by Trevor Bending I listened to the ministry by Geoffrey Durham at Britain Yearly Meeting and later nearly stood to speak myself.  But the moment passed.  I’m a new member (since February).  What could I say? I reflected that not too many months before and only a few yards away I had heard Geoffrey speak…
by A Friend On a sunny Sunday in November some of our friends and family came to a Quaker meeting for the first time. They came to a half hour meeting for welcome, arranged in response to the births of our two daughters. Having grown up attending an Anglican Church it seemed neglectful not to…
by Steve Hynd When you awake at 3:00am everything is a blur. The edges of your vision slip away to nothingness, your eyelids drop with every slip of the mind and your senses are numbed. Unless that is, you are stood at Qalqiliya checkpoint in the West Bank. Here your senses are heightened from the…
By Simon Best If my article in Friends Quarterly and my George Gorman lecture could have one outcome it is that we talk more as Friends, in our meetings and in other Quaker groups. I believe that all Quakers need to talk about the issues I have raised, but most importantly we need to talk…
by Stephen Cox An elder gives ministry, saying that in their opinion, a Quaker cannot be an atheist. A recent enquirer says in notices that they are an atheist and are they welcome? Established attenders suggest not using the words God or prayer in an outreach leaflet, because they will be misunderstood. What is my…
By Jo Tyabji Peckham is an area where suspicion of the police is commonplace. It was one of the many centres of London’s riots: a shop and a bus burnt, shops smashed and looted. Yesterday, I joined members of the local theatre company Peckham Shed that I have worked with for three years. We went…
Harriet Hart is one of the editors of Spirit Rising, an anthology of Quaker youth ministry. She talked to Nayler about the book and her own experience of being involved in the project. You’re one of the editors of the Spirit Rising. What is it and why should people read it? Â Spirit Rising is…
The Journal as Worship  by Jay Clark I owe a lot to a book called The Journal as Art, by Jennifer New, a book that reproduces pages from visual journals, alongside the creator’s comments on why and how they journal. When I was a teenager, bored of my written diaries that felt petty and uninspiring,…