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Baltimore Yearly Meeting builds and nurtures a strong and vibrant Quaker community across the southern Mid-Atlantic. We seek to build community, grow in the life of the spirit, discern right action, and bear witness in the world. BYM includes Quaker meetings in parts of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. The BYM Office, located in Sandy Spring, MD, provides technical support to local Quaker Meetings and opportunities for Quakers in our region to work, play, serve, learn, and grow spiritually together as Friends. 

QREC October Conversation Circles

Thursday, October 22, 2020
8:00 pm10:00 pm

Creating Meeting Cultures that Welcome Diverse Youth and Young Adults
The current disruption in society is shaking the foundations of culture and faith. In the turmoil, youth and young adults from diverse backgrounds may seek spiritual community in Friends Meetings. Families of color in relationship with Friends schools, and children of color who connect with Friends at Quaker camp, may come to monthly and yearly meetings seeking spiritual community. How can Friends’ Meetings embody Martin Luther King’s vision of the Beloved Community?
• How can we prepare our monthly meetings to welcome diverse young newcomers?
• During this time when geography is less of a barrier, how can Friends of color mentor young people who seek community in Quaker meetings?
• How can Quaker religious educators, particularly Friends who identify as white, do the deep personal work of becoming anti-racist?
• What discernment and anti-racism training should be taken by volunteers who work with children and youth?

Registration is required:

Conversation Circles meet online, using Zoom videoconferencing.

Facilitators
• Tuesday -- Nikki Holland, Belize Friends Church, New Association of Friends
• Thursday -- Sita Diehl (Madison WI, Northern Yearly Meeting)

Conversation Starters
• Khalila Lomax: STRIDE, Baltimore Yearly Meeting
• Mila Hamilton: Twin Cities Friends Meeting, Northern Yearly Meeting
• Ten Henson: Guilford College

Suggested Resources
• Black Fire: African American Quakers on Spirituality and Human Rights, Hal Weaver, Paul Kriese, and Steve Angell (Eds.) QuakerPress, 2012
• Fit for Freedom, Not for Friendship, by Donna McDaniel and Vanessa Julye, QuakerPress, 2009
• The Shape We Take: Growing Diverse Leadership in Baltimore Yearly Meeting, by Dyresha Harris, May 2017
• Taking STRIDEs: BYM’s Growing Diverse Leadership Initiative Provides Expanded Opportunities to Live out the Quaker Value of Equality in a World that Badly Needs It, Dyresha Harris, 10.2016
• Clearing the Way for Community, Dyresha Harris, 2017 (Baltimore Yearly Meeting)
• Assessing Racial Inclusion and Justice: A Quaker Meeting Self-Assessment Tool, Friends Meeting of Washington

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