Quaker Campus Ministry: Offering guidance and community in the manner of Friends.

College is a time of seeking: to explore truth, to discern values and to connect with others.  Students may also feel overwhelmed and isolate from the life they have known. Quaker campus ministry can speak to these conditions, offering beloved community and Spirit-led practice.  This conversation will explore promising approaches to Quaker campus ministry.

Conversation Circles are online video conferences convened to help Quaker religious educators across geographic regions share and collaborate about why and how they do their work. Conversations focus on topics of shared interest with two sessions for teach topic; one in the afternoon (eastern US time) and one in the evening. Participants self select with about 10 participants joining each call. No special computer or other equipment is necessary, though using a computer with a webcam allows you to see other participants. You can join over the phone. Registration is required with access information provided by email. Conversation Circles are free of charge.

Registration is required:

  • Tuesday, 9/17, 1:00 PM US Eastern time (12pm CT, 11am MT, 10am PT)       Click HERE to register.
  • Thursday, 9/19, 8:00 PM US Eastern time (7PM CT, 6PM MT, 5PM PT )          Click HERE to register.

Facilitators:

September 17: Beth Collea, Dover (NH) Friends Meeting, NEYM

September 19: Marsha Holliday, Langley Hill Friends Meeting, BYM

Conversation Starters:

Gene Throwe is a Quaker chaplain for American University in Washington DC.  He was led to develop an outreach program between local college students and the Quaker community after attending a retreat on engaging young adults in Quakerism. He is active with Friends Meeting of Washington in Dupont Circle where he has served for the last 2.5 years as the co-Clerk of his meeting and is active with the Young Adult Friends.

Maurine Pyle resides in Southern Illinois, just south of St. Louis MO. She is the author of “NEW CHILDREN OF THE LIGHT: Quaker youth speak their Truth to the world (2016)” which was derived from interviews with 16 young adult Quakers. While attending graduate school at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, she served as a campus minister at the Interfaith Center where she encountered many seekers who were ‘spiritual but not religious’.

Greg Woods serves as Youth Ministries Coordinator at Friends Meeting at Cambridge in New England YM. He has carried a concern for Quaker Campus Ministry for many years and in the past has organized service trips at William Penn House in Washington DC and served in the Quaker Leadership Center at Guilford College.

Queries:

  • What does Quaker faith and practice offer to college students and other post-secondary learners?  
  • What is unique and valuable in Quaker campus ministry?
  • How can monthly meetings and colleges collaborate to offer Quaker worship, study and community to students?
  • What ministry is emerging to nurture community among young Friends and other young adult seekers?

Resources: