The 2023 FGC Gathering will be held at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, OR, from July 2-July 8, 2023.


Workshops offer Gathering adults and high school participants the opportunity to be immersed in a topic with other interested Friends. Friends stay in the same workshop throughout the week, forming a small community within the Gathering. Each workshop meets in person from 9:00 to 11:45AM, Monday-Friday during Gathering. Most workshops include daily worship or worship sharing. 

All workshops at the 2023 Gathering will be held in person.

Click on the title of a workshop to learn more about it!

Frequently Asked Questions about workshops

In advance of the Gathering (until late June): follow the directions for modifying your registration

After the Gathering has begun: Change your workshop either at the Workshop Changes table at check-in, or at the Info Desk.

After registration opens, the workshops page is updated weekly to show which workshops have filled. When you register, you may discover that some workshops have filled since the webpage was updated.

Workshop proposals for the 2023 FGC Gathering were accepted from August – October, 2022. Workshop proposals for the 2023 Gathering are now closed. We expect workshop proposals for the 2024 Gathering to be live in mid-August, 2023.

Learn how to propose a workshop for the Gathering.

(Short answer, No.)

All Friends registering during Early Registration (April 3-16, 2023) have an equal chance of getting into their first choice workshop. This is why even the person who registers on the morning of April 3 is not guaranteed to get their first choice workshop, and is why we ask for a second choice as well. Friends registering April 16 are as likely to get into a popular workshop as those registering April 3. This practice helps relieve the pressure on the computer system caused by many people trying to be “first in line.” It also accommodates Friends who may not have access to a computer or time to register on the day registration opens.

Gathering staff almost always succeed in getting all early registrants into their first or second choice, when those choices are two different workshops. If your first and second choices are identical, you do not increase your chances of getting into that workshop.

After standard registration re-opens on April 26, workshops will be first-come first-served, and you will not choose a second choice workshop. What you register for then is the workshop you will be in. 

If you want to change your workshop, or check back later to see if you can switch into a workshop that was full, here are instructions for how to change your workshop after you are registered. We do not maintain waitlists for workshops. 

This is a list of workshops available to half-Gathering and part time attenders for the 2023 Gathering. You can also see if a workshop accepts half-Gathering or part time participants by clicking on the title of the workshop.


All Workshops


Open to All

Adults and High School

200 Years of Quaker Engagement with China

A rising China will help define the 21st century. Yet despite Quaker commitments to peace, there are linguistic, cultural, and political barriers that prevent Friends from engaging with China. This workshop seeks to overcome these barriers using Quakers’ long history in the country as a roadmap for future engagement.

Workshop Number: 1
Leaders: Patrick Lozada,

[Cancelled] A User Guide to Vocal Ministry: How might we design an app for that?

This workshop has been cancelled

Workshop Number: 2
Leaders: Jen Ambrose

[FULL] Busy Hands, Quiet Spirit

How does the experience of using ones hands to create integrate with and inform our spiritual path? Bring existing work or an interest in learning something new. We will explore how making can provide space for creativity, contemplation, and affirmation. Co-led by a beader/seamstress and a jeweler/armorer.

Workshop Number: 3
Leaders: dest/jess(ie)/etc. purvis, Keith Barch

Challenging Ethnic and Racial Divisions*

A workshop for Friends actively engaged in racial justice work. We will share successful approaches to addressing White Supremacy and colonialism that will enhance our techniques for challenging racial and ethnic divisions. Participants must write a statement about their work.

Workshop Number: 4
Leaders: Vanessa Julye, Janice Domanik

Clerking with Joy and Confidence

This workshop will focus on all aspects, both theoretical and practical, of being a presiding clerk
of a Friends meeting or committee. There will be handouts and opportunities for experience
sharing. Most work will be done in a whole group setting.

Workshop Number: 5
Leaders: Steve Mohlke

[Cancelled] Come listen all!: Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”

This workshop has been cancelled

Workshop Number: 6
Leaders: Su Penn

Daily Extended Meeting for Worship

We sit in the presence of God Spirit, in silent worship and contemplation, open and receptive to the Love, Truth and Life in which we live, move and have our being (Acts 17:28).

Workshop Number: 7
Leaders: Jorge Arauz

Eating with Christ: Embodied Spirituality and Food

“I will come in and eat with you, and you with me” (Rev 3:20). This workshop is for self-identified women who want to follow the Indwelling when they make choices about food, drink and physical activity in daily life.

Workshop Number: 8
Leaders: Barbara Birch

Enneagram – Integration to Grow Your Soul

Dive into the Enneagram – an ancient wisdom tool for self-discovery and soul growth. This workshop introduces nine personality styles and complementary spiritual practices for a life-long journey toward integration of mind, body, and emotions. Listen within; listen to others’ varied perceptions; listen to grow in the Life.

Workshop Number: 9
Leaders: Christine Hall

[FULL] Fold In The Light: Zines as Spiritual Practice

Zines are self-published, small-format booklets that arose from the need to share ideas not circulated in the mainstream. How might zines speak to the current condition of the Religious Society of Friends? Come explore zine-making as a creative, contemplative practice in this project-based workshop.

Workshop Number: 10
Leaders: Natalie Ramsland

Forgiveness as a Spiritual Practice

Anger, fear, grief, and pain hinder us from feeling connected with the Spirit and our own healing energies. Listening to self, others, and Spirit as we practice forgiveness opens us to living in a more peaceful way. Workshop focuses on tools and techniques for doing forgiveness work, not on therapy.

Workshop Number: 11
Leaders: Sue Regen, Lu and Kenn Harper

[FULL] Gentle Movement for Traumatic Times

“Gentle Movement for Traumatic Times” combines energetic grounding, breathing, simple meditative movement and partner practice to address stress and conflict management in daily life. Both seated and standing options, along with other adaptations for physical limitations, make this workshop accessible to all.
The focus will be on movement and approaches of particular benefit for Friends of Color.
This workshop is open to all.

Workshop Number: 12
Leaders: Tomi Nagai-Rothe

Guided by the Light, both Within and Above

Healing Justice work of the AFSC is guided by an internal and external “north star” that illuminates our path to abolition of the racist punishment state by shining light on opportunities for healing and restoration. We will share our journey and invite participants to meet us along the path.

Workshop Number: 13
Leaders: Lewis Webb

How We See God

This explores two meanings of “see” – how we conceptualize God, and what is our direct experience. The Beatitudes assert “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God”. Poetic speech or is there a Truth at the heart? Can we listen with the ear of the heart?

Workshop Number: 14
Leaders: Jan Michael

Invitation to 21st Century Quaker Eldering

Join members of the Eldering Subcommittee of Pacific Yearly Meeting in interactive exercises designed to immerse and deepen our experience and understanding of Quaker eldering. Engage in eldering as prophetic Spirit-led Listening, as acts of nurture, accompaniment and accountability, and as a practice of decolonization through servant leadership.

Workshop Number: 15
Leaders: Dorothy Henderson, Gordon Bishop

Jesus Listened: Learn From His Story

Parker Palmer writes of the tragic gap between what is and what should/could be – Jesus’ “kingdom of God.” Jesus’ story provides insight for us. Listening to each other helps us to heal and gain courage to be in the gap with an open heart.

Workshop Number: 16
Leaders: Gail Thomas

[FULL] Life Lessons from a Bad Quaker- Final Edition

The last chance to take this light-hearted, but serious, workshop for anyone who is bad at being good. This is a joyful, interactive exploration of the testimonies and how they impact our everyday lives. With whimsy, humor, and wisdom, we’ll explore how to live a life that’s filled with SPICE.

Workshop Number: 17
Leaders: J. Brent Bill

Listening Meetings and Organizations into Wholeness

Join our experiential workshop in conflict transformation! Grounded in worship, we will study and engage together in spiritually and somatically-based deep listening, brainstorming, forgiveness, paradox and more. We will learn skills to help Meetings and organizations find and name their unspoken truth, strengthen their unity, resolve issues and conflicts.

Workshop Number: 18
Leaders: Tom Rothschild

Listening to Our Earth

This workshop is about how to internalize the wisdom of Braiding Sweetgrass. We will look at how to become naturalized to Turtle Island – examining colonialism, reciprocity, honorable harvest and kinship relationships with all living beings. Worship sharing and experiential exercises for integrating holistic ways of being part of Earth.

Workshop Number: 19
Leaders: Lynn FitzHugh

Made in God’s Green Image

The Book of Genesis affirms that humans are made in God’s image – a God who creates, tends, and takes joy in the natural world. How do we fulfill that image? We’ll look at relevant Bible passages, celebrate nature, and explore the science of how to slow down climate change.

Workshop Number: 20
Leaders: Confianza del Senor, Frank Granshaw

Practical Spirit-led Discernment in Daily Life

Participants will learn and practice discernment, the bedrock on which Quakerism is built. There will be a Clearness Committee option if a participant wants to discern a concern, decision, relationship, etc. The facilitator authored Pendle Hill Pamphlet #443, Individual Spiritual Discernment. Reading the pamphlet before Gathering is encouraged.

Workshop Number: 21
Leaders: Jerry Knutson

[Cancelled] Soulful Singing

This workshop has been cancelled

Workshop Number: 22
Leaders: Ruth Fitz

[FULL] Spiritually Deepening Indigenous-Settler Relations

We will consider spiritual and ethical questions that arise as we learn from Native Americans who offer guidance for living in balance with the Earth community. We will explore how Quakers are responding to opportunities for authentic relationships while finding new Light in our own tradition.

Workshop Number: 23
Leaders: Charlotte Basham, Marguerite Dingman

The Power of Enough

What is essential? How much is enough? Is my use of time, energy and “things” in right balance to free me to do God’s work, and contribute to right relationship in our world? We’ll consider queries, play, sing, and reflect on implications of our personal choices and their ripple effects.

Workshop Number: 24
Leaders: Jacqueline Stillwell

The Practice of Nonviolent Direct Action

Whether your work is around climate justice, racial justice, defending elections, or some other concern, this experiential workshop will teach you the theory and practice of nonviolent direct action, drawing on the experience of earlier Quakers, the Civil Rights Movement, and Earth Quaker Action Team.

Workshop Number: 25
Leaders: Eileen Flanagan, Carolyn McCoy

Walking in the Bible-selected “Narrative Theology”

We will explore the Bible as ancient Friends did, by living the stories, the narrative. We will try to keep academic theological details to a minimum and focus on what it feels like to be in this story. What does the Spirit of Christ have to teach us from it?

Workshop Number: 26
Leaders: Joseph Snyder, Julie Peyton

Walking Worship, Flexing the Forms of Quaker Worship

Moving outdoors together has opened doors for our Meeting. Walking in a park and stopping to share reflections or ministry began and evolved through the seasons of pandemic. The outdoor setting flavors and deepens our worship. Friends will share this experience and consider other ways to flex Quaker worship forms.

Workshop Number: 27
Leaders: Jay Thatcher, Bob Ward, Kathy Miller

Where the Words Come From

How do we better access the Source of vocal ministry, “where the words come from?” We will forge a community of depth and trust and from that place explore Spirit- led vocal ministry, using practices to better gather ourselves, listen, and distinguish the voice of the Divine from our own.

Workshop Number: 28
Leaders: Christopher Sammond

Writing Your Ethical Will

This workshop guides participants in clarifying what matters most. Together in cared-for stillness, we listen for spiritual guidance with pen in hand. Worshipful writing takes us deep within to identify our core values, compose letters to loved ones, and practice describing our beliefs and commitments in safe worship-sharing circles.

Workshop Number: 29
Leaders: Judith Favor

High School Only

Ministry with Children

High School Program participants join experienced Junior Gathering leaders to create a fun, supportive, and Spirit-filled Junior Gathering environment for our youngest Gathering participants. Learn to lead and use your talents to give back to our community! Early arrival by 10am Sunday morning 7/2 is mandatory. Application with references required.

Workshop Number: 30
Leaders: Kody Hersh

Adults Only

Age 18+, High School with Permission

Owning Our Whiteness*

We have long been oblivious to our unwitting participation in systemic racism, often ignorant of our history and privilege. It is time for us white folks to step up – to stop relying on People of Color to teach us about racism. It is our work to do, now.

Workshop Number: 31
Leaders: Jeanne Strong

[FULL] Photography and the Art of Seeing

Discover how digital photography can help you see the world around you more clearly and experience it more deeply. Explore a variety of practices that will open new ways of seeing and being present and connect you more closely with yourself, your environment and your community.

Workshop Number: 32
Leaders: Peter West Nutting

Seek the Still Point: Kundalini Yoga & Meditation

The trauma inherent in our turbulent times calls for self-care and reflection in addition to deep listening, witness consciousness and an open heart. Kundalini Yoga can meet each of us where and as we are, can help develop a particular kind of strength and endurance that leads to contemplative activism.

Workshop Number: 33
Leaders: Ann Ritter

Self and Systems Aware Career Discernment

The future of work is changing and requires a diversity of talents and perspectives. How might our strengths and biases be put to best use in addressing the needs of our emerging world? Through a variety of creative modalities we will explore values and skills and hone your career discernment.

Workshop Number: 34
Leaders: Keira Wilson

[CANCELLED] Friends Couple Enrichment

The workshop has been cancelled

Workshop Number: 35
Leaders: Kirsten Dembski Brink, Andrew Dembski Brink

Workshop Sampler

Experience short versions of three different workshops!

Monday: Peaceful People Cultivating Silence and Stillness – Amos Smith
Tuesday: Mindfulness Practice and Quaker Practice, Part 1 – Don McCormick
Wednesday: Mindfulness Practice and Quaker Practice, Part 2 – Don McCormick
Thursday: Telling Our Whole Religious Stories, Part 1 – Allison Kirkegaard and Jen Newman
Friday: Telling Our Whole Religious Stories, Part 2 – Allison Kirkegaard and Jen Newman

Workshop Number: 36

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