Quakers from around the world gather in South Africa
Quakers from around the world landed in South Africa on Monday, 5 August, for the first world plenary in eight years.
With 44 countries represented, from Costa Rica to Russia, nearly 500 Quakers are attending the event in South Africa in person and online, from 5-12 August.
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There is a lot of Quakerism out there for us to learn from
- Antony Froggett
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The first ever blended World Plenary meeting, to be held in English, Spanish and KiSwahili, will examine three themes, ubuntu/community, healing historical injustice and care for creation.
Hosted by Friends World Committee for Consultation's (FWCC's) Africa section and Southern Africa Yearly Meeting, the event's framing is African, using the concept of ubuntu.
Ubuntu, the idea that a person is a person through other persons, resonates with the Quaker belief that there is that of God in everyone.
Thuli Mbete, clerk of the World Plenary arrangements committee and member of Cape Town Meeting, said they had been working flat out to get everything ready for visitors and were excited for the meeting to start.
Antony Froggett, who is attending the World Plenary on behalf of the Quaker World Relations Committee of Britain Yearly Meeting, said: “I have never attended a World Plenary before, and so I am excited but also a little nervous.
“Our job is to connect British Friends with other Quakers around the world and to help us learn from our differing experiences and traditions within our shared Quaker heritage.
“In Kenya alone there are 24 different yearly meetings – and so there is a lot of Quakerism out there for us to learn from." Most of the world's Quakers live in Africa, approximately 181,000.
Created in 1937, FWCC encourages fellowship and understanding among Quakers in 75 countries. It is a consultative body, not seeking one way of doing things for Quakers.
Representatives from all four FWCC sections (Africa, Americas, Asia West Pacific, Europe and Middle East) will undertake FWCC business, surrounded by worship and fellowship. Around 40 British Quakers will be attending.
The last World Plenary was held before the coronavirus pandemic, in Peru in 2016.
Froggett said: “The themes of the World Plenary strongly resonate with the concerns of Friends in Britain. I hope that the World Plenary helps us move forward in our work on these issues.
“My own Quaker Meeting House in the centre of Manchester will be a hub that will be participating in the worship sessions and the exploration of the themes.
“So I will be joined by many Friends in the UK and around the world in conversations and worship that I hope both uphold and challenge us."