Spiritual Deepening Resources & Opportunities for Young Adult Friends

The following resources are just some of the Quaker-related resources available to Young Friends. Please do not hesitate to contact E&O (CYM Education & Outreach Committee) for more information or support!

Canadian Yearly Meeting – Pre-CYM Young Friends Retreat

Thursday-Saturday 2-4 August 2018

Cost: Free for Canadian Young Friends.
Travel to Camp NeeKauNis (Georgian Bay, Ontario) is required and financial assistance is available.

Contact a Young Friend Regional Contact for more information:
Western Canada – Daniel von Schulmann
Prairies and Northern Canada – Zaley Warkentin
Quebec – David Summerhays
Ontario – Wesley Weima

An Atlantic Canada Young Friend Regional Contact is being sought. Please contact the YF Regional Contacts if you know someone or are interested in serving in this capacity!

Pendle Hill’s Young Adult Friend Conference:
Continuing Revolution

Young Adult Friends and seekers (ages 18-35) are invited to Pendle Hill’s annual intensive six-day conference – Continuing Revolution – which is designed to strengthen a networked generation of awakened and effective, spiritually-grounded change agents.

Friday-Wednesday 1-6 June 2018

Cost: $325 USD (about $415 CND), with financial assistance available. Travel to Pennsylvania is required.

Woodbrooke Young Adult Friends Retreats

Woodbrooke is a space for those aged 18-35 to engage in spiritual connection, exploration and deepening. It offers opportunities to explore spiritual practice, including through creativity, contemplation, music and words.

Woodbrooke In-Person Retreat
Monday 19 March – Sunday 29 April 2018
Cost: £240-345 (about $410-590 CND) Travel to England required.

Woodbroke Online Retreat
Monday 19 March – Sunday 29 April 2018 (approximately 2-3 hours per week)
Cost: £25 (about $43 CND)

Free Canadian Yearly Meeting E-Courses

Winter Term Online Courses, January-February 2018:
Introduction to Quaker and Friends Ways – register now
Faith and Practice – register now

E&O offers Fall, Winter and Spring e-courses based on interest and registration numbers. These courses are free of charge!

Contact E&O to be put on the online course mailing list!

Friends General Conference (FGC) Spiritual Deepening e-Retreats (all ages)

Spiritual Deepening Retreats:

Beloved Community (4 weeks)
14 January – 10 February 2018

Silence and Light  (6 weeks)
4 March – 13 April 2018

Beloved Community (4 weeks)
6 May 6 – 1 June 2018

Silence and Light (8 weeks)
9 September – 2 November 2018

Beloved Community (4 weeks)
14 October – 19 November 2018

Cost: Recommended fee $20 USD (about $25 CND)

Ben Lomond Centre Resources

The Ben Lomond Centre in Northern California offers a variety of year-round educational opportunities. Check out their 2018 Program Calendar for more information!

They also hold daily online Meeting for Worship at 7:30pm Pacific.

E&O wants to support you!

Need help with finding Quaker resources? Contact us!

Apply to E&O for support with Quaker-related studies and/or travel.

Want to get involved in, support or suggest E&O initiatives? Contact us!

Canadian Quaker Courses Free Online

NOTE: Registration for these courses is now closed.

Please keep an eye on our News page for upcoming courses.


E&O’s winter semester courses begin this January — the registration deadline is December 15!

Two courses will be offered: “Introduction to Quakers and Friends’ Ways” and “Quaker Faith and Practice.”

Late registrants can sometimes be accommodated — so don’t hesitate to contact us — but priority goes to those who register by the deadline!

Introduction to Quakers and Friends’ Ways

How did Quaker faith come to be based on direct experience rather than authority?  How can a Quaker community nurture how we live, work, worship, and make decisions?  Introduction to Quakers and Friends’ Ways is a free online course that explores the origin of Quaker testimonies, such as the traditional peace testimony and testimony of equality, in Canadian Friends’ history and beyond. It also invites participants to deepen their understanding of the role of Monthly Meetings in Quaker life.

Topics include:

  • experiencing the Spirit;
  • early Friends in Canada and the World;
  • Quaker Decision-Making;
  • living the Spiritual Community.

New attenders as well as experienced Friends will find opportunities to grow in this course, which meets online once per week for 6 weeks starting in mid-January.

Register for the Introduction to Quaker and Friends’ Ways course

Quaker Faith and Practice

Would you like to share and learn about the varieties of ways people “do” Quakerism?  Do you wonder how Friends know when to speak during worship? Quaker Faith and Practice is another free course starting in mid-January.  This course will explore some of the many ways that Quakers worship in expectant silence, listen spiritually to build peaceful communities, read and write spiritual journals, and make business decisions in large and small groups by “coming to unity” in the “sense of the Meeting.”

The course will explore themes like the following:

  • That of God in everyone
  • No end to divine revelation
  • What is Heaven on Earth?
  • Quaker Mysticism

This group will also meet online once per week for 6 weeks, use queries to nurture spiritual growth, and explore the foundational book Faith and Practice of the Canadian Yearly Meeting, This book documents the spiritual insights of Canadian Quakers past and present, as well as including text from other times and places such as the historical “Advices and Queries.”

Register for the Quaker Faith and Practice course

When do these courses run?

Introduction to Quaker and Friends’ Ways
Session 1: 8:00pm EST Wednesdays, January-February 2018
Session 2: January – February 2018 (day and time determined through registration process)

Quaker Faith and Practice
January – February 2018 (day and time determined through registration process)

*Multiple courses may be offered if registration number warrant. The scheduling of any additional courses will accommodate as many people as possible.  Are you considering signing up? Do you need more information?  Contact the  organizing committee for more information.

How do the courses work?

A short reading will be provided before each session.  The weekly online sessions will use video or audio conference, depending on the technology available to those who sign up, and will include worship, exercises, reflections on readings, and opportunities to apply the learning to our own lives.  You can see examples of previous course materials here:

Introduction to Quakers and Friends Ways Learning Resource

Quaker Faith and Practice Learning Resource

The courses are offered by Canadian Yearly Meeting’s Education and Outreach Committee. You can contact the organizing committee for more information.

Both Courses are Free of Charge

However, we warmly welcome any donations you are able to give, to support future courses and other work of Canadian Yearly Meeting.  You can donate online, by mail, or by phone.

Facilitators

David Summerhays, an experienced facilitator from Montreal Monthly Meeting, will lead one course, or multiple sessions of the same course.  Previous participants have said,

  • “I think David has a real gift.  He was able to move us along, without me feeling hurried. He asked open-ended questions, which moved the discussion to the most interesting places.”
  • “David was also very conscious of assisting those having technical/language difficulties.”
  • “He has a welcoming and non-threatening approach and was very clear that he thought of himself as a participant eager to learn as much as everyone else from the experience.”
  • “David did a great job making the space safe and promoting discussion. [It] didn’t feel overly academic.”

Arwen Brenneman, an experienced facilitator from Vancouver Monthly Meeting. She been part of the Quaker community most of her life and has a background in information technology. She recently joined Education and Outreach’s list of contract course facilitators, and looks forward to teaching her first online course this winter!

What are people saying about Canadian Yearly Meeting’s online courses?

  • The course “was very meaningful to me. I have been circling the Quakers for a few years now and it helped me decide that it’s right for me.”
  • “The real thing that made this course meaningful was the connection I made with other friends.”
  • “I had an opportunity to communicate with Friends I did not know and that was worthwhile.”
  • “As someone who is new to Quakerism, I found the outline very informative. I appreciated the conversation with others, as it prompted a wider perspective of the topic under discussion and also allowed me to see some of the variety of the Quaker culture beyond the meeting I have been attending. My meeting was interested in my experience of the course.”
  • “The big Ah-Ha’s for me were around understanding what waiting in the light means for me, and what that sense of being connected to God means for me.”

Contact Us with Questions or for More Info

For more information, contact the organizing team at .  We look forward to meeting you!

New Issue of The Canadian Friend

Cover of The Canadian Friend, Issue 2, 2017The latest issue of The Canadian Friend is now available on-line as a PDF:
The Canadian Friend 2017, Issue #2.

Themed “Faith and Action,” this issue features articles and reflections on activism, Indigenous rights, community, faith – and an attractive new layout.

This beautiful issue was brought forth by outgoing CYM Editor, Reykia Fick. Many thanks and best wishes to Reykia while she spends this next year on a maternity break (a transition that was previously announced).

As a reminder, submissions and communications about The Canadian Friend (and quaker.ca) can still be sent the same address, where they reach Timothy Kitz, the current CYM Editor.

 

Join the 2018 Quaker Pilgrimage to England

Registration is open for the 2018 Quaker Pilgramage, organized by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and exploring England’s “1652 Country” with a guide from Britain Yearly Meeting.

Quaker Pilgrimage to England, July 18-22, 2018. To reserve a spot or ask questions, please email Deborra Sines Pancoe at Deborra@friendscouncil.org. Registration opens September 30, 2017. A $500 registration fee is required to reserve a spot. (www.friendscouncil.org) Space is limited to just 27 Pilgrims, so reserve early.

See the poster above and the registration document below for more details:
2018 Pilgrimage Decription & Registration

Friends United Meeting Seeking General Secretary

Headshot of Colin Saxton, outgoing General Secretary of FUM

Colin Saxton, outgoing General Secretary of FUM

Friends United Meeting (FUM), is an association of twenty-six Quaker Yearly Meetings in South and North America (including Canadian Yearly Meeting), the Middle East, and Africa. FUM is searching for a new General Secretary.

For details, please see the announcement on FUM’s homepage and the official Position Description (PDF).

Note that applications are due by November 30, 2017.