Quaker Religious Education Collaborative

Quaker Religious Education Collaborative (QREC) is an international, cross-branch network of Friends promoting lifelong Quaker faith formation. QREC programs bring Friends together in a community of practice to inspire ideas, strategies, hopes, and experiences of faith.

A recent community practice group is focusing on the essential Quaker practices described in the QREC publication Walking in the World as a Friend by Nadine Hoover. During online discussions and practice sessions over three months this fall, participants are exploring specific ways to deepen their faith and practice, using group time to share discoveries on that path. Simple practices from the early Friends naturally reinforce the gathered nature of Quakerism and draw participants away from the individualism of secular culture.

In May, QREC offered online Conversation Circles on welcoming families to Quaker meeting. In August, the organization partnered with the Quaker Leadership Center at Earlham School of Religion to provide an online workshop, with QREC members Melinda Wenner Bradley and Beth Collea, that explored intergenerational community in Quaker meetings, particularly in worship. QREC practitioners consider children fully spiritual beings. They believe that Quaker meetings will find their greatest strength, clarity, and connection with the Divine when all ages are truly integrated and heard in worship and meeting life.

The next QREC conference is scheduled for April 11–13, 2025, at Atlanta (Ga.) Meeting.

quakerrecollaborative.org

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