Friends General Conference (FGC), a North American Quaker religious organization, is developing a new collection of online resources exploring restorative practices and their application in faith communities and everyday life. Members of the International Institute for Restorative Practices community are invited to contribute their knowledge and experience to this project.
FGC is seeking writers and practitioners who can introduce restorative practices in clear, practical, and engaging ways. Possible topics include:
- What Are Restorative Practices? Core ideas, values, and common terms, including the difference between restorative practices and restorative justice.
- Restorative Practices and Quaker Faith. Connections with worship, listening, discernment, accountability, right relationship, and continuing revelation.
- Building Restorative Communities. Using restorative practices proactively to build trust, belonging, communication, and healthy relationships before conflict happens.
- Restorative Circles. What circles are, when to use them, basic circle structure, and guidance for holding a simple circle.
- Responding to Conflict and Harm. Restorative questions and processes for understanding impact, taking responsibility, repairing harm, and deciding what comes next.
- Facilitating Restorative Conversations. Practical guidance for facilitators, including preparation, listening, questions, agreements, and managing difficult moments.
- When Restorative Practices Are Not Appropriate. Limits of restorative processes, including safety, power differences, consent, serious misconduct, and situations requiring professional help.
- Biblical Foundations of Restoration. How stories from the Bible illustrate theological connections and implications for restorative practices.
- Resources and Further Learning. Books, organizations, training opportunities, downloadable tools, sample questions, and other materials for Friends who want to go deeper.
Additional topics are welcome, particularly when a writer brings substantial experience or expertise in an area that would benefit the FGC community.
Compensation and Requirements
Selected writers will receive $250 for an essay of approximately 1,200–1,700 words.
FGC hopes these resources will reflect the knowledge, experience, and voices of actual restorative practitioners. For that reason, submitted essays may not be generated by artificial intelligence. Writers are expected to develop and write their own original work.
FGC does permit the limited use of AI as an editing tool to help make original writing more accessible. For example, AI may be used to identify unnecessarily complicated language, shorten difficult sentences, or help bring an original draft toward approximately an eighth-grade reading level. The ideas, expertise, examples, analysis, and substantive writing must remain the work of the author.
FGC seeks this level of accessibility because these resources are intended for a broad audience. Readers may include experienced restorative practitioners, members of faith communities encountering restorative practices for the first time, and people simply searching for healthier ways to approach conflict, accountability, relationship, and repair.
Accepted work will become the property of Friends General Conference and may be edited by FGC for tone, clarity, accessibility, length, and consistency with the rest of the resource collection.
Contributors will be credited for their work and are welcome to include appropriate links through which readers can learn more about their work, contact them, or explore other services and resources they offer.
FGC especially welcomes writing grounded in practice rather than purely theoretical approaches. Personal experience, concrete examples, practical guidance, and approaches that can be adapted for use in communities are encouraged.
Expressing Interest
There is no need to write an essay before being selected. Those interested in contributing are invited to send a brief expression of interest that includes:
- Proposed topic or working title
- A 100–150 word description of the proposed essay
- A few sentences about relevant experience with restorative practices and the proposed topic
- One writing sample or link to previously published writing, if available
Multiple topic ideas may be submitted. FGC will review expressions of interest and contact selected writers before commissioning an essay. This process will help ensure that the collection represents a range of subjects, perspectives, and areas of practice without unnecessary duplication.
Expressions of interest may be sent to Rashid Darden at outreach@fgcquaker.org. The project will remain open until all proposed pages have been populated.
This project offers an opportunity to introduce restorative practices to a wider faith-based audience while helping communities develop practical tools for listening, accountability, healing, reconciliation, and stronger relationships.