Uploaded October 2021 | Updated September 2026, 12 hours ago
QuakerSpeak is a bi-weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY!
Learn more about The Listening Project: forwardinfaithfulness.org/listening
SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-Subscribe
WATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos
___
Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28
http://fdsj.nl/FJ-Subscribe
Filming and Editing by Rebecca Hamilton-Levi
Music: Here and Now by Caleb Etheridge
___
Transcript:
Johanna Jackson: So I envision a network of really vibrant, interesting people who have the time to be with one another and who have the courage to name gifts in themselves and with each other and live into that. I've met some people in different generations -- when there's a strong support network for faithfulness, for doing something unusual, then the possibility to live faithfully and beautifully just kind of expands. I want to be part of that.
Envisioning a Strong Future for Quakerism
My name is JT Dorr-Bremme. I use he/him pronouns. I live on Susquehannock land in a town known as Huntingdon, PA. I am associated with a number of different Quaker bodies because I've been a nomad and currently I'm most involved with State College Meeting, Huntingdon Meeting, Upper Susquehanna Quarterly Meeting, and Three Rivers in Massachusetts.
My name is Johanna Jackson. I use she/her pronouns, and I live in State College, PA. I worship with several groups including Three Rivers Worship, Upper Susquehanna, and the State College Meeting.
The Listening Project
The Listening Project is a series of conversations we've had with Friends that are rooted in love. It's a kind of ethnography, so we're listening, we're interviewing, and we hold worship sharing sessions with people we know. It began during the pandemic, and we started listening without any specific questions. We wanted to just hear what people wanted to share about and once we noticed certain trends, those started to deepen once we held more interviews with people.
JT: Some of the things that we've learned from The Listening Project so far includes the fact that there are problems out there that people are not aware of. We started talking with people who are closer to us in age and in social association and we heard from them things that we more or less expected but then when we started to go a little further out to circles that were a bit more distant from us in age, experience, and geography, we discovered that the problems that we had experienced ourselves were a little more widespread and that folks who weren't directly experiencing them were surprised to hear that they existed.
Johanna: I think the most difficult learning that I found was that I and people around me are doing things that specifically contribute to our decline. That makes it hard to sleep at night! Like, I want those things to stop! I want to transform or change, but they only transform or change in certain ways as individuals choose to change behavior, and so now that I know what actions are pushing people away I want to be informed about how to live differently in my life.
Envisioning a Vibrant Future
Johanna: Do you have thoughts on the future of Quakerism?
JT: Good lord do I.
Johanna: [Laughing] I do, too. I have some strong opinions.
JT: [Laughing] Yeah.
Johanna: I want to be part of a group that not only exists but is thriving in thirty years, and I think a lot of our conversations right now are caught up on whether we exist in thirty years, whether we go extinct. I want to be part of a group that's creative and rooted in their bodies and thriving, and becoming more relevant in the world. We have so many gifts to offer and we kind of keep them quiet.
More: fdsj.nl/future
___
The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
QuakerSpeak is a bi-weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY!
Learn more about The Listening Project: forwardinfaithfulness.org/listening
SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-Subscribe
WATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos
___
Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28
http://fdsj.nl/FJ-Subscribe
Filming and Editing by Rebecca Hamilton-Levi
Music: Here and Now by Caleb Etheridge
___
Transcript:
Johanna Jackson: So I envision a network of really vibrant, interesting people who have the time to be with one another and who have the courage to name gifts in themselves and with each other and live into that. I've met some people in different generations -- when there's a strong support network for faithfulness, for doing something unusual, then the possibility to live faithfully and beautifully just kind of expands. I want to be part of that.
Envisioning a Strong Future for Quakerism
My name is JT Dorr-Bremme. I use he/him pronouns. I live on Susquehannock land in a town known as Huntingdon, PA. I am associated with a number of different Quaker bodies because I've been a nomad and currently I'm most involved with State College Meeting, Huntingdon Meeting, Upper Susquehanna Quarterly Meeting, and Three Rivers in Massachusetts.
My name is Johanna Jackson. I use she/her pronouns, and I live in State College, PA. I worship with several groups including Three Rivers Worship, Upper Susquehanna, and the State College Meeting.
The Listening Project
The Listening Project is a series of conversations we've had with Friends that are rooted in love. It's a kind of ethnography, so we're listening, we're interviewing, and we hold worship sharing sessions with people we know. It began during the pandemic, and we started listening without any specific questions. We wanted to just hear what people wanted to share about and once we noticed certain trends, those started to deepen once we held more interviews with people.
JT: Some of the things that we've learned from The Listening Project so far includes the fact that there are problems out there that people are not aware of. We started talking with people who are closer to us in age and in social association and we heard from them things that we more or less expected but then when we started to go a little further out to circles that were a bit more distant from us in age, experience, and geography, we discovered that the problems that we had experienced ourselves were a little more widespread and that folks who weren't directly experiencing them were surprised to hear that they existed.
Johanna: I think the most difficult learning that I found was that I and people around me are doing things that specifically contribute to our decline. That makes it hard to sleep at night! Like, I want those things to stop! I want to transform or change, but they only transform or change in certain ways as individuals choose to change behavior, and so now that I know what actions are pushing people away I want to be informed about how to live differently in my life.
Envisioning a Vibrant Future
Johanna: Do you have thoughts on the future of Quakerism?
JT: Good lord do I.
Johanna: [Laughing] I do, too. I have some strong opinions.
JT: [Laughing] Yeah.
Johanna: I want to be part of a group that not only exists but is thriving in thirty years, and I think a lot of our conversations right now are caught up on whether we exist in thirty years, whether we go extinct. I want to be part of a group that's creative and rooted in their bodies and thriving, and becoming more relevant in the world. We have so many gifts to offer and we kind of keep them quiet.
More: fdsj.nl/future
___
The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
