Claiming the Living Roots of our Faith

‚ô¶ August 9-11, 2019 at Powell House in Old Chatham, NY ‚ô¶

Warm greetings! We had a wonderful annual conference in August at Powell House with 31 Friends from 14 yearly meetings. The minutes from our business meeting include the following:

  • Friends approved Kody Hersh (SEYM) to serve on the Steering Circle, and current Steering Circle member, Sita Diehl (NYM) to serve as QREC Secretary. 
  • We are still searching for a Friend to serve as QREC Treasurer.  The Treasurer would report to the Steering Circle periodically but would not need to attend all meetings.  Please contact Gifts and Leadings Circle member Windy Cooler with recommendations: WindyCooler@gmail.com
  • The membership approved $3,000 as a goal for membership contributions in the coming year.  If you are so led, please visit the membership application on our website: 

Three ongoing projects are made possible through the generous support of the Thomas H. and Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund to strengthen our community of practice: 

  • Our pilot project supporting unstaffed yearly meetings. A special welcome to Sierra-Cascades Yearly Meeting of Friends, our first pilot site. We are seeking two more. Contact Beth Collea: Bethcollea@aol.com.
  • An experimental program Weaving Quaker Activists into First Day Schools
  • Creating international stories of Quaker faith and witness to share in translation across the worldwide family of Friends.Our new work has not replaced the tried and true resources you‚Äôve come to rely upon like our First Day School Planning Calendar or our monthly online Conversation Circles on topics of faith formation or the craft of teaching. We have a great year of sharing and fellowship in store.

Plan to join us for the 2020 QREC conference:

August 14 – 16, 2020
Catholic Conference Center
Hickory, North Carolina

We are seeking Friends to serve on the conference Planning Circle!
For more information, contact Beth Collea: 
Bethcollea@aol.com 

We close with the following blessing and extend this to you now as part of our wider circle. It is from the first gathering of QREC East Africa in January 2019.

We see you.
We believe in you.
We bless you.
We send you forth.
Live your faith. Do your work.

In Faith and Friendship,

The QREC Steering Circle:

Beth Collea, New England Yearly Meeting
Sita Diehl, Northern Yearly Meeting
Kody Hersh, Southeastern Yearly Meeting
Marsha Holliday, Baltimore Yearly Meeting
Liz Yeats, South Central Yearly Meeting
Yani Zamora, NEYM and Mexico City

 

2019 Conference Theme:

Powering up our Quakerism to meet the challenges of these times

  • Embrace worship: programmed and unprogrammed                                         
  • Learn about emerging work
  • Share the fruits of your experience
  • Engage in panel discussions and workshops
  • Enjoy fellowship in your RE Community of Practice        
Plenary Panel
Angela Hopkins      Friends Center for Racial Justice, Ithaca, NY
                               Ithaca Monthly Meeting, NYYM
Chris Jorgenson     Friends Meeting at Cambridge, NEYM
Beth Collea            Wellesley Friends Meeting, NEYM
Workshops
Holding Our Families in the Light: A Candid Assessment of Quaker Pastoral Care for Families
               Windy Cooler, Baltimore YM & Earlham School of Religion
Exploring Our Faith with Each Other: Quaker Adult Education
               Peter Blood-Patterson, New England YM
Combining Legos, Stop Animation Video, and Classic Bible Curricula:
               Liz Yeats, South Central YM
Quakerism for Youth: Opening the Way for Spirit-Led Lives in the Real World
               Sita Diehl, Northern YM, Chris DeRoller, Mike Clark New York YM & Emma Condori Holiness YM,                                          
Quaker Campus Ministry & Welcoming College Students into Our Local Meetings
               Greg Woods and Beth Collea, New England YM
 
 

‚ô¶ Strengthen your RE Program ‚ô¶ 

 

Explore practical strategies to bring a robust Quakerism to the places we serve, including interfaith environments like Friends Schools.

 

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…

Working Circles

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Our work  takes place in ‘circles’ or small groups of Friends who labor on a common task, usually meeting by video conference due to the geographic diversity of the membership. Read more…

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.

Children's Education

Adult Education

Family

African Quaker Library

Youth Education

Small Meetings

Young Adult Friends

Biblioteca QREC

Events

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.

Conversation Circles

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…

Other Events

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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…

Love at the Heart

Spiritual Practices

Discernment

Active Caring

Quaker Family Culture

Finding the Light

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.

Become a Member

Submit Resources

Get Announcements

Donate

Attend an Event

Contact Us

Get Involved

QREC depends on all of us sharing our gifts and skills as religious educators. Here are some of the ways you can get involved…