Unable and Unwilling: Radical Re-Imagining of Quaker Process

This workshop provides Friends the opportunity to creatively rethink Quaker process in order to support the life of our meetings and our goal to become an actively anti-racist faith community. This is a space for Friends who are excited and ready to depart from the way we’ve always done it. This workshop provides Friends the…

Workshop Description

This workshop provides Friends the opportunity to creatively rethink Quaker process in order to support the life of our meetings and our goal to become an actively anti-racist faith community. This is a space for Friends who are excited and ready to depart from the way we’ve always done it.

This workshop provides Friends the opportunity to creatively rethink Quaker process in order to support the life of our meetings and our goal to become an actively anti-racist faith community. This is a space for Friends who are excited and ready to depart from the way we’ve always done it. How do we re-imagine a process that allows us to be clearer channels for what Spirit calls us to?

Many Friends communities are shrinking in size and the needs of our communities are changing. The Religious Society of Friends in North America continues to be a predominantly white and older community and the processes we use and the decisions we make continue to reflect the priorities of that demographic. This makes it difficult for Friends who do not fit that description to thrive within Quaker spaces.

As we live into late-stage capitalism and costs of living increase, people, (and young people in particular), have less time and space to serve on committees in a volunteer capacity. The pace of Quaker process, though at times beautiful, also often allows the needs of Friends of Color, queer Friends, and young Friends to slip through the cracks. Consensus and sense of the meeting can be weaponized out of fear of change to stall progress. We can get so attached to the process itself that we lose sight of faithfully following a guiding source.

With both deep respect for the past and in the spirit of continuing revelation, we offer this workshop in the hopes that we can re-imagine processes that no longer work or inadvertently harm or exclude people from our communities.

We’ll spend the week investigating committee structure, Quaker business structure, nominating and more to identify what works well and where we need to invite Spirit to aid us in remaking. We’ll use writing, drawing, role play, and discussion to delve into these topics.

In the beginning of the week, we’ll identify what we want our community to look like and what values guide our work together, spend some time identifying what doesn’t work, and then shift our focus to reimaging these systems. Towards the end of the week, we will put our ideas into practice to test drive new ways of operating.

Please bring a notebook or journal, any coloring implements you like if you are a drawer, and an open mind and heart.

Leader Experience

Hanae (she/her) grew up attending Lexington Friends Meeting (Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting). She attended Haverford College and currently works as the Ministry on Racism Program Manager at Friends General Conference. In this position, she supports several anti-racism initiatives serving on committees such as the Institutional Assessment and Implementation Committee (IAIC), the Racial Wounding Response Committee, and FGC’s Friends for Racial Equity Education (FREE). She also helps to facilitate regular programming for Friends of Color. Outside of work, Hanae is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and serves in the Philadelphia chapter’s Housing Committee as a tenant organizer. She is also an actor and performs with theaters in and around Philadelphia.

Alice is a dance educator and artist in daily life, regularly teaching and offering workshops for the public and for people of all ages. Additionally, they have a background in facilitating Non-Violent Direct Action Trainings for mixed age groups for over 10 years. Alice has offered interactive adult-ed for monthly meetings, and is well versed in Quaker process and practice with years of committee work and clerk terms in various Quaker bodies. As a Young Adult Friend and life long Quaker they are passionate about the future of Quakerism and believe that our faith has an important role to play in greater societal transformation and healing.