Emily Stewart

Last year representatives from Friends General Conference, Friends United Meeting and Evangelical Friends Church International were invited by the Young Quaker Christians Association (Africa) to attend the YQCA Triennial in Kenya. Holly Baldwin (from New England Yearly Meeting) and I were the representatives for Friends General Conference. There were over 75 young adult Friends at the conference from Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa, England, the U.S. and the Netherlands.

 

While attending the Triennial, I participated in an interest group session focused on our future as young Quakers, where we discussed the struggles we all face in the Quaker church and how we can work together to address them. I was shocked that almost every issue raised by young adult Friends in Africa was true for young adult Friends in the US and Canada. We talked about how to help churches support Quaker leaders, how to exchange information with other monthly and yearly meetings, how to work with older Friends, how to address the issues that are arising in our own meetings, how to nominate Friends based on spiritual gifts, and ways of reaching out to the global community of young Friends. We are doing such similar work, and though we may have different worship styles or theology, we each have a piece of the truth to bring to the table.

 

I spoke to Friends about what young people in Kenya are asking for in the Quaker church. Since many young people are not given positions of leadership (aside from leading worship and praise songs), many go to other churches.  Some young Quakers are asking for a more Pentecostal style of worship, which includes altar calls (an opportunity to repent of your sins and make a new commitment to Jesus), and what is sometimes referred to as being “slain in the Spirit” (when you fall to the ground because the power of the Holy Spirit is upon you and you become cleansed of evil spirits). We were able to witness this type of experience at East Africa Yearly Meeting-North Youth Conference.  

 

 

 

 

It reminded me of what a lot of young Quakers in the U.S. are asking for: opportunities to have visceral experiences of God. Though many early Friends experienced this in meeting for worship, that depth of worship-where everyone is opening themselves to be a vessel for God to enter- is less common today. I think this yearning for visceral experiences of God are why so many young people attend the conferences for young adult Friends in the U.S. The worship at the YAF conferences in 2007 and 2008 went deeper than any of my other experiences in meeting for worship. Friends were transformed by the united feeling of God’s presence and love in the room.  We experienced God’s love by loving one another.  

 

Emily Stewart lives in Philadelphia and attends Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. She serves as the Youth Ministries Coordinator for Friends General Conference.To see more photos from her trip you can check out Emily’s Kenya photos.

Read the epistle from the YQCA-A Triennial.

If you are interested in hearing more about Friends’ experiences at the YQCA Triennial, Jez Smith, one of the international visitors to the conference, has published articles in The Friend on “We are family”, “Giving thanks to God on life’s highway”, and “Young Friends prepare for leadership”.