Deepening Church Life

This curriculum enables Friends to explore central tenets in the shared life of a Friends Meeting. Topics include:

1. Quaker faith as an adventure in direct, ongoing guidance by Christ shaping the work of the church today.
2. Deepening worship — ways we allow Christ to guide our worship services and bring His Spirit into our midst during them.
3. Church decisions — deepening our capacity to be led by Christ during our meetings for business in an open-hearted search for unity.
4. Meeting as “beloved community” — exploring ways we can increase our capacity to share with each other in mutual trust, vulnerability, accountability, & love.

The course was developed by Peter Blood of New England Yearly Meeting. Peter has been leading retreats and adult religious education courses for Friends meetings for many years. Peter’s ministry of Quaker writing and teaching is carried out under the care of Mount Toby (MA) Meeting. This is an adaptation of an earlier curriculum intended for use in unprogrammed meetings called “Deepening Meeting Life”. He was assisted in this adaptation by Becky Ankeny, a recorded minister in Sierra Cascade Yearly Meeting. For more information contact Peter.

Download the course materials:

• Deepening Church Life — course summary
• Deepening Church Life — handouts
• Deepening Church Life — all PDFs in one file