
| Bhopal YM | 130 | |
| Bundelkhand YM | 287 | |
| GCFI | 45 | |
| Hong Kong MM | 8th | |
| Japan YM | 185 | |
| Central India YM | 250 | |
| New Zealand YM | 600 | |
| Seoul MM | 12 | |
| Affiliated together | 2,466 | |
| Unaffiliated Group | ||
| Cambodia YM | 2,500 | |
| Indonesia YM | 3,000 | |
| Nepal YM | 500 | |
| Philippines YM | 3,000 | |
| Taiwan YM | 3,200 | |
| Together unaffiliated | 12,200 | |
| Together Asia-West-Pacific | 14,666 | |
| Europe and Middle East | ||
| Affiliated Group | ||
| Barcelona MM | 8th | |
| Belgium & Luxembourg MM | 42 | |
| Britain YM | 15,775 (of which ~ 300 in German) | |
| Brummana MM | ? | |
| Budapest Recognized Meeting | 5 | |
| Denmark YM | 29 | |
| Finland YM | 20th | |
| France YM | 71 | |
| Germany YM ( German Annual Meeting ) | 270 | |
| Ireland YM | 1,591 | |
| Moscow MM | 13 | |
| Netherlands YM | 115 | |
| Norway YM | 151 | |
| Ramallah YM | ? | |
| Sweden YM | 100 | |
| Switzerland YM | 104 | |
| Europe & Middle East together | 18,362 | |
| Americas | ||
| Affiliated Group | ||
| Alaska Friends Conference | 200 | |
| Baltimore YM | 4,538 | |
| Bogota MM | 20th | |
| Central Bolivia YM | 1,300 | |
| Bolivia INELA YM | 8,000 | |
| Canada YM | 1,154 | |
| Cuba YM | 373 | |
| El Salvador YM | 600 | |
| Great Plains YM | 715 | |
| Guatemala Santidad YM | 500 | |
| Honduras YM | 2,000 | |
| Iglesia Evangelica Embajadores | ? | |
| Amigos | 130 | |
| Illinois YM | 1,100 | |
| Indiana YM | 4,754 | |
| Intermountain YM | 1,045 | |
| Iowa YM (C) | 548 | |
| Iowa YM (FUM) | 3,473 | |
| Jamaica YM | 325 | |
| Lake Erie YM | 953 | |
| Mexico Reunion General YM | ? | |
| Monteverde MM | 72 | |
| New England YM | 4,273 | |
| New York YM | 3,706 | |
| North Carolina YM (C) | 400 | |
| North Carolina YM (FUM) | 10,662 | |
| North Pacific YM | 877 | |
| Northern YM | 1,194 | |
| Northwest YM | 7,751 | |
| Ohio Valley YM | 812 | |
| Ohio (C) YM | 541 | |
| Pacific YM | 1,480 | |
| Peru INELA YM | 1,200 | |
| Philadelphia YM | 12,000 | |
| South Central YM | 315 | |
| Southeastern YM | 561 | |
| Southern Appalachian YM | 1,288 | |
| Western Association of Friends | 530 | |
| Western YM | 5,304 | |
| Wilmington YM | 1,977 | |
| Affiliated together | 86,671 | |
| Unaffiliated | ||
| Alaska YM | 1,000 | |
| Bolivia IEUBA | ? | |
| Bolivia Santidad YM | 22,000 | |
| Cantral YM | 287 | |
| Evangelical Friends Churches | 40,000 | |
| IE Nacional de Guatemala | 20,000 | |
| Mexico ARIEA | 800 | |
| Piedmont Friends Fellowship | ? | |
| Rocky Mountain YM | 1,170 | |
| Southwest YM | 5,632 | |
| Unaffiliated together | 90,889 | |
| Americas together | 177,560 |
glossary
For the technical terms used in the article, see also the article " Glossary Quakerism ".
Footnotes
- ↑ See the About Ripley Quaker Meeting ( memento of March 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) on their website ( memento of the original of September 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ^ Claus Bernet: German Quaker writings. Volume 2: German Quaker writings of the 18th century. 2007, ISBN 978-3-487-13408-6 , p. 5.
- ↑ Pink Dandelion: An introduction to Quakerism. Cambridge University Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-521-60088-0 , p. 180.
- ↑ Quakers. Issue March / April 2010 (84th volume), ISSN 1619-0394 , p. 43.
- ↑ Olaf Radicke: Half a Century of Easter March. on: the-independent-friend.de , March 13, 2008.
- ↑ Quakers. Issue March / April 2010 (84th volume), ISSN 1619-0394 , p. 42.
- ↑ green.wikia.com ( Memento of the original from June 1, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Presentation of the project Alternatives to Violence ( Memento of the original from June 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The German translation is inconsistent. You can find the “Swiss Annual Meeting” (e.g. SYM 2006 ( Memento of the original from September 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ) and “Swiss Annual Meeting”. However, the first name is used more often, e.g. B. also in the presentation of one's own history ( memento of the original from February 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Pink Dandelion: An introduction to Quakerism. Cambridge University Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-521-60088-0 .
- ^ Religion without dogma. Depiction of the Quaker Faith. Bad Pyrmont 1995, ISBN 3-929696-13-4 .
- ↑ In England there are now more members of German descent among the Quakers than in Germany itself, namely around 300, and the trend is rising. In the total number of devotional visitors, the numbers are even more serious, as there are even more (German-speaking) "Friends of Friends" in Great Britain and, unlike Great Britain, nowhere else do weekly meetings take place in Germany apart from Berlin and Bad Pyrmont. See Quakers. Vol. 81, 2007, No. 3, p. 142.
- ↑ Self-assessment not a database of the FWCC!
