Junior Gathering 2016
Eleven- to fourteen-year-olds met at Leighton Park School
Seventy-three young Friends and twenty-two staff met at Leighton Park School in Berkshire between 20 and 27 August for Junior Gathering.
The theme was ‘Truth and the Inner Light in Quakerism’. Topics covered included active listening and getting the most out of Meeting for Worship. Susie Paskins shared techniques for keeping focused during the silence and young Friends, aged eleven to fourteen, spent some time experimenting with these methods and learning which worked for them.
Steve Whiting, of Quaker Peace & Social Witness, spoke of experiences throughout his life where he faced difficult choices and invited Friends to follow their inner truths. He talked to them about the idea of multiple and subjective truths, where two people have conflicting views but both are ‘true’.
The programme also featured a trip to Oxford Meeting House, where Junior Gathering joined Senior Conference participants, aged fifteen to eighteen, for what was described as a ‘meaningful if crowded’ Meeting for Worship.
The epistle said: ‘Our Meetings for Worship were both varied and interesting, with much profound spoken ministry on the subject of truth and Inner Light coming from many different people. Epilogue was especially deep both with spoken, silent and musical ministry.’
More than thirty Area Meetings were represented at Junior Gathering, among them Devon, Cumberland and West Weald.
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