A nice write-up about the Friends General Conference Gathering in Friends Journal by this year’s coordinator, Liz Dykes. The Gathering has been the week-long “summer camp for Liberal Quakers” for over a century but its trend lines have grown worrisome. Even before COVID, attendance has been steadily dropping. This year Liz reports that only 540 people came, which is a good number considering it was at a West Coast location, far from the mass of U.S. Quakers. But it’s a far cry from the high of the 2001 Gathering’s 1,920 attendees (including me and my then-fiancee, who had met at the previous Gathering).
FGC has been watching the trend lines, of course, and writing up reports. COVID turned everything upside down for a few years. But finally there’s some big changes. Next year’s Gathering will be at Haverford College right outside Philly, which puts it within a local train ride of a whole lot of Quakers. There was a time when proximity alone would have nixed the location, as it might have attracted too many Friends (and compete with Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s annual sessions, which have become Gathering-like in recent decades), but times are a’changing. I’m pleasantly surprised that a historically Quaker school like Haverford is host, as I would have thought cost and size would be a problem, but I’m glad for it. Future Gatherings will be every other year, which also seems like a good experiment: being a bit more rare, it can be a treat to go.
I’m glad changes are finally being tried and wish FGC all the best. The Gathering has had an important role in Quaker life — and not just for the meets-cute of future couples.
Friends Journal 