Quaker Fellowship for Afterlife Studies

Welcome to the web site of the Quaker Fellowship for Afterlife Studies (QFAS). QFAS is a Quaker Recognized Body of the Religious Society of Friends of Great Britain (Britain Yearly Meeting).

QFAS aims to explore evidence for survival of death, to provide a forum for discussion on this and related subjects, and to learn from and support those with psychic gifts and experiences. It aims to do this within the Quaker movement and in society in general by liaising with other groups with like aims.

• Are you concerned with issues of death and after-death?

• Do you find it hard to explore such topics in Quaker circles?

The After-Life Studies Group aims to:

• study Christian, Quaker and other sources which encourage a view of God’s creation going far beyond this physical world; provide a forum for discussion, to include such topics as other worlds, reincarnation, and all issues relating to development beyond physical death;

• explore evidence for survival and learn from and support those with psychic gifts and experiences;

• focus on the spiritual dimension of such experience, so as to integrate it with our Meetings for Worship.

To join QFAS please go to the Membership page.

Background to QFAS

Early Friends, like all Christians, believed that death was the gateway to eternal life. We can reach out to those who have gone before us, and they can help us, if we believe that this life is far from all there is. The ‘Communion of Saints’, or of Souls, or Soul-friends, recognises no barrier in death. Such a communion was a fundamental part of the message of the great Quaker Thomas Kelly in the twentieth century.

The Quaker After-Life Studies Group (formed in July 2000) aims to open up discussion of death and immortality, which current Quakerism hardly tolerates, although many passages in Quaker Faith and Practice testify to its importance.

Such discussion can draw on spiritual writings from early Christian times onwards, as well as evidence from Spiritualism and the psychic experiences of gifted individuals. We would like to see the growth of an atmosphere in the Society of Friends in which an open and sympathetic attitude allows those with experience or concerns in these areas to speak to Friends about them, and to minister in Meeting for Worship if called to do so.

Bereavement

The bereaved in our Meetings need sensitive support during the grieving process and sources of knowledge concerning the afterlife should be available. Bereaved people will sometimes feel the need to speak of their condition, and of their experiences, but are often discouraged from doing so by a prohibitive atmosphere. We aim to reduce such fears for all in our Meetings.

We might consider following the Eastern Orthodox practice of welcoming the presence of the departed in all acts of corporate worship. This can only encourage the growth of the spirit of hope, which we need in our Meetings.

In addition we want to avoid the unhealthy polarisation of spiritual and psychic concerns. We would like to reunite the spiritual search for God with the discovery of our own immortal being.

To join QFAS please go to the Membership page.