Indiana Yearly Meeting is continuing to head toward schism. Friends Journal last covered this in our June/July issue with a Timeline of Indiana Yearly Meeting Schism by Stephen W. Angell.
Since then the task force charged with “reconfiguring” Indiana Yearly Meeting has published its recommendations (pdf), to be considered at a meeting later this month. There have been a number of reactions:
- Doug Bennett, President Emeritus of Richmond, Indiana’s Earlham College, frequently provides updates on the situation. His latest is “Releasing Raccoons to the Wild.“
- In “Following the Living Christ–or a Committee,” Brent Bill asks whether Indiana is trying too hard for a solution.
- West Richmond pastor Josh Brown sparked a lively conversation with a post asking “What About the Other Options?“
- For those wanting the inside baseball details, editors Chuck Fager and Stephen Angell have just published a very thorough look at the reactions of individual monthly meetings in Fall issue of “Quaker Theology” (PDF, 52 pages)
We’re sure there will continue to be online commentary. Please add any links and updates we’ve missed in the comments below.
Another perspective from Quaker historian Geoffrey Kaiser. He’s the creator of the American Quaker “family tree” wall chart that shows all of the breaks and schisms we’ve gone through. He takes the long-view and argues that these break-ups are generational:
http://www.quakerquaker.org/profiles/blogs/indianan-volcano
This is the first of what I hope will be a series on the reconfiguration. I am committed to reconciliation, but am reluctantly coming to the view that schism may be less damaging than continuing as we are. This was my reflection immediately after the 2012 Indiana Yearly Meeting sessions.