In faith and service,

Noah Merrill
Secretary
New England Yearly Meeting of Friends

News and Joy from Annual Sessions

From August 6-11, more than 600 New England Friends joined by many guests considered together how we are led by the Spirit to help nourish the Quaker movement throughout our region in this important time.

Read a summary of news and key decisions here.

Download a printer-friendly set of Talking Points to post on a bulletin board, distribute, or share in your local meeting for business. 

Resources for Dismantling Racism

At Annual Sessions, our Yearly Meeting committed to take concrete steps to address the toxic effects of white supremacy and its effects on us as individuals and as a community of faith.

Many local meetings are already doing this important spiritual work and discovering its potential to help all of us grow in wholeness and Love.

Wherever you are in this process, know that you are part of a wider community of Friends seeking to be faithful in this journey toward healing, love and transformation.

Click here for a brief collection of resources that you and your meeting may find helpful.

Exploring Travel in the Ministry: New Pamphlet

Living Faith Gathering: November 5

Join Friends from across New England for a day dedicated to Nurturing Spirituality, Fostering Community and Strengthening Witness.

Workshops will explore themes including:

• Quakers and social media
• Supporting your local meeting to address climate change
• Quaker parenting
• Spirituality through poetry and art
• Discernment and testing leadings
• Daily spiritual practice & guided meditation
• Working together for racial justice

Join us for shared worship, multigenerational time, a dynamic children’s program, nourishing and delicious food and time for fellowship and connection. Parents with young children welcome!

Online registration and more info will be posted soon at neym.org/livingfaith, shared in this newsletter and with all local meetings.
Click here to download a flyer with more information

Questions? Interested in volunteering to help out with this event? 

Email the Living Faith planning committee at livingfaith@neym.org to find out what’s needed.

Strengthening Our Response to the Climate Crisis

Continuing the role New England Friends are increasingly playing in encouraging wider collaboration across the Quaker world, this year NEYM Religious Education and Outreach Coordinator Beth Collea helped produce a Community of Practice Resource Guide to accompany the QuakerSpeak video linked below, developed in partnership with Friends World Committee for Consultation and the Quaker Religious Education Collaborative.

Click here to view the guide to using this video in your meeting’s Religious Education program. For First Day School, here’s a resource and accompanying materials especially for the first Sunday in October—World Quaker Day.

New Video: On Spiritual Hospitality

Quaker Events

• September 9-11, South China, ME: Vassalboro Quarterly Meeting Retreat. Held at Friends Camp
• September 10, Plymouth, VT: Northwest Quarterly Meeting Retreat. Theme: “How We Care for One Another”
• September 24, Hartford, CT: Joint meeting of the Permanent Boardand Ministry & Counsel Committee of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends. Come experience worship, fellowship and discernment with these two groups caring for the work and ministry of New England Friends throughout the year.  All welcome!
• October 1, Deerfield, MA: Connecticut Valley Quarterly Meeting Retreat. Held at Woolman Hill Quaker Center
• October 2: World Quaker Day. Join Friends across the globe in worship and celebration of the life and ministry of Friends – and visit the website here for resources & materials.
• October 14-15, Cambridge, MA: White Privilege Symposium. Friends will join people of diverse backgrounds to explore and deepen our work addressing White Privilege and systemic racism
• October 15, Wellesley, MA: Leadings, Meetings and Money. Explore and learn about “the Relationship of Individual Leadings, the Meeting’s Care for that Ministry, and Accounting for the Money.”
• October 21-23, North Andover, MA: A gathering for Quaker Women in Public Ministry. Made possible with support from the New England Yearly Meeting Future Fund.
• October 29, Leverett, MA: A DayTreat with NEYM Ministry & Counsel. An event supporting those supporting the spiritual lives of their local meetings.
• November 4-6, Deerfield, MA: Building Pastoral Care Skills to Support Meetings. A weekend with Fran Brokaw and Lori Martin, coordinators of NEYM’s Support Across Generations for Elders (SAGE) Program. A retreat program of Woolman Hill Quaker Center.
• November 5, Portland, ME: Living Faith Gathering.The first in a new series of semiannual daylong gatherings sponsored by New England Yearly Meeting of Friends for Nurturing Spirituality, Fostering Community, and Strengthening Witness. 

A Last Word