QuakerQuaker migration starting soon, can you help?
Hi QuakerQuaker fans,It's time to start the migration of QuakerQuaker to a new online platform. It…See More
QuakerQuaker
Primitive Christianity Revived, Again
Why the New Site?
This site is built using Ning, an out-of-the-box social network, but I want to use it consciously to address some of the needs of the QuakerQuaker community. The homepage will remain the hand-picked blog articles selected by the QuakerQuaker editorial team but other sections will be added. I most want to help us find ways to connect with one another in the real world and bridge some of the isolation I'm seeing.
I get two very specific types of emails every week or so: one from religious seekers who read about Friends and get all excited then confused when it turns out the nearest meeting or church doesn't fit the expectation. The other comes from Friends who are getting discouraged by the struggles of trying to live a life of faith in their fractured local Friends community, who are wanting more and thinking about leaving Friends. Quaker blogger AJ Schwanz called this dream High Bar communities:
I think QuakerQuaker readers have the critical mass to start dreaming and organizing High Bar communities and I hope that switching to a more robust social networking system can help in that process. Some Friends might gather enough local Friends and seekers together to start supplemental worship groups. Others may be led to start up quarterly "Convergent Friends" get-together in their region. A lot of stuff is already happening--there's networks like the Christian Friends Conference in the Bay Area USA and there are lots of alt-Quaker workshops happening in mainstream Quaker venues (Bill Samuel keeps a good list of local renewal resources). We should definitely use this site to publicize these great initiatives.
All this this work has a goal of course: to bring a sense of renewal and hope to Friends by expanding what QuakerQuaker Robin Mohr has dubbed the Convergent Friends movement: a exploration into CONservative Friends and the emERGENT Church. George Fox reminded us that Christ has come to teach the people himself. Friends built on that to articulate and live out a radically primitive Christianity. Some of us think that good news is still relevant.
I get two very specific types of emails every week or so: one from religious seekers who read about Friends and get all excited then confused when it turns out the nearest meeting or church doesn't fit the expectation. The other comes from Friends who are getting discouraged by the struggles of trying to live a life of faith in their fractured local Friends community, who are wanting more and thinking about leaving Friends. Quaker blogger AJ Schwanz called this dream High Bar communities:
I keep thinking that I want to be part of a High Bar group, that I can’t do this on my own, that I can’t live a High Bar life until I have a group who is committed to live the same way. I ache to be part of a High Bar group: to do something radical, even as radical as seeking to have a Christ-like attitude while driving my son back and forth to school (something that really does drive me crazy). Just for one year I’d like to live out some Grand Experiment with a group: to lay aside things I cling to in my life and relentlessly listen to and respond to God. I’m not sure what it would look like, but I ache to lean into it.
I think QuakerQuaker readers have the critical mass to start dreaming and organizing High Bar communities and I hope that switching to a more robust social networking system can help in that process. Some Friends might gather enough local Friends and seekers together to start supplemental worship groups. Others may be led to start up quarterly "Convergent Friends" get-together in their region. A lot of stuff is already happening--there's networks like the Christian Friends Conference in the Bay Area USA and there are lots of alt-Quaker workshops happening in mainstream Quaker venues (Bill Samuel keeps a good list of local renewal resources). We should definitely use this site to publicize these great initiatives.
All this this work has a goal of course: to bring a sense of renewal and hope to Friends by expanding what QuakerQuaker Robin Mohr has dubbed the Convergent Friends movement: a exploration into CONservative Friends and the emERGENT Church. George Fox reminded us that Christ has come to teach the people himself. Friends built on that to articulate and live out a radically primitive Christianity. Some of us think that good news is still relevant.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by leavesofgrass on
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Martin, forgive me for being so far off topic, but I don't know of a good way to ask silly questions on your site. (Perhaps there is no good way to ask silly questions.) What can thee say about Quakers and browsers? What's the breakdown of IE/Firefox at your site?
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Permalink Reply by Martin Kelley on
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Hi Mitch: interesting question, I've added it in a new discussion here
leavesofgrass said:What can thee say about Quakers and browsers? What's the breakdown of IE/Firefox at your site?
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Permalink Reply by Richard B. Miller on
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Martin,
I hope I'm not being too repetitive but I want to repeat something I have said a few times before. Evidence seems to support that there's a big emerging church movement out there. It seems to be many times larger than all the Quakers in North America. These are people who are very sympathetic to many of the ideas and practices that are central to the conservative Quaker tradition. Mostly though they do not even know that conservative Quakers exist. Having a home base on the Internet is a good thing but it must move to the personal level. Individual conservative and conservative-leaning Quakers need to get out and meet some of these emergent church Christians and begin to share what we have in common. I'm going to make an effort to see if I can do this in my local area. I'd like to hear whether others are trying this as well and with what result.
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Hi Richard: I agree. I think it's a great idea. Do it, report back and I'll be happy to highlight it. I think people are often motivated by examples so your doing it should help.
I myself have limited funds, two small kids (one special needs) and live in a two-denomination household, all of which makes visitation difficult. The piece I can help with is the internet but yes, I agree it's only a part of the work which needs to be done.
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