Theme: be humble, Be Faithful, BE BOLD
Dates: July 3-9, 2016
Location: College of St Benedict in St. Joseph MN
What happened at the 2016 Gathering?
Schedule and handouts from the 2016 Gathering
Articles & Videos
- Reflections on the 2016 Gathering (FGC article July 2016)
- Learnings from the 2016 Gathering (FGC article Feb 2017)
- Gathering song (view on YouTube)
Bible Half Hour: Linda Hall
Evening Programs
Sunday Night
Sunday: All-Gathering Worship & Welcome
In light of the deeply disturbing shooting deaths by police of Philando Castile in St. Paul, Alton Sterling in Louisiana, and Gerry Williams in North Carolina, the need to confront and dismantle systemic racism within our hearts, within our institutions, and within our countries grows more glaring by the day.
Transcript of the Message Shared by Barry Crossno, General Secretary of FGC, on Sunday Concerning Racism, FGC and the Gathering:
Monday Night
Rex Ambler “Living in Dark Times”
Rex Ambler is a prolific Quaker author who has written about the inward teachings of George Fox (Truth of the Heart) and is perhaps best known for making the wisdom of early Friends accessible to Friends today. Two books – Light to live by and Seeing, Hearing, Knowing – Reflections on Experiment with Light – detail the practice of meditation which he had discovered in Early Friends, and suggest ways in which modern Friends could ‘experiment’ with the practice themselves, with a six-step guide to the meditation to help them through.
Wednesday Night
Larry Long presents American Roots Revue with Waubanewquay Day, Tonia Hughes, and Billy Steele
Smithsonian Folkways Recording Artist, activist, community-builder and troubadour, Larry Long, brings his popular American Roots Revue to the FGC Gathering. Larry is a Minneapolis-based singer-songwriter who became acquainted with Quakers when they provided him with draft counseling when he was a student at St Cloud State University. Joining Larry will be Midewiwin Native Life Ways Singer & Keeper of the Song Waubanewquay Day, pianist Billy Steele of the renowned Steele Family, and Tonia Hughes, an independent Gospel Artist and actress from the Twin Cities. American Roots Revue works from the core of America’s richest musical traditions of First Nation, gospel, blues, and folk.
Thursday Night
Dr. Nekima Levy-Pounds “Pursuing Justice Requires Boldness”
Dr. Nekima Levy-Pounds is an award-winning professor of law at the University of St. Thomas School of Law and the founding Director of the Community Justice Project, a civil rights legal clinic. Dr. Levy-Pounds is also the President of the NAACP Minneapolis Chapter, a civil rights attorney, legal scholar, media personality, blogger, and nationally recognized expert on issues at the intersections of race, public policy, economic justice, public education, juvenile justice, and the criminal justice system. In 2015, she was named one of 40 Under 40 by Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.
Message Shared by Associate Secretary for Development Traci Hjelt Sullivan Prior to Dr. Levy-Pound’s Address:
Post-Plenary notes: Actions Minnesota Friends could take in response to killing of black men by police:
Friday Night
Peggy Senger Morrison “Holy Boldness”
Peggy Senger Morrison is a free-lance provocateur of grace. She is a recorded Friends minister and was the founding pastor of Freedom Friends Church, a pastoral Quaker Meeting in Salem Oregon that declares itself as Passionately Christ-centered, Passionately Quaker, and Passionately Inclusive. In addition to being a gifted preacher, counselor, and teacher, Peggy is a prolific author of blogs (including “A Silly Poor Gospel”, & “Unction.org. She is the author most recently of “Miracle Motors: A pert near true story”, a motorcycle theology. She also edited with Margery Post Abbott the book “Walk Worthy of your Calling: Quakers and the Traveling Ministry. “As a licensed counselor for 20 years, a major focus for the last decade has been trauma healing, especially among Quakers in Central Africa. Peggy is presently ministering in higher education, running community-college based, high school completion programs for super-marginalized youth. Twice a mother, once a grandmother, she is delighted to be married to the beautiful and talented Alivia Biko.