Peace & Social Concerns Committee

Contact: social-concerns@annapolisfriends.org

Peace & Social Concerns among Annapolis Friends

As Friends, we are called to live and act on our values.  Our social actions are not grafted onto our spiritual lives, they are fruit of our spiritual lives. Action for peace and social justice arises from Friends’ faith that there is “that of God” in everyone, regardless of color, sex and origin. We seek a world in harmony with that spirit.

Such social actions -- done both as individuals and as Annapolis Friends Meeting (AFM) -- are encouraged, supported and often coordinated by our Peace & Social Concerns (PSC) Committee and its related workgroups.  This Committee operates as a “committee of the whole” -- that is, a committee which invites all members and attenders of the larger Meeting to visit and to participate in its decisions.

PSC functions:

AFM’s Peace & Social Concerns Committee meets monthly and

• shares information and resources as to current social concerns with Annapolis Friends online and otherwise;


• proposes Minutes that AFM may adopt to focus on issues and call for actions by Meeting and individual Friends;


• listens carefully to Friends’ concerns to assist those with leadings to discern the way forward;
  
  
• helps organize active AFM responses to community emergencies;


• receives and shares information and resources with other local Quaker Meetings, with Baltimore Yearly Meeting (BYM) units, with national and international Quaker organizations, such as AFSC, FCNL and QUNO, as well as other like-minded organizations;
  


• offers educational programs and written materials for AFM adults, youth and seekers in the wider community in cooperation with AFM’s M&W Committee, CREC Committee, Library Committee, Outreach Committee, BYM and community organizations;


• recommends allocations from AFM’s annual Quaker Causes, as well as Emergent Social Concerns and Peace & Justice Center funds;


• assists with AFM committees’ Meetinghouse maintenance duties on semi-annual rotation


PSC workgroups housed within Annapolis Friends Meeting

• Annapolis Peace and Justice Center sponsors and supports community-oriented programs and projects led by individual Friends.


• Change Group helps AFM focus both internally and externally on being a diverse and “anti-racist faith group,” welcoming all, including youth and people of color.


Community organizations supported by Annapolis Friends Meeting:
• Annapolis Light House and “Winter Relief” homeless shelters and support centers co-founded with and supported by other area churches.


• Anne Arundel County Conflict Resolution Center (AACRC) volunteers providing free and low-cost mediation services - co-founded by AFM members and others


• Anne Arundel Connecting Together (ACT) co-founded by AFM with other area churches to advance concerns of disadvantage communities


• Climate Stewards of Greater Annapolis (CSGA) founded by AFM Friends to educate the community as to climate dangers and alternatives


• Maryland Alliance for Justice Reform (MAJR) originated by AFM and St. Philips Episcopal, now a statewide, all-volunteer advocacy group seeking to reduce mass incarceration and to increase restorative alternatives.


AFM Decision Minutes include our commitment as an anti-racist faith community and a letter to the editor as to police use of force.

Resources: African American History - Learn More includes a list of books, video, podcasts and more.