Faith & Play: Stories of Quaker faith, practice and witness
Conversation Circles: February 20 & 22, 2024
Thursday conversation will be simultaneously interpreted in Spanish
FAITH & PLAY™ IS A SET OF STORIES for Friends to use as a vehicle for learning about Quaker faith and practice, and to explore our identity as Friends. Because the format is experiential, listeners can find meaning in the story drawing on their own life experience. Stories provide an opportunity to explore faith both as an individual and as part of a spiritual community.
Following the Godly Play® model, a Faith & Play story is told both verbally and visually, using simple materials, with participants gathered in a circle. Faith & Play stories were originally intended for children 3-12 years old, and this remains the primary focus. At the same time, the stories are also used with older youth, multigenerational groups, and with adults new to Quakerism.
Join this conversation to learn more about using Faith & Play in your meeting.
REGISTRATION REQUIRED
¿Habla español? Regístrate para el jueves.
Conversation Starter:
- Melinda Wenner Bradley, Faith & Play Director of Communications and Training
Facilitators:
- Elizabeth Freyman, Albuquerque Friends Meeting, IMYM
- Andrew Wright, Durham Friends Meeting, NCYMC
RESOURCES:
- Faith & Play: Quaker Stories for Friends Trained in the Godly Play Method, (Quaker Press of FGC, second edition, 2017) available from FGC QuakerBooks.
- Faith & Play Stories website: https://quakerfaithandplay.org/
- Faith & Play Stories channel on YouTube
- Teaching Godly Play: How to Mentor the Spiritual Development of Children by Jerome Berryman, (Morehouse, revised and expanded 2009).
- The Complete Guide to Godly Play (Volumes 1-8) by Jerome Berryman (Church Publishing Incorporated, 2002, revised 2017). Friends most often find volumes 2, 3, and 4 have the core, extension, and enrichment stories from the Bible curriculum that are used in our circles.
- Stories of God at Home by Jerome Berryman
- Children’s Spirituality: What it is and Why it Matters by Rebecca Nye
Learn more: Visit the QREC Resource Library and subscribe to our announcements
An Introduction
The Quaker Religious Education Collaborative (QREC) is an international, cross-branch, grassroots network of Friends sharing a stewardship for lifelong Quaker faith formation through religious education. We formed in April 2014 and now serve more than 300 Friends in our network. We actively engage and support each other across languages and continents. We gather for regional and annual conferences and offer monthly Conversation Circles via an online conferencing platform.
Steering Circle
We share leadership as part of our collaborative mission, making decisions using the Quaker ‘sense of the meeting’ process, sitting in expectant, worshipful waiting for the emergence of shared truth. Read more…
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The Resource Library
Finders Guide, a sampling of the collection
The QREC Resource Library is a place to share lessons and other educational information in support of our work as Quaker religious educators. This library is a forum for curricula, articles, videos and other educational materials on Quaker themes. You will also find principles, policies and procedures to strengthen operation of your child, youth and adult religious education programs.
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Find renewal, companionship, and help for nitty gritty issues in Quaker religious education, all the while opening spaces for Spirit to work and listening together for God’s way forward.
QREC holds an annual conference and retreat. In addition we hold online Conversation Circles and post other religious education events as we learn about them.
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Online conferences for Quaker religious educators to share about their work. Conversations are scheduled for two sessions per topic to encourage international participation. Join the conversation…
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Religious education events of interest to Quakers from all parts of the world. Please let us know about upcoming online or in-person events happening in your area. See the list of upcoming events…
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Faith at Home
Home is the heart of faith formation for all families. This is especially true for Friends. As an experiential religion, Quakerism is best learned through living in loving community. Indeed, the vast majority of faith formation for our young Friends happens at home in the busy swirl of daily life.
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