Madeleine Reeves
As Friends will know, we have a vibrant Children’s Meeting which meets at 11am on Sunday, with the older of those children (preschoolers and older) meeting as Sunflowers where there are regular stories, songs, and craft activities before they join the main 11am Meeting for Worship.
We are keen for our Sunflowers to have the chance to learn from and interview Friends in the wider Meeting about their experience of living out the Testimonies, of being a Quaker. This does not have to be in some grand or ‘weighty’ way! We are keen to hear about the things you might do to (say) grow your own vegetables… show welcome to refugees… recycle… take a stand on issues you care about…. The list could go on!
The children love to see, touch, try out. Maybe there is something that you could ‘bring and show’ that speaks to your faith? A banner that you made for a campaign? The tools you use to grow some vegetables? A song that makes you laugh or think?
If the prospect of chatting to a group of children about your faith feels daunting, please come and speak to one of the members of the Children & Young People’s Committee or the regular volunteers.
The session would be facilitated by one of the regular volunteers who know the children, so you would not be on your own, and we would find a way to include a conversation with you as part of a children’s meeting alongside a relevant story, song or activity which we would organise.
In short, we see this as a chance for you and the Sunflowers to get to know each other in a quieter way, beyond the usual coffee-time busy-ness! We would particularly welcome Friends who regularly attend the 9.30 Sunday Meeting or the Monday Young Friends, who may have fewer opportunities to get to know the children in our midst than those who regularly attend the 11am Meeting.
We would love to hear from you!
Madeleine.Reeves@compas.ox.ac.uk
This Month’s Forty-Three Newsletter Contents
- July 2023
- Travelling in the Ministry
- Monthly Appeal July 2023
- Would You Like to be Interviewed by our Sunflowers?
- Churches Together in Central Oxford
- “What will we Build, You and I Together?”
- Artweeks 2023
- The Anchor Programme
- Living on the Edge – an OxFAP Update
- Oxford Open Doors Outreach Event 9 and 10 September 2023
- Some Background Papers from Local Meeting for Worship for Business on Sunday 3 June 2023
- Quaker Question and Answer – Val Ferguson
- Quakers and the Still, Small Voice
- From Quaker Faith & Practice 22.06
- Meetings for Worship July 2023
Back to July 2023 Newsletter Main Page
Forty-Three Newsletter • Number 531 • July 2023
Oxford Friends Meeting
43 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LW
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