Quakers and Community

Season three of the Quakers Today Podcast begins with the introduction of new co-host Miche McCall (they, them). Along with co-host Peterson Toscano, they unpack the profound questions of faith, activism, and the essence of community.

Meet Quakers Today podcast’s newest team member, Miche McCall. 

Miche is a professional Friend who works to inspire others to live in alignment with Spirit and joy. After a decidedly secular (but beloved) experience at Oberlin College, Miche came to Quakerism through a fellowship with Quaker Voluntary Service in 2019. They graduated with a Masters in Theopoetics and Writing from Earlham School of Religion after finding a passion for the queer undercurrents of Quaker worship and silent performance art. Today, Miche works at Quaker Earthcare Witness and Quakers Today podcast. They are inspired by podcasts, ultimate frisbee, and, more recently, block printing. Miche lives in Brooklyn, New York, with their partner and a dog named Bread.

Being a professional friend means that I get to spend all of my time thinking and worshipping, and learning more about this faith. -Miche McCall

Community, Interconnectedness, and the Quest for Economic Justice

Nathan Kleban shares profound insights from his spiritual journey, emphasizing the transformative power of community living and its impact on personal growth and collective action. Kleban explores his experiences and observations, ranging from the labor dynamics in the Salinas Valley to the complexities of navigating individualism and community needs. He critically addresses the exploitation embedded in global supply chains, urging a conscious reevaluation of our roles within these systems. Through his journey across different communities and his work with the Alternatives to Violence Project and Right Sharing of World Resources, Nathan exemplifies a deep commitment to confronting injustice and fostering relationships that pave the way for meaningful change. 

Read Nathan’s article Move Toward the Suffering: Confronting Economic Injustice Head-On.

A transformative moment for me was living in community. That sense of community was very transformative for me both in learning more about myself and then seeing what we can do together. I just kind of saw myself becoming a lot more alive in those contexts. -Nathan Kleban

Quaker Testimonies as Pathways: Confronting White Supremacy with Equity and Community

Lauren Brownlee, from the Bethesda Friends Meeting in Baltimore Yearly Meeting, delves into the intersection of Quaker principles and racial equity. Drawing on Tema Okun's work on white supremacy culture, Brownlee identifies characteristics such as perfectionism, binary thinking, and urgency that permeate our society and contrasts these with Quaker testimonies like peace, community, and stewardship. She emphasizes the importance of embracing a diversity of perspectives, backgrounds, and worldviews to foster a beloved community grounded in equity and justice. Through a reflective examination of Quaker testimonies, Brownlee advocates for actively engaging in the antidotes to white supremacy culture within Quaker communities and beyond, underscoring the role of discomfort in growth and the necessity of inclusive community building. Lauren Brownlee is the deputy general secretary of Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL).

Lauren Brownlee appears in the QuakerSpeak video, How Quaker Testimonies Can Combat White Supremacy. The full version of this QuakerSpeak video can be found on the YouTube QuakerSpeak channel. Or visit Quakerspeak.com. 

Our community testimony invites us to think about who all is in our community. How do we have expanding overlapping concentric circles of community? And how are we caring uniquely, for each member of our community? -Laureen Brownlee

Reimagining Quaker Faith: Towards an Ecology of Light and Life

Lauren Brownlee reviews