Part 3: Friendly Fences - How Making Assumptions Prevents Us From Making New Friends
Saturday, September 12, 10:00 am to 11:30 am
Presented by Marta Rusek and Rachel Ernst Stahlhut from Friends General Conference
Welcoming is not the work of one or two people at the door. It takes a whole meeting to create a culture that is ready to attentively and joyfully bring newcomers into the fold of the community. Sometimes, however, as a result of our assumptions and unexamined biases, we as Quakers can unintentionally put up barriers that keep people out rather than invite people in. We refer to these barriers as "Friendly Fences." In this workshop, Marta Rusek and Rachel Ernst Stahlhut from Friends General Conference will explore the ways that Friendly Fences hinder the welcome experienced by visitors to our Quaker meetings due to race, family structure, age, sexual orientation and gender identity, disability, political views, and class background. We will offer some practical resources for shifting the culture of welcoming in your meeting.
Some of the presentation material is part of FGC's Growing Our Meetings Toolkit which is organized around the three themes below. This part of the Caln Quarterly Meeting Membership Development Series will focus on the first of the three themes:
- Integrating Newcomers (welcoming visitors and helping them connect with the life of the meeting)
- Inreach (deepening and strengthening the spiritual life of the meeting)
- Outreach (making our presence known in the community)
Bios:
Rachel Ernst Stahlhut coordinates FGC's online eRetreat program and the Spiritual Deepening Library for meetings. After traveling among meetings across North America as a QuakerQuest facilitator and listening to the stories of hundreds of Friends, Rachel discerned a leading to support individuals and meetings toward deeper spiritual connection and engagement. She has facilitated workshops with a focus on Quaker faith and practice, welcoming, and building spiritual community. Rachel lives in Cincinnati and is a member of Community Friends Meeting. She serves as the Assistant Presiding Clerk of Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting.
Marta Rusek is FGC's Communications Manager. She began her service to Friends as a Communications Fellow in 2014 and returned to FGC's Communications team in late 2016. As Communication Manager, she promotes FGC's mission and services to Friends and individuals who are interested in Quaker spirituality and practice through a multi-platform engagement strategy. As FGC adapts its services during the COVID-19 pandemic, Marta is helping Friends and spiritual seekers connect to virtual opportunities for faith and fellowship through the Vital Friends eNewsletter, FGC's social media presence (including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram), digital ads, podcasting, video recordings, and much more.
About this Series
Like so many events in 2020, Caln Quarterly Meeting's annual gathering was canceled for May of 2020. Rather than throwing in the towel, we pivoted and recycled this year's gathering theme, Growing Our Meetings, into a well-attended Zoom session that introduced how many of our Meetings are growing and what their practices for outreach are. The session was open to members and attenders from across several yearly meetings--far beyond Caln Quarter. The feedback from many of the 120 people who registered for that session on May 2, 2020, opened the way for us to continue with a six-part series that will provide more details on many of the topics and issues raised during the May Zoom session.
