Yearly Meeting Connections - Friends World Committee for Consultation Section of the Americas

Voices of Young Adult Friends

Hazel Guindon (Monteverde Friends Meeting) – Monteverde, Costa Rica

As we continue learning how to expand as a faith community while including all voices, I want to express my deep appreciation for all the work being done—both locally and globally—to keep our diverse Quaker community alive.

Currently, I am on Vancouver Island, worshiping with friends near Duncan, where acknowledgment of the broader Quaker practice and FWCC was mentioned on World Quaker Day. That same weekend, I had a video call with Neyda from Bolivia and Fernanda from México, which inspired me to write a short article. I hope it encourages them to write about their own experiences, and I would be very curious to learn more about their perspectives on Quaker life. I ended up submitting a publication to Friends Journal, as Renzo has been motivating us to share our work in the journal’s Latin American part.

I also want to express my heartfelt gratitude for FWCC, especially the gathering in Arizona. I learned so much from that experience, and it has shaped the way I hope to approach future Quaker experiences. I feel deeply honored to be part of a non-programmed Quaker practice within the Latin American section. I admire how our meeting is growing, and I’m profoundly grateful we are part of a global network.

Thank you, truly, for all that you do!

With love and peace,

Hazel

Meg Cody (North Pacific Yearly Meeting) – Portland, Oregon

I wonder how the trials of young adulthood have changed over the decades. I find it hard to believe the current state of society is all that novel—there have been countless economic crises, wars, and billows of hatred rising up throughout the centuries. Have things really changed all that much? Is this really the “most difficult” time for young adults?

While these questions frenzy my mind over whether the world has always been on fire, it doesn’t negate the urgency I feel at present to find a way to make the world a better place.

I was spread so thin over the past year with responsibilities that moving with a quickness drowned out the small, still voice of Spirit. It was so easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of opportunity, something which I find so challenging to navigate at this point in my life. I feel the surmounting pressure to balance my faith, career, and personal life—a ceaseless discernment of how to experience a connection with Spirit as I consider what it means to live a holy life.

It’s not Spirit that asks me to make money and pay my bills—that urging stems from my choosing to live in a capitalist society. But how I meet that end can be filled with Spirit.

I’m grateful to know I’m not alone in my struggle to navigate life’s many crossroads as I commiserate with other Quakers my age. Uplifting this community offers me comfort as I navigate endemic polarization between what I believe to be right and wrong, just and unjust. I’ve turned my efforts towards encouraging and empowering young adult friends in my monthly and yearly meetings, and am now led to forge a path for North and Latin American young adults to connect. And while I’ve encountered little resistance from the community in all of these endeavors, I find the challenge lies within myself.

It was an honor to be a part of planning opportunities for North and Latin American Friends to connect with one another. In this great, big, overwhelming world, it’s comforting to know there are Quakers everywhere showing up for that of God in everything. I feel my worries ease as more and more spaces for young adults to connect open across our section.

I’m stumbling along as I learn more about the cultural differences I have with Latin American friends. I’m embarrassed with every faux pas I make and grow frustrated with myself for not being more considerate. How dare I not know what I don’t know?

I turn these frustrations towards Spirit and recognize how I’m being led. I might walk along the path clumsily, but I continue to move towards Spirit’s light.

Spirit’s light is shining on a small and mighty group of young adults who are determined to build the future for young adult Friends as way opens. The first of four virtual gatherings was held on September 6th to facilitate introductions between young adults in the Section of the Americas. While it wasn’t a smooth planning process or program, it was filled with Spirit and opportunity. I’m excited to see how each event grows and changes from previous ones, and even more enthused about what might come of these connections.

The next events will occur on the first Saturdays of December, March, and June. Please share this opportunity widely! A registration form for December will be shared in the coming months.

Meg

Loving our Neighbours across the 49th Parallel: Conversation with Friends across our Common Border

As a part of Canadian Yearly Meeting sessions, Glenn Morison of Winnipeg Monthly Meeting and Co-Clerk of the Representative Engagement Program Group of the Friends World Committee for Consultation, Section of the Americas, organized an online Special Interest Group on June 13, 2025 called:

“Loving our Neighbours across the 49th Parallel: Conversation with Friends across our Common Border“

After a Welcome from Glenn and an explanation of the gathering by Glenn, Evan Welkin, FWCC Americas Executive Secretary (North Pacific Yearly Meeting), offered a reflection on the work of FWCC to build bridges and cross cultures among Friends, including through the initiative of World Quaker Day which takes place the 1st Sunday of October every year. This year, October 5, 2025, World Quaker Day’s theme is on Galatians 5:14: “Love your neighbour as yourself” There are resources to host WQD events in your meeting here and a further reflection from FWCC General Secretary Tim Gee on the theme here in this month’s issue of Friends Journal.

Glenn Morison then shared a bit more about his motivation for hosting this event as a frequent traveler to and from the United States from Canada, and how the current political situation has deeply affected him. He referenced an experience at the recent FWCC Section of the Americas meeting in which he felt called to minister about the relationship between the US and Canada and an Executive Committee member from FWCC said a delegation might come to Canadian Yearly Meeting to speak to this concern.

Chuck Schobert, a Friend from Madison, Wisconsin and member of the FWCC Americas Executive Committee, spoke about his experience of making apologies as a US citizen travelling abroad, and offered his apologies to those gathered during the gathering. He spoke of the need to resist unjust policies and also of reaching out directly to offer a different message.

After some Introduction of queries for consideration in our breakout rooms, Friends divided into mixed groups with US and Canadians to consider:

What is your name, where do you live and what is your special interest in being here?

Given the reality that Canada – USA relations are the worst they have been since the Pig War of 1859, what is on your heart? What are your fears and hopes? How does this impact you at your deepest levels?

On both sides of the border there have been people who have reported that the current climate has impacted the usual relations between Friends who tend towards a quietest approach and those who lean towards a more activist expression in their life and meeting. Is your meeting impacted by the current political climate? If so, in which ways? And how can we uphold one another in such a situation?

Considering the strained relations between Canada and the USA, what are your thoughts, fears, and hopes? Kazu Haga, a practitioner of Kingian Nonviolence and restorative justice, reminds us that “human beings are not the problem. It is the actions we take, shaped by our life experiences, which are influenced by our culture and larger systems beyond our control. We need to fight the structures and mechanisms that perpetuate harm. To change them, we must understand individual stories and the systems influencing them.” How can we listen to our neighbours’ stories and understand the systems that affect them?

bell hooks, a feminist teacher and theorist, states, “beloved community is formed not by eradicating differences, but by affirming them, by each of us claiming the identities and cultural legacies that shape who we are and how we live in the world.” How can we work towards creating a beloved community in our daily lives?

We closed the gathering with some brief reflections on the experience and an overall sense of thanks for the opportunity to have the conversation.

Dialogue Peace

Building the Future as Way Opens: Reflecting on our 2025 Section Meeting

Gathering of Friends from the 2025 Section Meeting

From March 20–23, 2025, 145 Friends gathered in Scottsdale, Arizona and 30 more connected online for the FWCC Section of the Americas Meeting. We came from all across the Americas and beyond, including the largest Latin America delegation in recent memory. Friends traveled from their homes in Bolivia, Canada, Jamaica, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Peru, the United Kingdom, and the United States—to be together in the Spirit and celebrate our diversity in fellowship. The theme of our gathering, “Building the Future as Way Opens,” was drawn from Isaiah 43:19: “Look, I am doing something new! Now it emerges; can you not see it? Yes, I am making a road in the desert and rivers in the wasteland.”

And we truly saw something new emerge among us.

Throughout our time together, worship set the heartbeat of our days. Each morning began with early worship—quiet, grounded, Spirit-led. We experienced rich and diverse forms of worship led by Latin American Friends, Conservative Friends, and Young Adult Friends. Each voice, each style, was a reminder of how our varied spiritual practices all seek and serve the same Divine source.

Bible study sessions opened the scriptures in new ways, inviting us to listen with fresh ears and softened hearts. Home groups offered a space to reflect, laugh, and share stories across languages and backgrounds. In these small circles, we grew in our understanding of one another—not just intellectually, but spiritually and as members of a greater community.

In addition to worship and fellowship, we came together in workshops and business sessions, exploring how FWCC can live more deeply into its calling. After a successful campaign “Becoming the Quakers the World Needs”, we feel some fatigue on committees and in our fundraising efforts as transition, new programs and reorganization require more new energy.

We saw progress on new programming made possible by the campaign. We shared a beta version of our Digital Quaker Glossary, an evolution of a collaborative tool for making Quaker terms and vocabulary accessible to all in English and Spanish. We look forward to the next phase of this project, supporting our active Bilingual Services team to develop a certified interpretation and translation program. We also announced new partnerships on our digital map, offering a single source to find Friends’ projects as well as meetings, churches and worship groups around the world. Our Quaker Connect program launched in the days leading up to the Section Meeting and apprentices from meetings across the Section joined our gathering for the first time with new perspective and enthusiasm for what is possible in the Society of Friends. To witness their excitement and growing connection was to witness the future unfolding before our eyes.

Young Adult Friends brought great energy to the gathering, not only in their worship leadership but also in their fellowship. They explored the desert gardens together, shared meals and laughter, and took part in a service project for a local Friends meeting—offering their hands and hearts in service as part of a first-of-its-kind pre-conference gathering for young people across the Section.

Evan Welkin, our new Executive Secretary, introduced himself and set his personal experience within our gathering theme and what is unfolding in the Section. Joined by FWCC General Secretary Tim Gee, they both invited us to trust God and in each other as an unknown path unfolds before us in a time of uncertainty and great possibility. Our plenary speakers, Ana Gabriela Castañeda Aguilera and Debbie Humphries, built on this theme and reminded us of examples from scripture and our own lives when we are invited to do new things: how do we respond? We are excited that Ana and Debbie’s remarks will be printed for distribution soon.

We are, as ever, a community of Friends seeking unity across languages, cultures, and traditions. This gathering gave us the opportunity to treasure our diversity and to celebrate our shared commitment to God’s leading among us. There were long conversations over meals, joyful singing in multiple languages, and celebration over the work we are doing throughout the Section. Embracing Friends from across the globe, not just physically but spiritually, helped us find new ways to speak, to listen, to walk forward together.

The Spirit is doing something new among us. We came away from this gathering excited about projects that inspire and unite us, energized by the possibilities that lie ahead. We are also clear-eyed about the clear and present challenges in the world around us today. As we return to our home countries and meetings, may we continue to walk forward in faith, trusting that the road will open, and rivers will flow, even in the wasteland.

As Ana Gabriela shared powerfully with us during her evening plenaries: “Sometimes, it’s the very act of stepping into the unknown that prepares us in ways we never imagined.” Like the road in the desert or the river in the wasteland, this gathering reminded us that new paths are revealed when we walk forward in faith, trusting the unknown. We are all grateful for every person who made this gathering possible and for each Friend who took that leap. Together, we are building the future—as way opens.

A Midwest Regional Gathering

by Luanne Hagee

Friends, if there is one thing I have learned the last two and a half years is that I must be patient (near impossible for me) and that patience pays off.

It was way back in March of 2019 during the FWCC-SOA Section Meeting near Kansas City, Missouri members of the Midwest Region (Illinois YM, Indiana YM, Ohio Valley YM, Western YM, the New Association of Friends and Central YM) began a discussion of a possible event/gathering in our Region before the next Section Meeting in 2021. It was suggested that we might hold such a gathering in mid-2020 in conjunction with the annual sessions of one of our Yearly Meetings . . . and then COVID struck, but COVID could not and did not stop us from continuing conversations and planning for a Midwest Regional event/gathering. Lots of emails were sent/received and virtual gatherings were held within the Section.

In April we finally had a location and date secured along with a speaker and a field trip! David Edinger and I discussed options for lunch. In July registration opened and I saw that we had two speakers and a field trip! After I registered I began watching as Friends began to register – it was exciting to see which Friends were going to be attending and anticipating seeing them in person for the first time since the 2019 Section Meeting.

Patience finally paid off . . . and on Saturday, September 24^th, 2022, in Plainfield, Indiana over 40 Friends gathered at the Plainfield Friends Meeting on U.S. 40 for the first “post COVID” hybrid FWCC-SOA gathering.

The afternoon began with a brief gathering in the Plainfield Friends Meeting Room then Friends were dismissed to the basement where a variety of box lunches from McAlister’s were available along with lemonade and ice tea. As Friends returned to the Meeting Room they were welcomed with Tom Roberts (Western YM) playing the piano. After a brief welcome to those in attendance both in the Meeting Room and virtually by our Midwest Regional Coordinator, David Edinger, Tom played a couple more tunes for us followed by a period of waiting worship.

We then heard from two dynamic speakers – Shawn McConaughey, the new Western Yearly Meeting Superintendent, who had been serving on staff with Friends United Meeting in East Africa and Robin Mohr, Executive Secretary of FWCC-SOA. Shawn shared about the work he did while working on staff with Friends United Meeting serving in East Africa and Robin shared the ongoing work of FWCC around the world.

Tom Hamm, archivist at Earlham College, shared with Friends the history of the historic Sugar Grove Friends Meeting House. Sugar Grove Meeting House is currently used by local Friends for Easter Sunrise Service and a group currently meets there once a month on Sunday afternoon for worship in the manner of Friends – unprogrammed worship. The Meetinghouse still has the wooden panels that separated the men and women during Meeting for Worship. Twenty-nine Friends visited the Sugar Grove Meetinghouse where they heard a bit more about the history and how the Meetinghouse is being used today.

I enjoyed seeing so many of my FWCC Friends in person and having the opportunity to have conversations with them face-to-face and not virtually and getting a few hugs as well.

Thanks to Plainfield Friends for sharing their facilities with us, Pastor Cathy Harris, Bill Clendening and Tom Roberts for helping.

The afternoon program speakers and music were recorded and can be viewed at: FWCC Midwest Regional Gathering – 2022 – YouTube

Planning for this gathering began three and a half years ago and was over in the blink of an eye . . . but it was so worth the wait!

Strengthening our Community of Friends: Visit to the Yearly Meetings of Bolivia

By Karen Gregorio de Calderon, Coordinator of Latin American Programs

In the month of January, God allowed us the privilege of making a visit to the affiliated yearly meetings of Bolivia, with the objective of strengthening our community and sharing the love of God that unites us. It was a wonderful experience to be able to greet the brothers of the different congregations to share with them, in the worship services and multiple scheduled activities, in which we were able to live together in harmony, worship our Lord Jesus Christ, share our cultures and our common heritage. We thank God for this privilege and for what it will allow us to continue doing in the near future with each of the Meetings. We are sure that God will direct the plans for the growth and expansion of his work.

I traveled with Raúl Pérez, member of the Executive Committee of FWCC-Section of the Americas and member of El Salvador Yearly Meeting and Robin Mohr, Executive Secretary for the Section of the Americas. We had the opportunity to visit the yearly meeting annual sessions of INELA Bolivia, the Bolivian Union Friends and the Central Friends yearly meetings.

We particularly want to thank Pr. Gualberto Torrez, of the Iglesia Evangelica Union Boliviana Amigos for his support and taking us to visit some of the rural churches of their yearly meeting.
We also had the opportunity to visit with Friends of Central Yearly Meeting. It was a blessing to share the message of God’s word and participate in the worship services. We thank its president Armando Mamani and the Congregation for the organization of the activities and their development.

The FWCC-COAL deeply thanks the local arrangements committee, who did an excellent job coordinating travel to the different Annual Meeting. They include: Jhoana Ramos, member of the Section’s Nominating Committee, (INELA Peru), Milena Villca, FWCC Executive Committee (Union Boliviana Amigos), Carmen Rosa Paye, (Bolivian Friends Union), Timoteo Choque and family (INELA-Bolivia), Agustina Callejas and family, (INELA Bolivia) Ruben Maydana (INELA Bolivia), and Florentino Ramos and family (INELA Peru). We appreciate and value their support.

Planning Online Annual Sessions: Ideas and Resources

Advice from those who have been there!

Kat Griffith and Becky Marty, co-clerks of Northern Yearly Meeting shared this reflection, Toward a Friendly Zoom Liturgy. Thinking somewhat liturgically about our sessions brings out some of the rhythm, richness and depth of our time together. Here are some elements that we included (and a couple that in hindsight we should have). Note that our comments focus mainly on business sessions, but that opportunities abound to build in “liturgy” in other aspects of an annual session.

David Coletta of New England Yearly Meeting created and shared Best Practices for Large Online Quaker Meetings for Business, outlining some of what NEYM’s annual sessions tech team learned about how to prepare and organize the clerks’ team, the supporting tech team, and the participants for their business sessions.

Southeastern Yearly Meeting has created a Virtual Gathering FAQs page with a wealth of information about the online gathering they held in April, including information about program priorities, logistics, training their volunteers and attenders in the use of Zoom, how they organized their sessions, and more. Check it out!

FWCC’s Planning Online Annual Sessions: Sharing Experiences and Ideas

Audio recording of the meeting
General notes from the presentations
Logistics & Technology breakout group
Meeting for Business Online breakout group
Social & Community Building Events breakout group
Children and Youth Programming breakout group

FWCC’s Planning Online Annual Sessions: Moving our Quaker Spaces Online

Recording of the meeting
Notes from initial presentations
Staging a Quaker Spaces breakout group
Logistics of a Complex Event breakout group
Zoom Hosting (for beginners) breakout group notes and images

FWCC’s Planning Online Annual Sessions: Clerking Business Sessions Online

Recording of the meeting
Notes from the panel discussion
Prior writeup from Kat Griffith and Becky Marty, co-clerks of Northern Yearly Meeting, Toward a Friendly Zoom Liturgy.
Prior writeup from FWCC Europe and the Middle East Section, Guidance for Clerks: Holding Online Meetings for Business/ Meetings for Church Affairs.

Logistics and Technical Aspects:

Clearly, this depends on what you are trying to do. Here are a few useful starting spots:

Zoom provides free video tutorials and live and recorded training sessions on many topics. A couple of specific suggestions:
- Host controls
- Waiting rooms
- Managing breakout rooms
- There is no substitute for practice! Recruit a few friends to join a practice session where you can try out all of these controls.
New to Zoom from New York Yearly Meeting is a friendly, short intro for beginning zoom users
Virtual Meetings with Zoom: How to Participate from Northern Yearly Meeting is an example of training information that includes more detail.
New England Yearly Meeting created a video How to use Zoom at Sessions 2020, which includes specific tutorials on how to connect and participate from MacOS, Windows, iPhone, Android, and Chromebooks.
Hosting a Zoom Meeting, also from Northern Yearly Meeting, is a helpful guide for volunteers hosting straightforward meetings, without breakout rooms.
Organizing Login Information – a sample from Northern Yearly Meeting
Pendle Hill’s Hybrid Worship Experiment explains how they have set up unprogrammed worship to include both in person and online worshipers using zoom.
Zoombombing Prevention and Management, also from New York Yearly Meeting, is an excellent guide.
Kathleen Wooten of New England Yearly Meeting’s web page Being the Church Online includes multiple resources about livestreaming and using Zoom (scroll down).

Online Clerking Resources:

Kat Griffith and Becky Marty, co-clerks of Northern Yearly Meeting shared this reflection, Toward a Friendly Zoom Liturgy. Their comments focus mainly on business sessions.
Europe and the Middle East Section of FWCC held an online Section Meeting in May, and has created this Guidance for Clerks: Holding Online Meetings for Business/ Meetings for Church Affairs. It contains detailed suggestions for the preparation needed ahead of time as well as for during the meeting itself.
New England Yearly Meeting shared tips and a wonderful video on virtual clerking and discernment.
Emily Provance of New York Yearly Meeting’s has a blog post about virtual clerking.
Steve Mohlke, General Secretary of New York Yearly Meeting, shared these tips about Clerking on Zoom, which includes both technical advice and guidance about the online clerking process.

Children and Youth Programming:

Maggie Nelson of Portland Friends Meeting shares Key Ingredients for Connection from a Distance
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting shared Guidance and Practices for Online Youth Gatherings when participants are under the age of 18
Northern Yearly Meeting’s Children and Youth committee shared Guidelines for Virtual Meetings, a collection of best practices and recommendations related to virtual meetings involving youth.