In the season of Christmas and festivals of light, we consider how to celebrate in the manner of Friends: How do we approach this season as Friends? What can we share with Quaker religious education colleagues from our experience? What can we share with families in...
These First Day School lessons teach Quaker faith and practice at home. Begun as a response to the covid-19 pandemic, lesson plans are offered by Providence Friends Meeting. Themes from fall, 2021 include: Native American faith compared to Quaker testimonies, Sibling...
The Christmas story and what follows: the fleeing of Jesus, Mary and Joseph from Herod's soldiers to Egypt. An immigration story, this book has timeless crossover appeal and a message that couldn't be more relevant today as so many leave their homeland for fear of...
Below is a list of some of our favorite books that are associated with Earth Day. Some books tell about people and the work that they’ve done to help the Earth. Other books share stories to appreciate our beautiful Earth. Each entry has been chosen because it has a...
Topic: Walk Gently Over the Earth: Religious Education for Sustainable Living Friends, young and old, find joy and inspiration in the natural world, yet we are challenged by a mounting environmental crisis. Friends from Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW) to explore...
Topic: Quakers, Death and New Life: Lent, Easter and Passover Drawing on the ancient themes of death, rebirth and resurrection, how can we, as religious educators open the way to a Quaker understanding of Lent, Easter and Passover? Join this conversation to discuss...
Cultures all over the world celebrate festivals of Light, often in December. This story, told in the Faith & Play style. uses symbols of Light in a simple, profound way to introduce these festivals in Quaker religious education.
Grandparents, aunts and uncles, and children gather at a farm house to celebrate Christmas in the Russian tradition. Based on Polacco's childhood memories, this is the story of her Great-uncle Vladimir, known as Vova, and his colorful and inventive celebrations of the...
This picture-book version of the Biblical parable of the loaves and fishes tells the story from the perspective of the young boy who offers up his simple lunch of rye bread loaves and fish he'd caught at his quiet fishing spot to Jesus, who uses them to feed the...
Join us in an exciting pop-up partnership between Friends Peace Teams and the Quaker Religious Education Collaborative! We are starting a pilot project organizing Friendly Holiday Gift Fairs as a way to learn about, celebrate, and support peacemaking through "gifts...
Three Christmas holiday traditions at Birmingham Friends Meeting (West Chester, Pennsylvania, USA) are described in the attached document: 1. The Giving Tree, a service project of the Birmingham Meeting Youth Committee in collaboration with a local homeless shelter....
We are grateful to Nancy Pickering of Middletown Friends Meeting (Philadelphia Yearly Meeting) for three plays celebrating the Christmas season This is the Stable, A simple telling of the Nativity with readings from the book by Cynthia Cotten, illustrated by Delana...
Reverse Advent: For Families and RE Programs, An Activity to Teach the Spiritual Discipline of Reaching Out In December, young people and their families have an opportunity to connect a story of the season with service to a local food cupboard or shelter. While...
A resource for Friends, includes the Passover prayers and celebration of Passover. The purpose is stated in the final prayer of acceptance, "You are not obligated to complete the task of creating a better world in your lifetime, but neither must you refuse to do your...
Quakers using Godly Play® in their religious education program have stories from that curriculum and other resources to choose from during this time in the First Day School year. What follows is by no means an exhaustive list, but some thoughts on what has worked in...
A story about the power of God's love Each spring, as Easter approaches, we see new life all around us. This story of the symbolic transformation from winter to spring, is adapted for Friends from the Godly Play® story The Mystery of Easter* and work by the Faith...
From Wellesley (Massachusetts, USA) Friends Meeting (New England Yearly Meeting), a thoughtful set of queries for this season of renewal and rebirth. Download the article Easter Light: Seeking in the Spring of the Year
A contemporary and unique children's Christmas book about Jesus' love for all children, That Baby in the Manger offers a needed message about inclusion and acceptance of cultural differences. As the children of a small church struggle with the portrayal of the Holy...
Across cultures, Jesus and his family have inspired countless works of art. Christians around the world have represented the Holy Family. When we use art in our teaching we ignite visual learners and inspire children's own art-making. Using books or online tools,...
An Episcopalian resource, "Holy Week in a Box" uses simple objects tucked into a small box, along with Bible passages to tell the stories observed during the week leading up to Easter. Each item in the box is a symbol, representing a piece of the gospel narrative:...
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.
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…
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 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.
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.
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…
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…
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.
QREC depends on all of us sharing our gifts and skills as religious educators. Here are some of the ways you can get involved…
