Drawing out gifts is a Quaker group practice that helps Friends recognize the Spirit-given gifts in each other. In this activity, a small group takes focused time with one person so the community can “see” and speak the images or insights that come through Spirit-led attention. The goal is to help Friends understand and bring their spiritual gifts into the light
Worship-Seeing Activity
Gather a group of 4 to 8 people in a room with movable furniture. Each group will need one pad of paper and writing implements.
Each person will be the focus of the worship seeing, and at least 15 minutes per person is needed to get a sense of the exercise. You can either decide that you will divide the time so that each person gets a turn in one session or decide to take more than one session and divide the time accordingly. Some groups have taken an hour per person and done two in an evening and some have divided two hours among 6 people.
One person offers to be the first focus person. This person chooses two people, one to function as scribe and one as caller of the Spirit or evoker. The scribe writes down the images which come through people. The evoker stands behind the focus person with hands resting gently on the focus person’s shoulders for the whole exercise with that person. S/he also begins the worship seeing by asking the Spirit to be present. My experience is that even those who feel they do not know how to pray aloud find words for bringing a Divine Presence into the process. Also choose a timekeeper to keep you faithful to the time decisions you have made.
Once the focus person has chosen these people, the group moves so that everyone is physically touching the focus person in some way. Since the scribe will be writing and will need two hands free, the scribe may touch the person’s foot or knee; others may rest a hand on an arm or knee. The evoker stands behind the focus person as indicated above.
The group becomes silent and simply focuses on the focus person until the evoker asks the Spirit to come in. The job of the focus person is to receive images, not to speak. All others, including the scribe and the evoker, speak the images that come to them as they focus on the focus person. An image need not necessarily be a single static visual image; it can be music or images moving into a short story. Do not worry if an image seems silly to you or doesn’t make any sense. Be faithful to what you “see” and speak it.
Silence is needed after each image both to enable the scribe to write it down and for everyone to absorb it. The scribe may stop a person who begins to speak before the scribe has finished writing the last image.
When the timekeeper announces that the time is up, a short closing silence may be taken. The scribe gives the notes to the focus person. People then move around to allow the next focus person to sit in that place and the process begins again with the new focus person choosing his/her scribe and evoker.
If desired, an additional step may be added, either in a single session or a later one. Everyone may have some time to spend alone journaling or pondering the meaning for themselves of the images that have come out. After this solitude, the group may gather again and anyone may share as led, either with insights gained or questions or images. This last step can be enriching, but it is not necessary to the process of bringing a person’s gifts into the light.
Last updated December 18, 2025.