The following minute, adopted by Australia Yearly Meeting in 2007, may be found in Documents in Retrospect [pdf] at page 16
YM07.46 Quaker Voices in the 21st Century
(Documents in Advance [pdf] page 71)
We have heard a report from two Preparatory Meetings held during this Yearly Meeting, in which there was a ‘wonderful sense of excitement, seriousness and urgency’ about this proposal.We accept the recommendation ‘to undertake a national process of discernment about our spiritual life, our testimonies to the world as it is today, and the challenges we face’.
We encourage the use of Quaker discernment processes and methods of participatory decision-making similar to those used in creating the Australia Yearly Meeting publication, this we can say.We encourage the use of the Australia Yearly Meeting website, Regional Meeting websites, the Quaker Forum, the Secretary’s newsletter, and visitation by Yearly Meeting officers, as being ‘effective means of encouraging deep exploration of the leadings of the Spirit among us’.
We agree to consider opportunities for travelling in the Ministry for those concerned to nurture and provide leadership in this process.
We encourage Regional Meetings to use their residential weekends and other events to explore ‘their present concerns, initiatives, visions and questions’, and encourage all Yearly Meeting committees to consider this process in the course of their work this year.
We ask that our children and Young Friends be clearly included in this process.
We ask Canberra Regional Meeting to care for this concern until Yearly Meeting 2008.We ask them to create a document and other resources to start the process of discernment at the local and Regional Meeting levels. We commend the following list of questions in Documents in Advance as beginning guide for discussion:
- What are the fundamental messages of Quakerism?
- How do we express our values today in response to the burning issues of the 21st Century?
- What are our strengths as a religious movement?
- How can we deepen our connection with each other and with the Spirit?
- How can we as individuals and groups develop ways to hear and nurture each other?
- What work are we led to undertake as a result of our faith?
- In what new ways can Quakers contribute to transforming the world?
- How can we speak to the condition of people in a world affected by fear and uncertainty?
- How can we tread more lightly on the environment?
- What are the really important questions we need to face and thus find a way forward?
We ask Victoria Regional Meeting to bear in mind this national process of discernment in planning a program for the 2008 Yearly Meeting and Summer School.