Walking in the World as a Friend: Essential Quaker Practices

by Nadine Clare Hoover

Overview

Quakers live our faith with integrity. In religious education, community events, or study groups, with young and old alike, listen with your ‘child’s mind’ to embody Quaker practice, curious to see what will happen. Consider Quaker roles of minister, steward, and witness; experiences of convincement and conviction; experimenting with the Living Spirit in our lives; and engaging in an ecology of essential Quaker practices: worship, spiritual companions, Monthly Meeting, meetings of ministers, stewards, or witnesses, Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice, and bearing witness.

This book and video series "encourages Friends to move beyond a cognitive faith into an experiential, everyday, in-every-way kind of Quaker faith--walking in this world as a Friend.” ~ Beth Collea

“Amazing work capturing the true essence of Quakerism in words that speak across various experiences—radical, unsettling, real. I like the insistence that talking about it is not the same as experiencing it.” ~ Marty Grundy

“This is profound, brilliant work.” ~ Sita Diehl

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780982849279
Publisher:	Conscience Studio
Publication date:	09/01/2020
Pages:	72
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.15(d)

About the Author

Nadine Clare Hoover PhD is Director of Conscience Studio and Power of Goodness Global Story Collection, and Founder of Friends Peace Teams in Asia West Pacific. She coaches citizen leaders to create cultures of peace and work to make state-sanctioned violence and war illegal.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 3

Foreword 5

How to Use This Book 7

Preface: Background on Quaker Practice 9

Part I: THREE KEY QUAKER ROLES

1. Minister, Steward, and Witness 15

Being a Minister 16

Being a Steward 17

Being a Witness 18

2. Activities to Explore Quaker Roles 19

Worship Sharing 19

Spiritual Companions 21

Keep a Log or Journal 22

Friendly Faith and Practice Study 23

Part II: THE SPIRIT IN OUR LIVES

3. Experiences of the Living Spirit 27

Convincement 27

Conviction 29

4. Activities to Experience the Living Spirit 31

Draw One’s Core Self 31

Reflect on Convincement 32

Companion Groups on Conviction 32

Reflect on Conviction 33

5. Experiment with the Living Spirit 35

Conversion of Manners 35

6. Activities to Experiment with the Living Spirit 39

Form Ongoing Spiritual Companion Groups 39

Reflect on Personal Transformation 41

Part III: RELIGIOUS SOCIETY

7. Essential Quaker Structures 45

An Ecology of Practice 45

Meeting for Worship 49

Spiritual Companions 51

Monthly Meeting 54

Meetings of Ministers, Stewards, or Witnesses 56

Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice 58

Bearing Witness 59

8. Activities to Practice Essential Quaker Structures 63

Host Quaker Gatherings and Reflect on Each Experience 63

Conduct Activity Debriefing 65

Compile, Use, and Test Monthly Meeting Minutes 65

Host Friends Faith and Practice Study 65

Focus Companion Group Sessions on Witness 66

About the Author 68

Editorial Reviews

“One of my hopes for this video series is that they encourage Friends to move beyond a cognitive faith into an experiential, everyday, in-every-way kind of Quaker faith--walking in this world as a Friend.” ~ Beth Collea

“Amazing work capturing the true essence of Quakerism in words that speak across various experiences—radical, unsettling, real. I like the insistence that talking about it is not the same as experiencing it.” ~ Marty Grundy

“This is profound, brilliant work.” ~ Sita Diehl

From the Publisher