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Australian Quaker Voices
These videos are a snapshot of some Friends in Australia sharing their ideas and experiences. We hope these will prompt your own reflection and lead to discussion within your meeting about your own experience of Quakerism.
The discussion questions offered on this page have been drawn from each video and can be used to guide reflection and discussion. You might like to write your own questions will watching the video, or take notes of key ideas that you want to explore further.
Quakers in Australia: Why Am I a Quaker?
Discussion questions
- What drew you to Quakerism? What were you seeking?
- Why are you a Quaker?
- How do you describe Quakers to others?
- What does it mean to 'get rid of the back of the church?' How does this impact your experience of Quakerism?
- What do you hold as being 'core truths' for Quakers?
- What does spiritual community mean to you?
- How do you understand the word 'God'? What other words do you use instead of 'God'?
- How do you 'make visible the divine that is in every day life'? How do you do this?
- How does the 'basket of laundry' metaphor about Meeting for Worship sit with you? How would you describe your experience of Meeting for Worship?
Quakers in Australia: Testimonies
Discussion questions
- How do you speak to God or the inner light within other? How do you bring that to the front?
- What does the idea of ‘testimonies’ mean to you? How has this changed by watching the video?
- What are you being called to do away with? Where might you bring simplicity to your speech?
- What does peace mean to you? How do you avoid the circumstances that create fighting and conflict?
- What does it mean to speak your truth? Where are you living with integrity? Where are you not living with integrity?
- How do you support those around you who are not involved or don’t have access?
- Where do you see inequality around you? How are you working for equality?
- What does earthcare mean to you?
- What does it mean to have your life testify to something?
- How do you see the testimonies as being different than a creed?
- What is the most important testimony to you?
- What would you add? What truth do you want your life to testify to?
- How do you live out the different testimonies? How is this different than others in your meeting?
- What do you see as the relationship between testimonies and values?
- “For me there is only one Quaker value - love.” How does this idea resonate with you?
- Not everyone in this video agrees with each other. How does this sit with you? Who challenges your ideas? Whose experience speaks to your condition?
Quakers in Australia: Activism
Watch the video here
Discussion questions
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How are you making space for the activism of children and young people in your meetings?
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Climate, race, indigeneity, LGBT, gender equality, conscientious objectors, North Korea, Palestine...where are you being called to take action?
- Where are you 'going with the flow' and might be being called to engage more?
- How do you handle activism as a spiritual being?
- How do you engage with peacefully with people who have different opinions on topics you are passionate about?
- Where are you being called to 'get out on the streets' and where are you being called to learn more?
- What kind of world do you really want to live in?
- Do you feel the rage? What do you do with it?
- How do you look after yourself in ways that sustain your activism?
- “We as Quakers can do things, but not alone. It’s important to have Friends.” Where are you working alone? Where might you need to gather Friends around you
Quakers in Australia: Meeting for Worship
- How do you quiet your own mind in Meeting for Worship?
- What do you see as the customs of Meeting for Worship?
- Do you connect with ‘something else’ in Meeting for Worship? How do you experience or understand that ‘something else’?
- What do you do during Meeting for Worship?
- Meeting for Worship is very personal, what is your experience of Meeting for worship? How do you feel before, during, after Meeting for Worship?
- How do you experience Ministry during Meeting for Worship?
- What are the Meeting for Worships that stand out to you as memorable? What made them memorable?
- Have you experienced a gathered meeting? How do it feel? What was different than other Meetings for Worship?
- What do you value about silence? What do you find hard?
Quakers in Australia: Gender and Relationships
- What does equality mean to you?
- What is your experience of gender? What experiences have contributed to your understanding of gender and sexuality? What pronouns do you use?
- How have you felt supported and accepted by your meeting?
- How do you seek to understand and support those with different experiences of gender and sexuality than yours?
- What does it mean to you to accept diversity in gender and sexuality? How do you put this into practice every day?
- What does it mean to you to be part of a faith that accepts diverse experiences of gender and sexuality and supports marriage equality?
- Where do you see Quakers speaking up for equality and equity?
Quakers in Australia: Beliefs
- How does your Quaker faith influence your daily life?
- What are you searching for in Quakerism? How are you supported in this searching?
- What is your experience of the discipline of being a Quaker?
- What are your Quaker beliefs? How are these similar to those expressed in the video? How are they different?
- What do you see as being 'The Quaker Way'?
- Quakerism is experiential rather dogmatic How does this sit with your experience of Quakerism? How do your life experiences shape your understanding of Quakerism?
- What does ‘that of God in each person’ mean to you?
- How do you learn about others’ experience of Quakerism? How does this learning enrich your personal experience?
- Do you believe in ‘God’? What language do you use if you talk about ‘God’?
- What do you see as the core Quaker beliefs?
- Are you a Quaker? What does it mean to you to be a Quaker?