Workshops at Annual Sessions, 2025
Workshops will be held Friday, June 27, 2025 at 10:30-12 noon and Saturday, June 28, 2025, at 4 PM-5:30 PM.
Working with conscientious objectors and deserters from the army in Russian/ Ukrainian war.
with Mikheil (Misha) Elizbarashvili of Tbilisi Friends Meeting in Georgia
On zoom and in person; Misha will speak on zoom
Friday, June 27, 2025 at 10:30-12 noon
Misha will share his experience with working with conscientious objectors and deserters from the Russian/Ukrainian war. He will speak for 20 minutes and then answer questions.
Misha is clerk of the Tbilisi Friends Meeting in Tbilisi, Georgia, co-coordinator of the Peace and Service Network, coordinator for relief work at the Caucasus Office of ACT for Transformation, and a peace activist.
It Took a Village
with Jim Miller
On zoom and in person
Friday, June 27, 2025 at 10:30-12 noon.
After 3 years at a Christian college, Jim Miller was asked to leave due to a "spiritual problem." He was devastated, depressed and without direction. He encountered Jesus and some of His helpers who saved him and directed the transformation that involved a graduate degree, professional career, and 60-year marriage. He will discuss this transformation in this workshop
Jim Miller has retired from the mental health field. He and his wife recently "downsized" to apartment living and are loving it. Jim is a member of Camas Friends.
Encouraging your call to public ministry (and how do I know I have one?)
with Windy Cooler
In person only. Friday, June 27, 2025 at 10:30-12 noon
At times in your life you may have a concern so deep it feels like you are compelled forward, much like standing up in open worship, palms sweating, heart beating with a message the Spirit has placed on your heart. But this concern may be a new life direction. Who do you talk to about it? Can your meeting support you, help you discern how to go about, keep you accountable as you put it into practice?
Windy Cooler has just received a grant for her Incubator Project to help people and their meetings in just these questions. Windy hopes her workshop becomes a transformative space for you as you discern your way forward. She invites anyone to attend, whether they sense a clear call, a vague call, a desire to encourage others, or mere curiosity.
Windy Cooler (she/her) is an embraced public minister under the care of Sandy Spring Friends Meeting (Baltimore Yearly Meeting), serving as the convener of the Friends Incubator for Public Ministry. The Incubator Project is an outgrowth of her doctoral thesis, "The War for and Against Quakers: Right Relationship and Public Ministry in the Religious Society of Friends."
Money Cafe
with Traci Hjelt Sullivan
On zoom and in person. Traci will speak on zoom
Saturday, June 28, 2025, at 4 PM-5:30 PM
Money appears as a taboo and “unspiritual” topic. At the same time, money deeply shapes our lives, our relationships, and our communities. Right Sharing of World Resources brings the Money Cafe where we explore our personal and ancestral histories with money, how this shows up in our relationships, and what kind of choices we can make as we let our lives speak.
Traci Hjelt Sullivan is the new Executive Director of Right Sharing of World Resources.
Conscientious Objection: Nonviolence as Love for Neighbor & Enemy
with Cherice Bock
On zoom and in person
Saturday, June 28, 2025, at 4 PM-5:30 PM
Friends have interpreted Jesus' instruction to love our neighbors and our enemies as a call to resolve our conflicts through means other than violence and war. In this workshop, you will learn some of the history and reasons for this stance, as well as information about conscientious objectors in the past. You will learn how to document your own conscientious objector claim. Time will be given to begin crafting a personal statement of conscientious objection that could be presented to the yearly meeting or to your monthly meeting to be minuted. This is particularly useful to youth of current or future draft age and is open to anyone who would like to learn more about the Friends peace testimony.
Cherice Bock (she/her) is a recorded minister of Sierra-Cascades. She speaks widely among Friends. Her experience teaching youth about conscientious objection began during the lead up to the Iraq War. She is working on a book about conscientious objection among twentieth century Friends in the Pacific Northwest. Cherice attends North Valley Friends in Newberg and is a founding member of Sierra-Cascades.
Corporate Reconciliation
with Laura Simmons
On zoom and in person
Saturday, June 28, 2025, at 4 PM-5:30 PM
When a group experiences a crisis together (high-profile death/departure/divorce, clergy misconduct, etc.), how do they find reconciliation? What helps some groups thrive after conflict and others wither? How can leaders help a group in this work?
Laura Simmons taught reconciliation to seminary students for 17 years. She recently gave a preview of this workshop to SCYMF ministers, who encouraged her to bring it to SCYMF as a whole. She is a member of West Hills Friends.