Quaker Quest
Workshop # 57
Mary Jo Clogg and Elaine Crauderueff
Gather with Friends with a concern for the future of Quakerism. We will discuss simple, radical and contemporary ways of articulating Quaker spiritual practices and testimonies to others and to ourselves, including how to use the Quaker Quest program that is so effective in Britain and has arrived here.
Percentage of time:
Worship/worship-sharing 25; Lecture 15; Discussion 25; Experiential 35
(PT)
Adults only
Full Description
How can we communicate that which we have found in our faith, the ‘precious gift’, to others who hunger after a spiritual path based on truth, love and social justice? This workshop will introduce ways of making our meetings visible to the wider communities they are in, and ways of speaking our truth clearly to those who come to learn about us. We hope not only to inspire participants to start an effective outreach program in their home meetings, but to offer practical help to see it through.
We have found that where meetings unite behind a dynamic outreach program, they themselves are enriched and strengthened by it. There is a strong inreach benefit to be gained from dynamic outreach. This has been the experience of meetings throughout Britain Yearly Meeting which have run a Quaker Quest program.
Quaker Quest is a very specific program, which differs in significant ways from other forms of outreach. In this workshop we hope to enable participants to take the Quaker Quest idea back to their Monthly or Quarterly Meetings.
In the workshop we will practice articulating our faith in a simple and dynamic way. We have found that in this way we grow in the spirit, both as individuals and meetings, and we intend for this workshop to be spiritually nourishing for the participants. It will be similar to the workshop held at the 2007 Gathering, where participants said that they did feel they had been strengthened in their faith.
It would be helpful if participants could make themselves familiar with existing outreach activities in their area. We suggest that, if possible, they read one or more of the ’12 Quakers and…’ series of booklets published by Quaker Quest, which illustrate the process of speaking the Quaker truth, and visit the websites:
