Young Adult Friends – Forming a Community of Practice
Conversation Circles: May 16 & 18, 2023
Young adults have been at the heart of quakerism since the time of George Fox and the Valiant Sixty, often calling the Society of Friends forward, and engaging meetings in social change. This time of emergence is ripe for welcoming young adults, both those who have grown up as Quakers and those seeking community that resonates with their experience of the Divine.
In this conversation we will gather as young adults, and Friends who coordinate programming with young adults to share experience, ideas, and questions about welcoming, and fully including young adults in Quaker meetings. We hope to nurture a community of practice to help monthly, quarterly, and yearly meetings reach out to young adults, appreciate their gifts, respond to their needs and leadings, and open the way for their leadership.
REGISTRATION REQUIRED
Queries:
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What are young adults yearning for from my Quaker community?
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How are Friends learning about and addressing the current needs of young adults?
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What opportunities do our meetings offer for young adults to gather with each other?
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What are the opportunities for young adults to explore Quaker faith and practice in the context of the Meeting community?
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How are Friends supporting the emergent leadership of young adults in the Society of Friends?
Conversation Starters:
- Kimani Keaton, Special Projects Coordinator, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting,
- Beth Kelly, Children, Youth and Young Adults Community Director, New York Yearly Meeting
- Rachael Carter, Quaker Voluntary Service Coordinator, Philadelphia
- Matt Rosen, Oxford Meeting Young Friends Group, Britain Yearly Meeting
Facilitators:
- Andrew Wright, Youth and Children’s Ministries Coordinator, Durham Friends Meeting, NCYMC
- Christel Jorgenson, Friends Meeting of Cambridge, NEYM
RESOURCES:
Books:
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Spirit Rising — Young Quaker Voices, by Angelina Conti, Cara Curtis, Wess Daniels, John Lomuria, Emma Condori, Harriet Hart, et al
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New Children of the Light, Maurine Pyle
QuakerSpeak Videos:
- Supporting Young Adult Friends in Their Leadings
- My Experience as a Young Adult Quaker
- Staying Engaged as a Young Adult Quaker
- What Brought Me to Quakerism?
Online Resources:
- Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Young Adult Friends webpage
- Young Adult Friends Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/YAQNET/
- Quaker Voluntary Service
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…
Working Circles
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.
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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
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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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.
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QREC depends on all of us sharing our gifts and skills as religious educators. Here are some of the ways you can get involved…