Friends Peace Teams

About Friends Peace Teams and our NYYM Representatives

 

Contact Information

1001 Park Ave., St. Louis, MO 63104
+1-314-621-7262 [email protected]
friendspeaceteams.org

 

African Great Lakes Initiative

David Bucura (RwandaYM), Coordinator, [email protected]
Andrew Peterson (ILYM), Clerk, [email protected]
www.friendspeaceteams.org/AGLI

 

Peacebuilding en las Américas

VACANT, Clerk, [email protected]
friendspeaceteams.org/PLA

 

Asia West Pacific Initiative

Kins Aparece (Philippines), Coordinator, [email protected]
Pia Reierson (AustYM), Clerk, [email protected]
friendspeaceteams.org/AWP

 

Friends Peace Teams

Friends Peace Teams is a Spirit-led organization developing long-term relationships with communities in conflict around the world to work for peace, healing and reconciliation. We integrate spiritual conviction with action, mutually discerning where the work is alive in the Spirit. We welcome ordinary Friends from across life stages, economic conditions and cultures to volunteer their gifts and follow their callings to peace work. Volunteers also organize legal, financial and communications support as well as good attention and feedback to peace workers in African, Latin America and Asia West Pacific. We’re a grassroots Quaker organization governed by Representatives from North American and Australia Yearly Meetings. You may volunteer!

 

History

Friends Peace Teams was conceived at Friends General Conference in 1993, when Friends were concerned about responding to conditions in Bosnia. Yearly meetings were invited to send representatives to a Council and Friends World Committee for Consultation–Section of the Americas accepted Friends Peace Teams as an affiliate group in 1996. A minute was approved in 1997 to encourage yearly meetings to inform their members about Friends’ service and witness in the world, encourage Friends to join a peace team and send in accounts of discernment, activities, and vision regarding peace teams via their representative. Friends Peace Teams publishes the PeaceWays magazine about peace teams in Africa, Latin America and Asia West Pacific.

Functions of the Representatives

Representatives appointed to Friends Peace Teams by yearly meetings are responsible to participate on the Friends Peace Teams Council, bring forward questions, concerns, insights and discernment from their yearly meetings to Friends Peace Teams, share the work of Friends Peace Teams with Friends in their yearly meeting, extend the offer for people to accompany Friends traveling for peace, and raise the resources to support these Friends and activities (traveling visitors, hosts, storytellers, listeners, funds, material aide, and so forth for the administrative office and teams). Friends Peace Teams asks yearly meetings to seek out representatives who are young, middle-aged and older adults. Representatives encourage Friends Meetings and Churches to

  1. sign up for a bundle of PeaceWays,
  2. budget an undesignated annual donation to administrative support,
  3. arrange for speakers,
  4. publicize the peace team concept and opportunities to serve on peace teams,
  5. provide clearness and support committees to Friends who join a peace team, publicize their experiences, raise needed resources for their travel, and provide emotional and practical support, and
  6. form a local peace team to serve as a resource to travelers or people locally. Some representatives may chose to take on additional administrative or regional responsibilities as well, depending on the interests, gifts, and availability of the representative.

 

Link to the Committee's Handbook page.

 

Resources for Members and Clerks of NYYM Committees

Guidelines for Committee Service—Relevant sections from the yearly meeting Handbook on committee membership and committee clerking.

Guide for Committee Clerks—A resource packet designed to make clerking a NYYM committee easier.

Coordinating Committee Timeline—A guide to the year's tasks for coordinating committee clerks.

Accountability Queries—Queries for use by committees and the coordinating committees for considering the spiritual state of the yearly meeting's committees.

Documents & Resources