Barnesville

YFNA reunion/Quaker CampAt the end of June, Friends met at Olney Friends School for a reunion of the Young Friends of North America, but also for the envisioning of what a YFNAesque group might look like in the modern world. Part of what made this so amazing for me, was that though I was there for the latter, my mother came with me for the reunion part. It was truly wonderful to be able to share this family of Friends with my mother.

For me the past year and a half have been building up to something amazing, and this weekend was another step in the process. It started for me with my involvement in the Quaker Leadership Scholars Program at Guilford College. It was there that I began to feel a concern for the reconnection of Friends across the traditional branches of Quakerism. That concern grew into a summer project, and then a retreat in Feb., and most recently the reunion of YFNA. YFNA's sole purpose was that of bringing people together across the barriers that they inherited in Quakerism.

I must say that I truly believe that now is an exciting time to be a Friend. There is a great momentum to bring people together, and with that we can do the work we are called to do. At the Olney Reunion, a committee was formed, which will begin to do the work of planning a conference to come. I am convinced that we as Young Friends have taken the first steps down a long and awesome road. I believe that we have begun to define what Quakerism means to us, and that we are doing it by listening to each other. What a time to be a Quaker!!!

Respectfully submitted,
Nathan Sebens