Emily Stewart

This is also published in New York Yearly Meetings Infoshare

As the Youth Ministries Coordinator for Friends General Conference I’ve had the opportunity to attend several yearly meetings during their annual sessions. This year, I was fortunate that New York Yearly Meeting was among the 3 yearly meetings that I attended. Yearly meetings have different numbers of young people and incorporate them into fellowship and business in various ways. However, most yearly meetings, including NYYM, are asking the question: How do we create a truly multigenerational, spiritual community where all Friends feel a part of and are engaged with Quakerism?

Having grown up with a small Young Friends group of only six people, I was surprised at how many Young Friends attended NYYM, how many families were present, and that Young Adult Friends continue to come back well after college. When I asked younger Friends why they attended NYYM, they spoke with joy about growing up participating in Powell House retreats and attending yearly meeting with their family. They loved returning year after year to reconnect with their community of friends, to worship and play, and enjoy the beauty of Lake George. I was so happy to see families playing shuffleboard, kids hanging out at the beach, and YAFs leading intergenerational game nights. I was awed by the youthful energy and beauty of it all.

Yet, there were only a handful of Young Adult Friends present in the business meeting sessions. Even though I enjoyed attending the business meetings, I felt the tension of wanting to be canoeing, swimming, or worshiping outside. This made it difficult for me to be truly present. It seems like a Catch 22: New York Yearly Meeting offers activities that are welcoming to Friends of all ages, but then Friends chose not to be a part of the Quaker business process of the yearly meeting. I recognize that business meetings can be long and tedious at times, but I’ve also experienced how powerful they are.

It wasn’t until last year, when my job required me to attend a number of business meeting sessions in different yearly meetings, that I began to see how awesome business meeting could be. Some of the conversations were thought provoking, engaging, and very Spirit-led. There were discussions focused on race, Christian language, and sexual discrimination that made me both proud and sometimes embarrassed to be a Friend. They pushed me to look for Truth in other’s beliefs and to stand in my own. Business meetings are a place to address the challenges Friends face living our testimonies of equality, integrity, peace, simplicity and community today. I believe that many YAFs struggle with how to live these testimonies in their everyday lives and have a lot to offer to these conversations. I hope Friends of all ages extend personal invitations to one another, or that younger Friends go in groups to meeting for worship with a concern for business, so that we can all experience what is a fundamentally awesome way of doing business.

I understand that some younger Friends may not be lead to business meeting or even to worship at monthly meetings at this time in their lives. The query posed by the Circle of Young Friends during the worship session at NYYM sessions asked “What is the role of Young Adult Friends in the yearly meeting, and how can we all work to nurture it?” One Friends’ message really spoke to me. They recognized the different gifts that Young Adult Friends offer, like the ministry of bringing people together for Frisbee games and caring for the children. How do we acknowledge and appreciate all of the diversity of gifts Friends bring to our religious community? Some Friends in their twenties might not attend a monthly meeting or go to business sessions, but they are deeply spiritual and wrestle with what it means to live as a Quaker in their everyday lives. How do we nurture Friends ministries as they grow and change?

I believe that as a religious society, we are all called to be faithful to keep asking the questions, lifting up different ministries of Friends, and putting out the invitation to help create a multigenerational, spiritual community together. It’s important that New York Yearly Meeting keep having worship sharings on YAF concerns, creating task groups on youth and offering a loving space for young people to return to every year. It’s also important that younger Friends encourage one another to participate in opportunities, such as business meeting, that challenge us all to be part of a fully engaged faith community.