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| Greetings, Young Adult Friends & allies,
Although there’s still snow on the ground, I can feel spring in the air – I’ve seen crocus on my block, and it’s still light outside when I come home from work. At last! With this spring also come new opportunities for growth and deepening. I just wrote about some of these upcoming programs on the YAF blog – check it out!
It’s also time to gear up for our YAF Spring Retreat, May 16-18th at Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting. Our theme will be on social justice. If you’re interested in helping to develop the program (and winnow down the focus), let me know! The program planning group will be having our first meeting in the next few weeks.
In the Spirit,
Elizabeth Piersol Schmidt
PYM Young Adult Friends Communications Coordinator
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| Upcoming Events & Opportunities |
Junior Interim Meeting – all are invited!
 Saturday, March 8th, 10AM – 2PM
Historic Fairhill Burial GroundGermantown & Cambria Streets, Philadelphia, PA
At a recent Junior Interim Meeting for Business, the children decided to open up their March gathering to everyone in the Yearly Meeting. we’ve been invited to join them at Junior Interim Meeting for a day of service, games, and fellowship!
It will be super fun (the kids decided we should be required to play hide-and-seek with them) as well as an awesome chance to build multigenerational community.
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Earth Quaker Action Team events
Meet at Arch Street Meeting House at 4th and Arch St at 10:30AM, action at noon at the Federal Building. (There’s also a training on March 8th for those who want to commit civil disobedience.)
Saturday, March 15th – Powerful Spiritual Activist Training
A training series designed to build skills in nonviolent direct action while deepening your awareness and access to spiritual strength. March’s training is focused on “Skills for Getting In.”
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 Saturday, March 22nd, 10:45 AM- 12:30PM
Arch Street Meeting House – 4th & Arch Streets, Philadelphia
Do you seek Deeper Spiritual Experience? Are you Led to Intergenerational Community?
We Invite You a Sample Session of the Spiritual Formation Program:
* Participate in worship sharing groups
* Grow in spiritual practice and faith experience
* Move together in witness to the Eternal in our lives
In the Spiritual Formation Program, Friends deepen their connection to Spirit, discern gifts, and build relationships with fellow seekers through meeting in small and large groups for worship, discussion, and spiritual nurture.
This Interest Session is for curious Friends to find out more, AND to find out what would *actually work* for young adults (ie: YOU!)
What length of commitment is feasible? What are topics you want to explore? What will the schedule look like? How can we include Friends at a distance through technology (Google Hangouts, Skype, etc.)?
The program would likely begin in fall 2014. While it will have a strong focus on young adult Friends, participants will be intergenerational.
Arrive around 10:45AM for snacks & mingling, Interest Session begins at 11. Following the session, YAFs will go out to lunch!
Learn more about the Spiritual Formation Program.
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FCNL Spring Lobby Weekend
March 22-25 in Washington, DC
Cost – $25-50, scholarships & subsidized housing available
The Spring Lobby Weekend is advocacy weekend for young adults, organized by the Friends Committee on National Legislation, FCNL. Young adults from across the country come together to receive training on how to be effective, Spirit-led advocates, and to bring their voices to the halls of Congress.
The focus of this year’s program is “Ending the Endless War” More info on FCNL’s website.
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Young Adult Friends Mentorship Project workshop
“Friends Sharing Their Individual Gifts: Opening the door to sharing our gifts, questions, ministry, needs and community”
Saturday, March 29th – 4-5:30 PM
Arch Street Meeting House – 4th and Arch Street, Philadelphia
The Young Adult Friends Mentorship Project is hosting our first event!
Looking for a way to connect with others and have ideas about how we may build an interactive network for mentoring? Join us for a fun 90 minute interactive workshop to explore the types of gifts that Friends may share with each other!
Come early to the William Penn Lecture, share with our group and then have plenty of time for dinner before the lecture at 7:00 pm.
Learn more about the event.
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William Penn Lecture with Christina Repoley
“Prophetic Service as Formation & Transformation”
Saturday, March 29th – 7-9 PM
Arch Street Meeting House – 4th and Arch Street, Philadelphia
Christina Repoley, the Executive Director of Quaker Voluntary Service and a member of Atlanta Friends Meeting, will be giving the 2014 William Penn Lecture. While the Lecture is an annual event for all Friends, it is under the care of Young Adult Friends and comes out of a history that began with the first lecture in 1916.
The doors will open at 6:30 for this event. The lecture begins at 7:00 and will be followed by a Question & Answer period and refreshments.
Come early for the YAF Mentorship Project workshop at 4PM!
Young Adult Friends will gather for fellowship and discussion following the event.
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Let the Living Waters Flow! – Friends serving God’s purposes
A consultation for Friends in Friends World Committee for Consultation Section of the Americas
April 11-13, register by March 31st
High Point, North Carolina
Friends across North and South America will gather to:
- learn new skills from one another to sustain and grow our meetings
- affirm our mutual Quaker identity
- consider the future of Friends as a whole over the next century
- commit to practices to foster a thriving Religious Society of Friends.
Every generation of Friends has to rediscover the purpose and the strengths of the Religious Society of Friends for themselves and in their own time. Without this renewal, the unique combination of individual faithfulness and social gospel that is the heart of the Quaker movement will risk being lost.
Learn more on the FWCC website.
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Continuing Revolution:
A Young Adult Friends Conference on Community
 June 6-11th at Pendle Hill in Wallingford, PA
Cost: $300 (scholarship available)
Pendle Hill’s six--day conference for young adult Friends will include inspirational speakers, workshops and trainings, worship and worship--sharing, fellowship, discernment of gifts and ministry, and service. The program, still in development, will be announced soon. We will be focusing on community in its most expansive definition as a way to examine the need for change, the strength of human action, our own growing edges, the power of a gathered body, and to explore together some more radical understandings of the community testimony.
Applications are currently being accepted – there’s a maximum of 45 participants.
More info and the application can be found on the Pendle Hill website.
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Save the Date!
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PYM Youth Programs Internship
Interested in working with Quaker kids or teens?
We’re looking for Young Adult Friends (age 18-35) for the
Through the internship, young adult Friends enrich the youth programs, while deepening their own gifts. Interns help the youth program Coordinators create the container for Quaker children & teenagers to explore their spirituality and create an inclusive, loving community.
There are intern positions working with three programs: Children’s (K-5th grade), Middle School Friends (6-8th grade), and Young Friends (9-12th grade) for at least 6 days during the year. At the end of the program, interns recieve a $500 scholarship, to be used for Quaker events or spiritual development.
More info, and the application, can be found on the Youth Programs Internship webpage.
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Job Opportunities
PYM is seeking a 65% time Human Resources Coordinator. Details and and a job description can be found on the PYM website.
Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting
Chestnut Hill Friend Meeting is looking for a teacher for their lively middle school class of 12 on Sunday mornings. The meeting is right on the 23 bus line and short walk from train station.
If you’re interested, or want to know more, contact Jean Warrington, 215-242-6974 orjeanwarrington@verizon.net
Quaker Voluntary Service
is accepting applications for the 2014-15 year in Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Portland, OR. QVS volunteers live together in simple community, immersed in Quaker spiritual practices. QVS volunteers are placed in full time positions in agencies and organizations that offer direct support to marginalized individuals and communities, and that strive to transform unjust structures. Priority deadline for applications is March 15th.
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To receive program and event updates for PYM Young Adult Friends, click the link above and join our mailing list!
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