Friends World Committee for Consultation

The Friends World Committee for Consultation brings together 250 representatives of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) at Triennial meetings to unite and promote discussion among Friends from around the world. Indeed, the FWCC, though began in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, now has four global sections – Africa, Asia-West Pacific, Europe and the Middle East, and the Americas – with a central World Office in London, two United Nations Offices in Geneva and New York, and regional groups from Burundi to Japan, from Finland to Honduras. Each regional section, in turn, brings together Friends in its own community through visitations, yearly meetings, and youth pilgrimages.

The FWCC takes pride in the diversity of its members and seeks through FWCC to build bridges between groups, and through these extensive networks to discover common spiritual ground and ethical principles that inspire the Religious Society of Friends to action.

Environmentalism, disarmament, women’s rights, and racial equality are included among these common concerns. Regional sections also work to further these values – for instance, the FWCC-African Section facilitates the Change Agent for Peace Programme based in Nairobi that provides peace training for the Great Lakes region.

Since their inaugural 1937 meeting in Pennsylvania, twenty-one Triennials have taken place. The last Triennial was set in Auckland, New Zealand, in January of 2004.