{"id":281,"date":"2021-03-15T18:50:13","date_gmt":"2021-03-15T18:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/?page_id=281"},"modified":"2022-01-09T09:36:02","modified_gmt":"2022-01-09T09:36:02","slug":"supporting-our-childrens-meetings","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/march-2021-volume-503\/supporting-our-childrens-meetings\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting Our Children\u2019s Meetings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matthew Gee<\/b><\/p>\n

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Rejoice in the presence of children and young people in your meeting and recognise the gifts they bring. Remember that the meeting as a whole shares a responsibility for every child in its care. [\u2026] Are you ready both to learn from them and to accept your responsibilities towards them?<\/p>\n

\u2014 Advices and Queries 19<\/p>\n

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We currently have 26 children and teenagers in Oxford Meeting. That\u2019s bigger than the total membership of many local meetings in Britain. And it\u2019s growing \u2014 despite lockdown our children\u2019s meetings are attracting new families who want their children to experience Quaker worship. A healthy children\u2019s meeting is a sign of a healthy and sustainable local meeting, with Quakers of all ages being welcomed and catered for, and with new and younger Quakers able to serve the meeting, both now and into the future.<\/p>\n

We are thankful for the dedicated service of a small number of adult Friends who support the meeting\u2019s children\u2019s and youth work, but we are in urgent need of more help. There are many ways to help, from practical support with sending emails and cards; maintaining our database; serving on the Children & Young People\u2019s Committee; becoming a regular volunteer helper at one of our children\u2019s meetings; helping with our annual Family Day or all-age meetings for worship. We are in particular need of Friends for the roles below.<\/p>\n

Please do get in touch with either a member of the Children & Young People\u2019s Committee or Nominations Committee to think with us about how you could serve.<\/p>\n

Children & Young People\u2019s Committee members are: Katherine Gee, Matthew Gee (clerk), Anita Ghosh, Peg Katritzky, and Didi Spencer. Virginia Allport also continues to play an active part in the committee\u2019s work. There are four vacancies.<\/p>\n

Some roles require completion of an application form, having two references, and completion of an enhanced DBS (Home Office Disclosure & Barring Service) check. Although this may sound daunting, it is a straightforward process that we can support and guide with.<\/p>\n

Facilitate the baby and parent group<\/b><\/p>\n

There have been quite a few new babies born in the meeting since lockdown began, and we would like to offer a space for the parents and babies to get to know one another, modelled on the successful Tuesday morning Quaker parent-and-baby group that ran from 2018 to 2020. If you could help, please contact Virginia Allport.<\/p>\n

Read a story in Beansprouts<\/b><\/p>\n

Our Beansprouts children\u2019s meeting for toddlers meets on Zoom weekly, but is in need of additional helpers who can read a children\u2019s story or facilitate a simple activity over Zoom for our meeting\u2019s toddlers. Contact Katherine Gee.<\/p>\n

Could you be a \u2018Living Story\u2019?<\/b><\/p>\n

Our weekly Sunflowers children\u2019s meeting for children age 4-12 usually includes a short story on a Quaker theme \u2013 often a story related to a Quaker testimony, or a Bible story or story about historical Quakers. We are experimenting with having a ‘living story’ \u2013 that is a Quaker from the meeting who is willing to be interviewed by a group of Quaker children about an aspect of their own life story. It might be about an experience you have had, the way you live your faith in your life, or a Quaker role or job you have done. The meeting will be facilitated by two of the regular leaders, but in place of the story, the children would interview you for about ten minutes. If you think you could be a ‘living story’ please get in touch with Matthew Gee or Anita Ghosh.<\/p>\n

Teenage Meeting<\/b><\/p>\n

The COVID pandemic has meant that the regional and national Quaker residential events that our meeting\u2019s teenagers would usually take part in \u2013 such as Friends\u2019 Southern Junior Gathering and Senior Conference, and Junior Yearly Meeting \u2013 did not take place in their usual form in 2020, and may not be able to go ahead in 2021. We are therefore keen to get Oxford\u2019s teenage meeting restarted, after a period of dormancy for several years. If you could support the restarting of our teenage meeting on Zoom in 2021, please get in touch with Katherine Gee.<\/p>\n

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Back to March 2021 e-Newsletter Main Page<\/a><\/p>\n

Forty-Three<\/em> e-Newsletter \u2022 Number 503 \u2022 March 2021
\n<\/strong>Oxford Friends Meeting
\n43 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LW<\/p>\n

newsletter@oxfordquakers.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matthew Gee We currently have 26 children and teenagers in Oxford Meeting. That\u2019s bigger than the total membership of many local meetings in Britain. And it\u2019s growing \u2014 despite lockdown our children\u2019s meetings are attracting new families who want their children to experience Quaker worship. A healthy children\u2019s meeting is a sign of a healthy … Continue reading Supporting Our Children\u2019s Meetings<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"parent":182,"menu_order":207,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-281","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":931,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/281\/revisions\/931"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}