Editorial

Often people say they turn to faith, or come home to faith, at a time of crisis or profound change: the birth of a child, the death of someone close, a new or broken relationship. Most of us first sat in a meeting house not only dealing with the strangeness of that whole experience, but with some sort of inner turmoil going on too.

What were we offered? Peace and (unless there was a great deal of ministry) quiet. No hymns to distract and cheer, no led prayer, no creeds. Just birdsong, maybe, or traffic on the road outside. Perhaps a little too much peace and quiet for comfort. Enough to bring us within close range of our own fears, our own uncertainties.

In this issue Quakers speak about their experiences of coming to Friends, and having their stories shared for Quaker Week on the new website developed for enquirers. Gerard Benson, one of the contributors to that site, says, “Faith without works is pointless. It’s what you do while you are on this earth that counts.”

December 2008 sees the 70th anniversary of the first Kindertransport, a rescue operation which saw 10,000 Jewish children arrive in Britain from Nazi-occupied countries. Many Quakers helped. We are keen to hear from people who were involved, or whose families were involved, so we can invite them to our commemorative event on 1 December (see Quakers and Kindertransport).

Friends can be rightly proud of Quaker support for the peace movement through the peaceworker placement scheme. You can read more about what current and former peaceworkers have to say about the scheme, which nurtures peacebuilding organisations around the world and helps to develop the next generation of activists. We continue to support this work and are launching an appeal for more meetings to get involved too.

Rachel Rees

Head of Communications and Fundraising