Resources & Renewal Retreat for Religious Educators

A Spring Weekend with our First Day School Community of Practice

Sponsored by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, Western and Concord Quarterly Meetings

Join us for a weekend of learning and support for those engaged in the ministry of children’s religious education. We’ll share resources and thinking from the growing edges of children’s RE and spiritual formation, as well as gather the community of practice around perennial issues. Participants will come away from the weekend affirmed and refreshed, and ready to move forward whether you’re newly stepping into this work or a seasoned teacher. Our time will include plenaries, experiential learning, small group and whole group discussions. We will ground our time in worship and fellowship together.

Topics for the weekend include: children’s spirituality; worship with children; shapes and models for FDS: resources and planning; nurturing families in our meetings; faithful living in today’s world: activism and anti-racism resources for First Day and families.

This workshop is appropriate for religious education/FDS committee members and teachers; parents; Friends interested in supporting religious education, children and families in our meeting communities; and teachers from Friends schools interested in these topics.

Facilitators:
Beth Collea serves as the Religious Education and Outreach Coordinator for New England Yearly Meeting. Carrying a concern for a contemporary stewardship of the Quaker message, she explores and encourages new approaches to programming for today’s youth and adults. She facilitates the Quaker Outreach Pilot Project of NEYM and is creating a new style of outreach materials that engage as well as inform.

Melinda Wenner Bradley serves New York Yearly Meeting as the Children and Youth Field Secretary. Her work weaves together interests in children’s spiritual lives, program development, and how to support families and teachers in meeting communities. An accredited Godly Play® trainer and a co-author of Faith & Play™: Quaker Stories for Friends Trained in the Godly Play® Method, she shares these resources in trainings and workshops for Quaker meetings and Friends schools.
Beth and Melinda are founding members of the Quaker Religious Education Collaborative (QREC), an international grassroots network of Friends holding a sense of stewardship for life-long Quaker faith formation through religious education. www.quakers4re.org

To learn more, see the schedule, and register online, click here: http://www.pym.org/event/resources-renewal-2017/