Weaving a Wider Welcome eRetreat

Event Description

Registration for this eRetreat is now closed

Do our meetings truly reflect all the faces of God among our members and attenders? FGC has heard from many of you that the answer to that question is often no. We have heard that many meetings wonder why their newcomers stop coming after a few visits– especially LGBTQ folks, families with young children and People of Color. In this eRetreat, we will explore how newcomers experience welcome, mistakes meetings make with newcomers, and what approaches to welcoming have worked in FGC meetings. Friends are encouraged to take the eRetreat with at least one other person from their meeting if possible, and are also welcome as solo attenders.

In this eRetreat you will learn:
– Why people don’t come back and why people choose to engage.
– Ways meetings can shift their culture to become more newcomer-friendly
– Effective ways to better reach newcomers, with a special focus on seekers of Color, LGBTQ folks, and families with young children. Spoiler alert: what is enriching for newcomers also benefits longtimers!

This eRetreat was a real eye-opener, showing us simple ways to make our meetings more welcoming and warm. It’s made a big difference in how we come together as a community.

– Spiritual Deepening eRetreat participant

eRetreat Details:

• Offered May 29 through June 26, 2024
• Five weeks, $45 pay-as-led** participation fee
• People of all ages are invited to participate
• Weekly readings, queries, resources, and activities available on FGC’s eRetreat website, Matrix
• Community Building Calls: Wednesdays from 6-7:30pm Eastern / 3-4:30pm Pacific starting May 29.

**Pay-as-Led is a method of offering sliding scale pricing so that paid events are more accessible for people with a wide range of abilities to pay. Participants choose how much to pay for the registration fee.

eRetreat Schedule and Weekly Themes

Community Building Calls

Each week, the facilitators will lead Community Building Calls using Zoom. During these calls, participants will have the opportunity to reflect on the eRetreat content, worship together, do additional eRetreat exercises, and build connections with each other.

Weaving a Wider Welcome will be facilitated by Zenaida Peterson and Rachael Carter

Zenaida Peterson (they/them)
QVS DIRECTOR OF EQUITY AND EMPOWERMENT & BOSTON COORDINATOR

Zenaida Peterson is an alum of the Quaker Voluntary Service program in the Boston house (2016-2017). They have stayed connected with QVS since their service year in various roles and are now the Director of Equity and Empowerment and the Boston Coordinator. A few things that are important to Zenaida are the Wildwood nature connection school, writing poems, uplifting queer and trans youth, transformative justice and making doughnuts with herbs from their garden.

Rachael Carter (they/them)
QVS PHILADELPHIA COORDINATOR

Rachael (they/them) grew up as a Baptist in Philadelphia. They came into interfaith work in their years in undergrad studying Politics, Peace and Social Justice, International Relations and Africana, African American Studies. Since then, Rachael has spent time researching ecotheology in the Black community and learning to understand its connections to other faith and spiritual practices. They have also spent time working in Racial Equity and systems change work over the past decade.

Rachael is passionate about plants and the natural world, cooking as a healing practice and understanding various community and social systems. They are interested in further exploring the intersection of religion, food, and employment and are hoping to continue this exploration with further study. They also enjoy biking, taking care of their many plants and listening to podcasts in their time off.

Sign up for the Spiritual Deepening email list to be notified about upcoming eRetreat opportunities.