Friends General Conference
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The Friends General Conference (FGC) is a North American Quaker organization primarily serving the Quaker yearly and monthly meetings in the United States and Canada that choose to be members of FGC. FGC founded in 1900[citation needed].
There are two other similar organizations within Quakerism, Friends United Meeting and Evangelical Friends International; each of these three organizations represent different branches within Quakerism. FGC-affiliated meetings are in the "unprogrammed" Quaker tradition, which means without human pastoral leadership, or a prepared order of worship. Friends (Quakers) in FGC tend to be more socially and theologically liberal than Friends from other parts of Quakerism (and than the general US population).
FGC hosts an annual conference in early July for members of member organizations (although individual membership is not required to attend). It also operates a bookstore and a publishing house, and provides lots of resources for meetings and individual Friends.
The main offices for FGC are in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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[edit] Mission Statement
Friends General Conference is a Quaker organization in the unprogrammed tradition of the Religious Society of Friends which primarily serves affiliated yearly and monthly meetings. It is our experience that:
- faith is based on direct experience of God
- our lives witness this experience individually and corporately
- by answering that of God in everyone, we build and sustain inclusive community.
FGC provides resources and opportunities that educate and invite members and attenders to experience, individually and corporately, God's living presence, and to discern and follow God's leadings. FGC reaches out to seekers and to other religious bodies inside and outside the wider Religious Society of Friends.[1]
[edit] Structure
FGC is overseen by a committee of 170 Friends, 112 of whom are appointed by affiliated yearly and monthly meetings. The work of FGC is carried out by the staff and volunteer members of its program committees. [1]
[edit] See also
- Conservative Friends
- Evangelical Friends International (EFI)
- Friends United Meeting (FUM)
- Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)
- Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC)
[edit] References
- ^ a b FGC about page
[edit] External links
- Friends General Conference homepage
- Quakerbooks.org, the FGC Bookstore
- Quakerfinder.org, FGC's site for finding unprogramed Friends in the U.S. and Canada
- FGC's Gathering of Friends, held every year in early July
- FGC's Quaker Library: online pamphlets & articles on Quakerism