Meeting for Sufferings: Young people’s participation
Involving young people was considered at Meeting for Sufferings
Quakers were asked to consider whether the definition of an attender for sixteen- to eighteen-year-olds should be changed for the annual Tabular Statement. This discussion was perhaps particularly pertinent given the wider conversation about including younger Friends. Although allocation has been made for four Young Adult Friends to attend Meeting for Sufferings, none made it to Friends House for this session. A scan of the room suggested that the only Friend under thirty present was the representative from YFGM.
The Young People’s Participation session spoke to a minute from Kendal and Sedbergh Area Meeting (AM) which questions whether changes to the definitions of ‘attender’ for eighteen-year-olds should also be applied to younger teens. The Tabular Statement now counts in ‘attenders’ those aged over eighteen whose participation in the life of the Society may not primarily be through a Local or Area Meeting.
The minute says: ‘Kendal and Sedbergh AM welcome the greater emphasis being placed nationally on the participation of young people aged eighteen years plus in a range of activities and we recognise that, at this age, young people may not be attending a specific Local Quaker Meeting. We wish to know if Friends are giving similar consideration to the Quaker activity of sixteen- to eighteen-year-olds.’
Paul Parker, recording clerk for Britain Yearly Meeting, asked: ‘Teens often say that all-age things tend to suit young children and their grandparents. How do you encourage a genuine all-age Meeting?’
One Friend said the definition should be broadened to include thirteen- to sixteen-year-olds. ‘Once they are teens, it is just not okay to be in a Quaker Meeting on a Sunday morning. Our youth worker is finding ways of keeping contact, and, to our delight, we still have a strong group of young people.’
Another Friend said that when she turned eighteen she was presented with a copy of Advices & queries and suggested the same is done for teenagers ‘to keep them hooked in and inspired’. Another Friend said it is not just about ‘how we count in that age group, but how we make them want to come’. She said: ‘In the north there’s lots of work being done to create wonderful experiences. [Young people are often] involved in planning and they gain enormous experience. It needs sensible adult scaffolding… fun has to be a big part.’
Quakers also asked why Meetings should solely be on Sunday mornings. One Friend said: ‘Why do we expect young people to fit in with us just because we’ve always done it that way?’ Another Friend highlighted the mid-week early evening Meetings at Westminster Meeting House. Tottenham Quakers were mentioned for their regular children and young peoples’ Meetings where they have the main Meeting room and the adults worship in the library. ‘If you have a critical mass of teenagers, more will turn up.’
Other ideas included a regular ‘pizza evening’ held for teenagers at a pizzeria by a mother from Glasgow Meeting, while the representative from Young Friends General Meeting said they had set up an activists’ group encouraging attenders to make small positive changes in the world ‘just in case they don’t want to sit in silence’.
Another Friend asked: ‘Perhaps we are thinking [too much] about if young people are taking part in Local or Area Meetings but not enough about if they identify as Quakers? Let them be sure to understand what it is to be a Quaker, and the rest will come.’
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