Our Friend Beth Allen has an interesting piece of news from the international scene. It appears that the World Council of Churches is experimenting with a technique rather akin to the Quaker Business Method. ‘This isn’t due to our influence’ Beth quickly adds, ‘but to the growing presence of the Orthodox Churches in the WCC. They too believe that the Holy Spirit can guide discussion and decision-making and they have asked the other churches to develop methods of working which depend on this conviction, rather than making decisions by majority vote.’
At a recent Central Committee meeting (which has one Quaker member from Canada) each member was given an orange and a blue card. An orange card being held aloft meant the member found the proposal under discussion to their liking but a blue card meant that reservations were felt. The Chair was able to get the temperature of the meeting this way, although at first the members were put off by a rather mechanical device.
‘In the past’ reflects Beth ‘Clerks of Meeting for Sufferings have said that they judge by people’s faces how the feeling is going.’