Message from the Pastoral Care and Eldership Team (PaCET) for Sunday Meeting 25th January 2026
Dear Friends, Over 300 Young Friends from 34 countries, 57 yearly meetings, and 8 monthly meetings under the care of Friends World Committee for Consultation, met at Guilford College, Greensboro, … Message from the Pastoral Care and Eldership Team (PaCET) for Sunday Meeting 25th January 2026
Dear Friends,
Over 300 Young Friends from 34 countries, 57 yearly meetings, and 8 monthly meetings under the care of Friends World Committee for Consultation, met at Guilford College, Greensboro, North Carolina in July 1985, to envisage the future of the Religious Society of Friends and to see how their lives should speak within that vision.
We have come together from every continent, separated by language, race, culture, ways we worship God, and beliefs about Christ and God… We have been challenged, shaken up, at times even enraged, intimidated, and offended by these differences in each other. We have grown from this struggle and have felt the Holy Spirit in programmed worship, singing, Bible study, open times of worship and sharing, and silent waiting upon God.
Our differences are our richness, but also our problem. One of our key differences is the different names we give our Inward Teacher. Some of us name that Teacher Lord; others of us use the names Spirit, Inner Light, Inward Christ or Jesus Christ. It is important to acknowledge that these names involve more than language; they involve basic differences in our understanding of who God is, and how God enters our lives. We urge Friends to wrestle, as many of us have here, with the conviction and experience of many Friends throughout our history that this Inward Teacher is in fact Christ himself. We have been struck this week, however, with the experience of being forced to recognise this same God at work in others who call that Voice by different names, or who understand differently who that Voice is.
This reminds us that Quakers worldwide have different beliefs and use different words to express themselves. So we in Lewes Meeting are very diverse and while some words may not resonate with us as individuals, we have to acknowledge that they are meaningful to those who use them. The test of our faith is not whether we can agree on words, but whether we can all worship together – and I think that we do.
David Hitchin
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.