Catch up with recent Quaker campaigns, briefings and gatherings around our Concerns. Quaker Council for European Affairs and Church & Peace report from their recent gatherings; and if you missed them earlier in the month: Quaker Social Action have a campaign on funeral costs; Churches Refugee Network share a briefing and call for positive stories; and an epistle is sent from the recent Quaker Earthcare Gathering.
Quaker Council for European Affairs
Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) held their Genral Assembly on 14th and 15th November. Representatives from 14 member organisations across Europe heard from QCEA staff about the work they are doing representing Quaker Concerns at the European level, and were invited by the new Friend in Residence, Janice, to imagine how Quaker House could become a thriving Quaker centre for the international community.
QCEA’s new strategy for 2026 – 2030 has three pillars, which members are asked to ‘bring home and share’:
- Intersections of climate, migration and peace;
- Rethinking security; and
- Speaking truth to power in the crisis of democracy.
Pete Doubtfire of Bull St Meeting and Peace Hub was present as part of QCEA nominations, and will be happy to talk to Friends about the work and strategy. You can read an epistle from the General Assembly, and the latest issue of QCEA’s magazine Around Europe (issue 400!) is available now.
Church and Peace: Learning from Eastern Europe
Church & Peace report from their conference in Herrenhut, Germany on 29th October, entitled ‘Learning from Central and East European Experiences of Transformation’. Around 120 participants from 19 countries came together under the heading “Don’t let yourself be hardened in these hard times … Resist, reconcile, transform”. Quakers are part of Church and Peace at a national level and Central England Friends have been closely involved with the organisation in the past.
Quaker Social Action: Funeral Costs
Quaker Social Action are calling for better government support with funeral costs, so more people have the space they need to grieve.
Quaker Social Action (QSA) helps people on low incomes in east London and across the UK to seek solutions to the issues affecting their lives. One of the key issues they focus on is funeral costs.
This summer, our project Peace Hub welcomed Susan, who has lived experience of the inequities of funeral costs, to 40 Bull St. Susan was joined by QSA staff, who recorded Susan’s story about the reality of high funeral costs and problems with the Funeral Expenses Payment (FEP) and its restrictive eligibility criteria. Head to the QSA website to watch the video and take action.
Churches Refugee Network
Barbara Forbes of Bull St represents the Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network on the Churches’ Refugee Network, and is also on the steering group.
Friends are encouraged to take a look at the latest briefing which rose out of an online meeting of the steering group Plus Others back in September. You will see that they are looking for “Good News stories” about supporting asylum-seekers and refugees – please Barbara know if you have such stories (details in the green membership book).
Epistle from Quaker Earthcare Gathering
114 Friends of all ages from Britain and continental Europe, gathered 24th to 27th October at The Hayes, Derbyshire to explore how our Quaker faith and communities can help us to meet the Earth crisis with hope, strength, and compassion. They share an epistle in written form, while noting that “we are all epistles from the gathering, through the ministry of our lives, actions and relationships as well as words”. A reflection from Louise Scrivens of Solihull Meeting is in the Area Meeting papers for November.