Celebrating each other: February 2025 YFGM’s Epistle

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Introduction

YFGM had its first 2025 gathering, hosted at Edinburgh Meeting House from the 14th to the 16th of February. A whopping 92 people attended YFGM, roughly 35 of whom were newcomers. This is almost 15 more than the average number of attendees at our 2024 events, and the biggest turnout YFGM has seen in over two decades! (There were 98 YFGMers at our February event in 2002.) We have not been to Scotland for a gathering since 2019, and we were delighted to be returning. 

For a moment coming in the door, it felt chaotic – we were unpracticed with hosting so many people. But we relished in the chaos, leant on the established parts of our community, and settled comfortably into our usual Friday evening welcome session, where we presented key housekeeping notices and information about the agenda for the weekend between ice breaking activities.

Business Meeting highlights

Given the amount of newcomers we had at this gathering, it was even more essential to start the weekend with some of our key sessions, Introduction to Quaker Business Method and Introduction to Nominations. We heard from our Nominations committee around committee sizes, as well as our practice on the age of role-holders. 

We heard the proposed budget for 2025, the report from our representatives of the Future of British Quakerism Conference (Friends felt welcomed by individuals but found the event itself inaccessible), and the report from our Quaker Rainbow representative. We also heard from our Planning Weekend Newcomers on their experiences at our recent gathering in Derby in January, and from our Switchboard Committee and our Trustees, both of whom are integral to the running of YFGM, as well as from our Clerks as our Meeting for Sufferings representatives. 

As a meeting, we also discerned on the Nominations Committee’s proposal to change the committee sizes for Pastoral, Logistics and Elders from “5” to “5 or 6” to allow for further flexibility and accommodate the varying needs of committee members. We also adopted a Complaints policy proposed by Trustees and discerned some suggestions for minor amendments.

Social events highlights

On the Saturday, we held two Special Interest Group sessions, the first selection of options were:

  • Pop-up choir – A casual choral workshop led by a passionate and beautiful individual voice at YFGM. Members went around the Meeting House Sunday morning singing everyone awake in a gentle and charming melody.
  • What is Quaker Rainbow? – YFGM’s Quaker Rainbow representative presented the work the recognised Quaker body is currently doing. We explored what it was about the LGBTQIA+ fellowship’s activity that piqued the interest of YFGMers in particular and brainstormed ideas to strengthen the connection between Quaker Rainbow and YFGM. 
  • What is a Guest? – In 2021, YFGM decided that the age limit for the event would be set at 35, however guests were always welcome. A discussion was held to explore what constitutes a guest and possibly shaped a future business session on the topic.
  • Quaker Badge Making – Friends brought Quaker phrases, images, old magazines, and collaging materials, and made badges.
  • Questions about Quaker Residential courses – Friends came together to brainstorming ideas for events and courses that would appeal to us as 18 to 35 year old Quakers. 

The second selection of sessions were held later on in the afternoon:

  • Cults and high demand religions – A discussion around cults and high demand religions: what makes them and how might we recognise these elements in ourselves? (This SIG was especially popular – with over 30 participants!)
  • Future Budget ideas – A drop-in session discussing fundraising and spending ideas for the 2026 budget and beyond!
  • Quaker themed escape room – “The Meeting House has been left in a mess by the renters last night! You have been tasked with putting the room back together before meeting starts in an hour.” 
  • Book of Discipline revision consultation – The Book of Discipline Revision Committee is meeting with various recognised bodies and joined YFGM to give 18 to 35 year olds the chance to consult the new draft.
  • Far Flung Friends – We explored how we can support YFGM members who frequently can’t physically attend YFGM because of distance – brainstorming creative ideas and solutions.

Given the current political situation, especially in its relation to LGBTQ+ rights, our pastoral committee felt that we needed to celebrate each other, and there’s no better way to do this than to host an open mic! Considering we were together on Valentine’s weekend, our chosen theme was “Queer Joy: Love and Pride”. The evening started off with a smashing sketch of a business meeting, complete with eerily accurate clerk facial expressions and a running football-style commentary that had everybody crying with laughter. We shared in the endless talents of our community, including poetry, music, and dance (and maybe thought once or twice about starting a The Mountain Goats tribute band). 

On Sunday morning, during Edinburgh’s early Meeting for Worship, YFGM had their usual spirituality session where we explored “what is Meeting for Worship?”. We were invited to ask ourselves; what does Meeting for Worship mean to us? And invited to draw visualisations of what we experience during Meeting for Worship.

We were also given these questions and quotes to ponder:

  • What do you seek coming to MfW? What nourishes you? How often do you find it? How would you describe your internal experience of MfW?
  • Does it feel active or passive? How does the experience of Worship change over time, in new contexts and circumstances? 
  • How do you centre down? Is this an active process for you? Do you have a routine? Is it something that happens easily for you? 
  • How do you process and absorb Ministry? Can you think of a time that Ministry has challenged you? Has warmed you? Has any particular Ministry stayed with you? 
  • What does “holding in the Light” mean to you? Is this something you do in MfW? What does that feel like? 
  • If you have experienced it, what does being moved to Minister feel like? Does a particular memory stand out to you? 
  • What makes a Meeting feel “gathered”? What was your most profound experience during a MfW? What was meaningful about it?
  • In a gathered meeting there may be few spoken words, but there is rich ministry. An hour passes quickly. Other meetings are lifeless. They may be full of words, but there is little ministry, little that is of service. Time drags and people feel the need to fill the silence. A gathered meeting has the strength to absorb the differences and support the needs of those who attend it; this is easier when the meeting is a community of people who know and trust each other, who are not afraid to share their experience of worship and to learn from one another. (Conference: Exploring the fundamental elements of Quakerism, 1986, F&P, 2.38) 
  • True worship may be experienced at any time; in any place – alone on the hills or in the busy daily life – we may find God, in whom we live and move and have our being. But this individual experience is not sufficient, and in a meeting held in the Spirit there is a giving and receiving between its members, one helping another with or without words. So there may come a wider vision and a deeper experience. (F&P, 2.11) 
  • Ministry is what is on one’s soul, and it can be in direct contradiction to what is on one’s mind. It’s what the Inner Light gently pushes you toward or suddenly dumps in your lap. It is rooted in the eternity, divinity, and selflessness of the Inner Light; not in the worldly, egoistic functions of the conscious mind. (Marrianne McMullen, 1987, F&P, 2.66)

Final note

In spite of panicked cries from the wider society on ever decreasing numbers, we find ourselves in the joyful position of having our largest YFGM gathering in recent memory. We were enlivened by the spirits of so many newcomers, and of course were warmed by the return of so many old friends. In deep chats over veggie haggis, in stolen catch ups on the stairs, and most of all, in worship, we are reminded that the Future of British Quakerism is queer, vibrant, and flourishing. 

The minutes and reports from this weekend are posted on the YFGM website here.

A special thanks to Edinburgh Meeting for letting us have our YFGM there. We hope to be back soon!

Written by Jennie A and Juno L 

If you’d like to support YFGM, the best way to do so would be to donate! More information on how we use our funds and how to donate to us can be found on our donations page here.

Published in The Friend 14th March 2025