Storytelling can help a Quaker meeting to create a cohesive group identity. If your meeting struggles with individualism (one of the hallmarks of White Supremacy Culture), then consider hosting activities based on group storytelling. Working together creatively and expressing stories together can help a meeting to build a sense of cohesion. It can create a place where more people can belong.

Ways to Integrate Stories Into Your Quaker Meeting

People of all ages hunger for stories. We may ask, “What did you do at school today?” or “How was the wedding?” or “What did you do on your vacation?” Storytelling helps many people express themselves and delight in cherished moments. By telling stories, people can relive past experiences, articulate their emotions, and reinforce the substance of their lives. In many cases, storytelling can help people to articulate who they are.

Stories can bind people together. Some Quaker meetings share stories of the Bible, memories of service learning trips, or recollections of how the youngest members have grown over time. A strong Quaker Meeting often has a group narrative that binds people together, creating a sense of cohesion. Experiment with offering someone your undivided attention and see what stories emerge.

The corporate life of Friends makes up a common story, and each person is a part of that story unfolding. God speaks to people through the narrative of worship, learning, sharing and playing together…Stories weave the fabric of our lives. 

Michael Gibson, Woodbury Friends Meeting

To create that sense of group identity, lean into creative projects that you can assemble together. This may be a stretch for some Friends, particularly in meetings that are focused on cerebral activities. Let yourselves loosen into a fluid, surprising, and artistic project together. The list below is provided by Michael Gibson of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. These activities work best in intergenerational settings.

  • Write and perform a play or puppet show about something together. It could be your meeting’s history, a Bible story, or the story of a historic Friend. If it’s difficult to write collaboratively, ask one person to be the scribe while the group brainstorms.
  • Make a book together. Announce a theme, and receive contributions from people of all ages. Display the book prominently, so people can see it when they walk into the Meetinghouse. Explain to people that many forms are welcome — poems, 2-D paintings, photographs, collages. Describe any parameters you have. (For example, you might tell people that the page should have their name visible and that their work should fit on the cardstock paper provided.)
  • Create a meeting timeline. Display it on a long wall. Invite members and attenders to put sticky notes on it, marking when they started coming to meeting and adding any kind of remembrance (particular food at a potluck, some- thing that happened in worship, something fun that happened in the meeting, an underlying tension that was a part of some problem when they first came to the meeting, etc.) Use notes, photos or drawings.
  • Create a monthly meeting scrapbook. In it, document people and events.
  • Create a gratitude altar. Invite people to choose objects off of a table that represent something that they’re grateful for. Spread the table with plenty of objects so that each person gets a choice. (For example: a pinecone, spoon, hammer, pencil, toy, measuring tape, etc.). After people speak, they place the object on another table, naming what it is they are thankful for.
  • Set out candles during the longest night of the year. Starting in darkness, ask people to light a candle and say a prayer or share a gratitude of the year while others observe. Alternatively, for the summer months, Have a meeting-wide gathering for story Invite people of all ages to share a story and listen to the stories of others. Create a theme or a starting prompt if you’d like.
  • Bring a proposal to Business Meeting for 1-2 adults to receive financial help to attend a Godly Play® training. These Friends can then share stories and facilitate people wondering together about them.
  • Create a tapestry, quilt, display or collage that tells a story you wish to remember. It could be an event in the life of the meeting. 
  • Harness the power of storytelling by hosting, or inviting an outside facilitator to host, Faith & Play Stories.
  • Working as a group, write and then sing a song that tells about the meeting. Perform it for others within the meeting community.
  • Provide worship sharing opportunities that focus on people’s spiritual journeys. 
  • Together, create a sculpture that tells about part of your community’s journey. It could also show your meeting’s vision for the future. Working together, you might create a diorama, a parade float, or a story garden. Use your imagination!

Use Queries to Get Started

Consider exploring these queries in small groups in your meeting and sharing them back with Friends at Meeting for Business. You may notice that many of the queries focus on the collective whole. They emphasize a group identity rather than an assembly of individuals.

  • What are the stories that have helped to shape us as a people of faith?
  • Are we careful to keep passing them on?
  • What stories from the meeting’s history help to inform our group identity?
  • What would we like to become?
  • What do we dream of — collectively and individually?
  • What are the stories the Spirit is writing in our hearts?

Create Trusting Environments

A strong and robust faith community is often a place where people know each other’s stories. When people move to new towns and neighborhoods, integrating into a new Quaker meeting can be made easier with the help of stories. Help your meeting to create trusting environments by regularly practicing Inreach activities. You can invite powerful stories by brainstorming and making social time comfortable.

Ask Young People for Stories

Many children are imaginative, creative, and resourceful. If there are young people in your life, ask them to tell you stories. You might ask a kindergartner to tell you a story while you write it down. Or ask a three-year-old to tell you a wild and crazy story. (If it’s imaginary or hard to follow, stick with it — you may be surprised to learn something new!) With older elementary and middle school students, you could get a story going and put the characters into a sticky situation, then ask them to invent a solution. High school students can be storytellers, especially for younger kids. High school students may also enjoy one-word stories, Mad Libs, or stories that are ironic or poke fun at adults in their lives.

Move Past Assumptions

When people do not know each others’ stories, they may create a narrative of sorts based on assumptions. This can be tricky! You may have little to go on besides an open smile, a smirk, a nervous habit, a gait, or an inner feeling of warmth or coldness when you are around that person. Challenge yourself to move past those assumptions and truly listen. It can be difficult to tell what burdens a person is quietly carrying until they open up.

God, the sublime storyteller, calls us into the passion of telling our tale. But creating personal spiritual stories is an act of soul- making that does not happen automatically. It comes only as we risk stepping into the chaos of our lives and naming the angels that inhabit the shadows. It comes as we give expression to our struggle for individual meaning, identity, and truth, as we wrestle with the angels, both light and dark, and celebrate the places where God stirs. In the crucible of story we become artists of meaning. There we meet God most surely.

-Sue Monk Kidd, Firstlight: The Early Inspirational Writings

Additional Resources

Last updated December 18, 2025.

✕
Translate »