Below is a letter from the National YouthQuake Planning Committee cancelling the event and proposing a YouthConsultation 2006 December 27-31, 2006. After much discernment, discussion, prayer, and deep listening, the members of the YouthQuake Planning Committee are led to hold a youth leader consultation this December in place of YouthQuake 2006. We hope that this consultation will be an opportunity to revitalize and grow YouthQuake into the conference God envisions for our young Friends. Coming to this decision was difficult and challenging for us. As we looked at who we were expecting to attend the originally planned gathering, we realized that the vast majority of youth would be coming from one tradition of Friends. We felt that this imbalance was both inconsistent with the mission of YouthQuake and would put an undue burden on those young Friends from the other traditions. We deeply miss our sisters and brothers from the many yearly meetings who do not currently participate in YouthQuake. The planning committee feels called to bring together youth from throughout the Quaker family so that we may seek together God's will and work; we do not feel like we can do this with YouthQuake 2006. Through the guidance of YouthConsultation 2006, we hope to realize this mission of YouthQuake in the future. YouthConsultation 2006 will occur December 27-31, 2006, in place of the original event. In the next few months, we will be inviting each yearly meeting in the United States to send key representatives to this gathering. We envision this small gathering, with no more then 5 representatives from any yearly meeting, as an opportunity for renewal, directed by people most concerned with young Friends. YouthConsultation 2006 will be an opportunity for Friends most deeply connected to the life of yearly meetings to come together and reenvision a vibrant, rich, diverse, and God-breathed YouthQuake. We ask for your prayers, patience, and support as we continue to work towards a YouthQuake that will strengthen our ties as a family of Friends and enliven the Spirit of God in all of our youth. Lincoln Sheets, South Central YM, Clerk YouthQuake is a gathering of Young Friends from around the US that is held every three years. YouthQuake brings together Young Quakers from programmed, unprogrammed and evangelical traditions, to explore and share all forms of Quaker worship within a Christian perspective. Click here to learn more at the YouthQuake web site ( The material on the YouthQuake web site may still be from the 2003 event but will still be informative. ) The YouthQuake Working Group of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting supports and guides the PYM representative to the National YouthQuake planning committee. The Working Group works to raise awareness of the importance of YouthQuake within the meetings of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, to our young people, and as the gathering approaches, recruits Young Friends and young adults ages 14-20 as well as Friendly Adult Presences (chaperones) to attend. The YouthQuake 2006 Mission Statement: YouthQuake is a conference for Young Friends ages 14-20 from all Quaker traditions. You are invited to build a spiritual community based on love, respect, truth, and understanding across the breadth of Friends investigating these queries:
The YouthQuake Planning Committee clarifies YouthQuake’s purpose through the following statements: YouthQuake will...
If you are interested in serving on the The YouthQuake Working Group, please contact us. Clerk: Aaron Crosman ACrosman@afsc.org Staff: Cookie Caldwell, Young Friends Program Coordinator, at 215-241-7222 or 1-800-220-0796 extension 7222 toll free or E-mail: cookiec@pym.org
|
What does it mean to be a Quaker follower of Jesus Christ?