Junior Yearly Meeting: Epistle
The epistle from Junior Yearly Meeting
To All Friends Everywhere
From the 29 July to the 4 August 2017, participants from across Britain and Europe joined Junior Yearly Meeting (JYM) at Yearly Meeting Gathering (YMG), hosted at the University of Warwick in Coventry. With a group of sixty young Friends, we explored the theme ‘How can we work with others to make a difference?’ We were joined by Friends from Norway and Sweden Yearly Meetings, and representatives from the Methodist and Anglican churches.
Throughout the week we joined together as a worshiping community, particularly appreciating the opportunity to reflect on communities which we find important. Many identified Quaker communities as being significant to them.
Our community was strengthened by social activities that encouraged teamwork and communication; this was especially evident in our dress up drama session. The community space was open at lunch and in the evenings allowing participants to socialise in an informal setting. ‘Hunt the Quaker’ saw JYM and the Young People’s Programme join together to find adult volunteers across campus in a variety of costumes whilst the ceilidh saw us bond with YFGM over a shared love of music and dance. We revelled in the opportunity to share our community with Yearly Meeting Gathering through our quiz and the Wednesday Activities.
Base Groups were another opportunity to meet people, form friendships, and have a sense of togetherness. We shared laughter and worship in equal measure as we explored our theme and developed our responses as we moved out into the world.
We have been inspired this week by our speakers. Sam Walton shared how he has been motivated by his faith to take action. This led to interesting discussions around how we are led to act ourselves. Catherine West, who delivered the Swarthmore Lecture, facilitated a vocal parliamentary style debate on votes at sixteen. We considered how this might help young people take action but recognised the polarity of opinion. Tim Gee’s recognition of the children of Reading Meeting reminds us that children and young people remain at the heart of Quakerism. His lecture encouraged us to acknowledge and challenge the shortcomings of the Society of Friends. Among our speakers, we enjoyed the opportunity to hear from those who work tirelessly on the work of Britain Yearly Meeting, including Paul Parker, Sam Walton, Chris Venables, Tim Gee and Oliver Waterhouse.
We were joined throughout the week by various visitors, including those who represented the work of Quaker life central committee, BYM trustees, Yearly Meeting elders and Young Friends General Meeting. We welcomed the opportunity to work closely with Yearly Meeting Gathering; sharing in worship and theme sessions in addition to offering all-age options of our own to the community. Exploring Living our Beliefs, the Children and Young People’s publication, presented opportunities for creative discussion around practical interpretations of the Quaker testimonies. We welcomed members of Yearly Meeting Arrangements Committee and Yearly Meeting elders to participate in our sessions and worship. This was reciprocated with JYM joining Yearly Meeting Gathering sessions throughout the week, including the gender diversity session, which set out a vision for a truly inclusive Society of Friends.
As we brought our week to a close, we reflected on the close and supportive community through a variety of media. We set out into the world, inspired to work with others to make a difference locally, nationally and internationally with our wider JYM community supporting us. The friendships we have made over this week will sustain us as we seek to be ‘God’s burglars’.
Signed in and on behalf of Junior Yearly Meeting,
Jess Kendall and Gwendolen Da Sousa Correa
Clerks of Junior Yearly Meeting 2017
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