Table of Contents
The schedule of events at a Quaker Gathering can be mystifying, especially to newcomers. Here’s a brief rundown:
2026 Sunderland P Gardner (SPG) Lecture—John Samson Fellows “Abolitionist Openings”
At each Annual Gathering, we hold our annual lecture, the Sunderland P. Gardner Lecture.
In 2026, John reflects on his work with the Transformative Justice Committee at the Canadian Friends Service Committee and their hope to expand the idea of abolition from slavery and prisons to include policing.
John is a cultural worker, activist, educator and weaver from Winnipeg, Treaty One Territory. His work on prison and police abolition is sustained by the Canadian Yearly Minute on Prison Abolition from 1988 and his Quaker faith.
John is a member of Winnipeg Monthly Meeting and is finishing his term as clerk of Canadian Friends Service Committee’s Transformative Justice Committee.
Sunderland P Gardner (1802 – 1893) was a Quaker known for his tireless travel in the ministry among Friends. Year in and year out, Gardner, a farmer of modest means, crossed and re-crossed Genesee Yearly Meeting —the Meeting that knit together northern New York State Quakers and most of the Ontario Quaker meetings. He is said to have spoken with plainness and vigour, love and compassion. He travelled to be present with Friends, particularly in their times of bereavement and sorrow, and Friends embraced him.
Quaker Study—Geoffry Garver
Geoffry teaches environmental and law courses at McGill and Concordia Universities in Montreal and coordinates law and governance research for the Leadership for the Ecozoic program of McGill University and the University of Vermont.
Geoff grew up in a Quaker family in Western New York and is co-clerk of Montreal Monthly Meeting (2024-26), a board member of the Quaker Institute for the Future and associate clerk of the Canadian Friends Service Committee executive committee.
Quaker Study/Bible Study—we tend to alternate our study time at the Annual Gathering year-over-year between a deeper dive into the Biblical underpinnings of our faith and (now, in 2026) an exploration of Quaker faith-in-action.
Visiting in the Ministry: Evan Welkin Executive Secretary of Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) Section of the Americas
Evan’s plenary session is “Preparing ourselves for Transformation.” His focus is on personal and collective renewal in the context of his multicultural, interfaith work in FWCC.
Daily Community Gathering
This is a light and lively time for folks of all ages to share Quaker stories, songs, games, and worship. It will be a daily 45-minute gathering after breakfast for folks attending the gathering in person.
Come to the Community Gathering and have fun while we explore who we are and what we value.
Small Group Worship
Small Group Worship is a time to connect with spirit and with each other in small groups. This is a time to explore our own experience and share with each other more deeply than we might in normal conversation. It seeks to draw us into sacred space, where we can take down our usual defenses, and encounter each other in “that which is eternal.”
In-person attenders have several types of Small Group Worship to choose from. You will be asked to indicate whether you wish to participate in Small Group Worship when you register. We’ll be in touch shortly before the Gathering to confirm your choice of small group.
Worship Sharing
This group will participate in the worship-sharing style of meeting. This is where the group meets and sits in silence until one is led to share what is coming up for them.
Worship Study
This group will participate in the worship sharing style of meeting, however they will be lead by a leader with a list of queries that have been drawn from various places, that is created by the Continuing Meeting for Ministry and Counsel.
Sampler Group
This group will be trying each of the different worship styles. There will be silent/walking meditation, worship sharing, and worship study. Each day will be different.
Silent Worship/ Walking Meditation
This group will meet in the silent room and will sit together in silence. If the group is willing and able, they can also go outside and do a walking meditation.
Online attenders who choose small groups will engage with Worship Sharing.
Special Interest Groups (SIG)
Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are concurrently-scheduled sessions that offer opportunities to gather in small groups and explore topics that move Friends. In a SIG you might learn, discern, share, explore, or participate in an activity of community building. The topics span the breadth of individual and corporate Quaker interests. In some cases, suggested actions arise out of a SIG that may then be brought to CYM’s Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business.
If you are interested in facilitating a SIG, we ask that you discern your intention with your Monthly Meeting or other suitable Friends and provide the Minute of support arising from that discernment.
The deadline for requesting a SIG space is June 15, 2026.
Affinity Groups
In an Affinity Group, Friends gather around a shared aspect of their material identities to tell personal stories and experiences without as much of a need for explanation or justification.
Learn more about the power of Affinity Groups to help shape community in this recording of a recent Canadian Yearly Meeting Pocket Thought event on Affinity Groups: Watch here.
Request an Affinity Group space here.
The deadline for requesting an Affinity Group space is June 15, 2026.
Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business
From Canadian Faith and Practice 3.50: Quaker business meetings are a vehicle for Divine Guidance and unity is the outcome if we listen and are faithful to our Guide. Unity is that sense that we are gathered in the Spirit and that the way of Truth has become clear. As individuals we may not agree at all with the decision that is given us, but we know that it is right and that we must follow.
Closing Meeting
At the Closing Meeting, the Gathering typically approves a Minute accepting the Epistle arising from the Gathering.
An Epistle articulates the collective sene of experience and how Spirit has moved among us during the Gathering. We share it with Meetings around the world through the Friends World Committee for Consultation.
The Epistle that arises from a Quaker gathering was historically, and continues to be, an important way for Friends and others to learn about each other in that which is eternal. Epistles help us appreciate that we are part of a world family of Friends.
See the 2025 Epistles, including Canadian Yearly Meeting’s Epistle, here.
“Our business for the year is complete; our short and simple gathering is coming to a close. Let us take this small taste of the sweetness of being together with Friends far and wide, and allow it to nurture us as we continue our service for another year on this blessed earth.”
—Closing Minute CYM Annual Gathering 2025
Hybrid Community Time
This is un-programmed time for Friends online and in-person to visit with one another.
We’ll show a short (short-short!) daily slide show of the goings-on on Campus that day, and online folks might want to share what their day at the Gathering was like.
An Evening with Canadian Friends Service Committee
An Evening with CFSC: An Overview of Friends’ Current Peace and Social Justice Work.
Friends will also have an opportunity to ask questions and engage with CFSC members and staff.
Celebration of the Spirit in the Lives of Friends (Memorial Meeting)
We take time to reflect on and celebrate the lives of Friends who have died since our last Gathering. The ministry and sharing in this Meeting for Worship can remind us of the power and simple beauty of lives spent listening for the Spirit. This is a special time of remembering and grief, and also of joy.
Experience of the Spirit in my Life
A time of worship-sharing in which we share with each other the difficult aspects of our journey, as well as the joys and affirmations we find together. Each contribution is supported in silence before and afterward. All are welcome.
Family Night
A joyous tradition at Canadian Yearly Meeting Annual Gatherings! Share a song, skit, storytelling, poem, or joke. This is our time of celebrating our gifts of expression, to laugh and to close the week in loving community. Bring your party piece. Young to old, all are all invited to contribute short pieces.