Speaking as a younger person, I think my generation has a broader perspective to offer. We have grown up in a globalized world, traveled more broadly than previous generations have at our age, and been more exposed to the rich (and sometimes frightening) diversity that exists in our world. We have always had to negotiate the tensions of that diversity and I think herein lies the value we offer older generations: we have had to be in dialogue with very different people and still stand strong in our own sense of who we are. We have seen the value of that dialogue and the willingness for it, it's pushed us to a new place of faith. It is a faith that though this world too often fights because of such difference in lifestyle and perspective, there is a possibility for peace-making by sitting down with difference and listening to the "other"'s story. The younger generations have both the tools and knowledge to do this without concerns for distance (both geographically and ideologically).

I want to say though what the older generations can offer the younger, because without an exchange we don't really have a functional relationship. The biggest need younger generations have (atleast this is true for myself and my F/friends), is helping in discernment. We are looking for clarity in determining the work we are Called to, the relationships we enter into, and the lifestyle we build. We are allergic to instructive answers to these questions, but wide open to processes that can help further our own thoughts and clarity about these questions. Clearness committees come to mind as a vital tool. Also, naming our gifts and offering new perspectives of our character is invaluable. If we could have more of this going on between generations, I think there would be less of that "missing generation" of 20-somethings in the church.

Also I want to say how important it is to have some formal ways to establish relationship between generations. In particular, intentional spiritual friendships have been crucial to my own inter-generational relationships (there are a number of pamphlets written on this practice).

Thankyou for having this discussion.

Four years ago at an annual meeting of the Quakers Uniting in Publications (QUIP) the gathering was taken to task by a young Friend who said that in general older Friends did not engage with younger Friends in a serious or meaningful way. I took the message seriously and when I returned to my Meeting I began to try and engage more with younger Friends.

Since that time my Meeting has had an influx of 20 to 30 something year old Friends and it has enriched our Meeting in many ways. One area that our young Friends have engaged us is by questioning the nature of our Meeting's involvement with the inner city neighborhood in which our Meetinghouse is located. The young Friends have also initiated dialogues between themselves and the older Friends in our Meeting and inter-visitation with young Friends from other Meetings in the Bay Area.

In the wider Quaker world I have witnessed the work of the editorial board of the Quaker Youth Book project
sponsored by QUIP. The editorial board consists of younger Friends from across the vast spectrum of Quaker theology,from the Evangelical Friends to Universalist Friends. The work they do sometimes involves very serious discussions around the disagreements over particular doctrinal stances that their particular branch of the Quaker family holds. They have held those conversations in a tender and loving way, acknowledging their differences, and working on reaching a common language where the underlying Truth brings them into a mutual and sympathetic understanding of one another.

It is my hope that the wider Quaker world will learn from our young Friends example that the first step in coming to understand the differences we hold as Friends begins with gathering together in a respectful, loving way so that we may talk about those beliefs we have in common and how we may work together in those areas, and in those areas where we seem to hold diametrically opposing views how we can in a tender and loving way discuss our differences, speaking to that of God within each of us, so that we recognize our strengths and weaknesses as human beings and seek ways in which can keep the communications open.