Way Opens for a Small Meeting… a Quaker Quest Profile

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Way Opens

Money: As it became clear that the meeting was truly behind doing Quaker Quest, one Friend who had entered the business meeting with deep concerns became a major donor to support this effort.  Contributions from the meeting, along with a matching grant from FGC, quickly resolved the financial issue.  

Volunteers: The biggest challenge in finding volunteers was identifying the nine people who would be willing serve as speakers fore the various public sessions.  There were some people who were the "likely" choices, people who were faculty or who had experience with public speaking, but after asking these people they were still a few people short.  The search continued, and Jan was happy to report that they have found exactly the nine speakers they needed.

Stillwater Friends Meeting will be hosting six Quaker Quest public sessions on Wednesday evenings in September and October, 2009.  

Fundamental Changes

While many describe Quaker Quest as an outreach program, reports from meetings that have participated are clear - it accomplishes invaluable inreach also. Stillwater was no exception.  During the 6-month preparation period, in advance of the public sessions, Quaker Quest challenged the meeting to see themselves from the perspective of a newcomer. Stillwater Friends realized that the space where they met for about 20 years would never be welcoming to young families without a place for children to be during worship.  They moved, and now meet at a Unitarian Church on Sunday evenings.  Likewise, they valued the opportunity for Friends to share about their faith in informal settings, and are now beginning worship with a brief period of "Quaker-Quest like" sharing from individual Friends.

Advice for Friends

The most important advice Jan could offer to meetings considering Quaker Quest was:  don't let the sense that ‘our meeting can't do this' stop the conversation.  Don't be afraid to take it under discernment, and even if your meeting decides not to do it, the process of consideration will be beneficial.  

To learn more about Quaker Quest visit www.quakerquestfgc.org .

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