An Introduction by Kody Hersh
In the first years of the Quaker movement, pairs of minister-evangelists set out from England to places around the world, crossing oceans and continents on trips that lasted months or years, to deliver the Quaker message as widely as they could. They crossed cultural and linguistic barriers apparently without hesitation, speaking the Truth that God gave them.... Read More
Holly Baldwin
I wasn’t always a Quaker who paid attention to Quaker diversity. But after a few years of seeking deeper connections among Friends in my meeting and yearly meeting, I found myself at the World Gathering of Young Friends in George Fox country in 2005, surrounded by other young adults who were seeking hard for connections with God and one another, and who envisioned an enlivened Society of Friends that has spiritual vitality and authenticity. And we were finding what we were seeking in worship and fellowship with one another—young Friends from across the spectrum of Quakers.
My f/Friend Raul spoke in worship one day (I paraphrase): “At home, I knew that God was powerful beyond my imagination. And yet, I thought I knew how he worked. I put God in a box. And now I can see that God has many ways that he works in the world. How foolish of me—I knew better.”
To me, the beauty of inter-visitation among the diversity of Friends is the opportunity to stretch our understanding of God, to question each other’s (and our own) traditions to find the vitality, and find the weak spots, and