Forty Friends and Attenders were present for the autumn Gathering of Hampshire, South East Dorset and the Islands Quakers - held in Southampton on September 25th 2010. Our purpose was to reflect upon the ideas in the winning essays in the recent Friends Quarterly Prize Essay Competition - the Future of the Religious Society of Friends in Britain.

We were fortunate to have David Olver with us - he is the clerk of the trustees of The Friend Publications, and had been one of the judges of the 106 essays entered in the competition, and had read them all.

David set the scene for the recent essays by giving us a historical over-view leading up to 1860. At that time, numbers had fallen so low (from 1 in 130 of the population in 1680 to 1 in 1000 in 1860) that an anonymous donor provided a prize for the essay which offered the best response to the situation, and the best ideas about how the Society could change.  The winner of the second prize suggested that Quakers had fulfilled their purpose and it was time for them to "die gracefully". The winner of the first prize was more positive: John Stevenson Rowntree suggested that many aspects of Quaker practice at that time needed to be questioned and changed if we were to halt the decline in numbers. Several of his suggestions were taken up, and as a result many restrictions were eased, and there followed the 1895 Manchester Conference, the founding of Woodbrooke Quaker College in 1903 and the Swarthmore Lecture series in 1907 as well as many other changes.

Among the ideas not followed up by Friends then, which David felt was still relevant and worth considering now, was our tradition of silent worship with spontaneous spoken contributions. J.S. Rowntree questioned whether Friends might be mistaken in insisting that Silent Worship should be the only method we practise, and also asked whether our insistence that spoken ministry should never be prepared in advance might be altered: he suggested that making such changes might enliven and deepen our worship and make it easier for newcomers to join us.

As background to the recent 2010 competition, David continued his historical overview by consideration of some of the influences on Quaker life during the 20th century.  Then he summarised the three winning essays briefly for us.

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Working in six groups, we answered the questions "What three things shall we keep?", "What three things shall we change?" This work kept us absorbed and very animated, and there was also much laughter as we discussed our ideas.

The list of what to keep was perhaps easier to predict.  The word Religious, Silent Worship, spiritual community, experienced-based spirituality, Quaker Meetings for Worship for Business, elders, no Head or Chief, Quaker Faith and Practice and its regular revision. Advices and Queries and the testimonies arising from our religious life together, openness and acceptance of diversity, the idea of "that of God in everyone", study groups, social action, links with the wider Quaker community, Woodbrooke and Quaker Quest.

The ideas about what to change varied much more, and included suggestions to get rid of so much paper,  so many buildings, so much seriousness, Quaker jargon, charitable status, clerks, Quaker schools, formal membership, Quaker week, unconscious elitism, ill-discipline at business meetings, even abandoning the title "Quaker" and returning to "Friends of Truth". The only overlapping ideas in this section were that half of the groups suggested giving up having Meeting Houses.

Some Friends wanted more spiritual sharing within and outside our Quaker meetings, more consideration of how sustainable living would change our organisation and structures, a greater ability to define what we are, more tolerance and a greater valuing of Truth.

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An enjoyable day had proved fruitful, and we have a strong sense of having begun a conversation which will need to continue. Having Friends from such a wide area together undertaking such a wide review was a satisfying exercise and we strongly commend this to other Regional gatherings.

In his historical background, David Olver demonstrated a refreshing and thought-provoking view of Quaker history. He reminded us that George Fox was a life-long wanderer without a home or possessions; how young the very early Friends were (in their late twenties and thirties) in contrast to our current age profile; and how women had always had a respected place in Quaker life. David suggested that the severe persecution suffered in early Quaker times came about because we were seen as such a threat to stability and order in society - rather as "terrorists" are seen now - however the persecution increased our numbers dramatically and as persecution eased, so our numbers fell.

Later in his talk, David reviewed with us some events during the 20th century which had influenced the course of Quaker life, such as the fact that one third of eligible Friends had fought in the First World War, whilst the rest of the Yearly Meeting developed the Peace Testimony in their absence. After the Second World War, fears of the nuclear bomb had drawn many people into the Quaker community, but as that fear had receded, so people were coming to us for other reasons. Some were fearful about environmental risks and had caused us to think how we should respond and why we should have a view.