Message from the Pastoral Care and Eldership Team (PaCET) for Sunday Meeting 18th January 2026

Dear Friends,

Do you work gladly with other religious groups in the pursuit of common goals? While remaining faithful to Quaker insights, try to enter imaginatively into the life and witness of other communities of faith, creating together the bonds of friendship.
(Advices and Queries 6).

At our last Meeting for Worship for Church Affairs (4th January), we discussed our participation in Churches Together in the Lewes Area.  We concluded that there was value in keeping contact with other churches through this organisation, while noting that many Friends were more drawn to inter-faith work.

Working with other faith groups can sometimes be painful.  In 2019, Quakers in Britain nominated Hannah Brock Womack as one of the co-Presidents of Churches Together in England.  There were objections from some other members, because Hannah was in a same sex marriage.  As a result, during her term of appointment Hannah did not take part in meetings of the co-Presidents.  In her place, there was an empty chair.

A recent article by Tim Gee in The Friend (9th January) strikes a more hopeful note.  Tim is the general secretary of Friends World Committee for Consultation, which seeks to bring together the different branches of Quakerism across the world. He writes about how his own understanding of Quakerism has been enriched by inter-church work, and by having to explain Quaker practices to others:

For example, in explaining that European-style Quakers do not baptise with water, a theologian from a denomination that definitely does reflected: “Do you know, I don’t think there is any mention in the Bible of Paul being baptised with water.” I went back and checked. He was right.

I don’t want to minimise the difficulties.  But I hope our involvement in inter-church and inter-faith work will continue, both locally and nationally.

Tim Pitt-Payne

Quakers value diversity. We share this Friend’s message in the hope it will speak to others.

Pastoral Care and Eldership Team: Patricia Cockrell, David Hitchin, Sharon Krummel, Tim Pitt-Payne, Theresa Samms, Emily Slater.