FRIENDS WORLD COMMITTEE FOR CONSULTATION

Friends World Committee for Consultation: translation

The Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) is the major agency uniting the various bodies of Quakers (Society of Friends) around the world. It was organized at the Second World Conference of Friends held in 1937 at Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Through the early 20th century, Quaker leaders had been calling for greater unity to overcome the splits in the movement. Quakers had united in resistance to World War I, which gave many hope that unity was possible.

The FWCC reorganized after World War II. At the 1952 World Conference in Oxford, England, the top agenda item was a proposal for creating a united voice for Quaker witness on social issues, especially issues related to peace and social justice. Over the next decade, most of the yearly (district and national) meetings around the world affiliated with the committee. The committee divided its work into four arenas - Africa, the Americas, Asia and the western Pacific, and Europe and the Middle East. Its work focuses on maintaining lines of communication with Friends worldwide, and providing a voice for the Quaker community to the outside world, both the larger Christian community and the secular world.

The committee reviews its work every three years in a large international meeting. Between the triennial meetings, an Interim Committee and an executive staff administer its affairs from its headquarters in London, England.

■ George Peck,What Is Quakerism?A Primer(Wallingford, Pa.: Pendle Hill Publications, 1988)

■Quakers Around the World(London: Friends World Committee for Consultation, 1994).