Small Group One:

"Speaking Truth"

Pretty much all the honest truth telling in the world is done by children.  ~Oliver Wendell

A.    Introduction

This Small Group will focus specifically on what happens when Friends stay near to God and act on their leadings as led by the Spirit. John Woolman and Prudence Crandall are two historic Quaker luminaries who's lives were guided and shaped by speaking truth.  I choose Jimmy Carter as a third example, and living and working at age 81, as an example of a person who believes, lives and acts out of his conviction as Christian and a Baptist.  You may want to consider others as well, it's your choice. (I will include these readings in your Staff Notebooks as well, but you can read (and print) them here as well.

John Woolman      (Click here for Life of John Woolman excerpt.)  
Prudence Crandall  (Click here for excerpt.)

Jimmy Carter           (Click here for excerpt.) 

B.    Content

Highlights To consider:
        Woolman:    1. His early life and feeling unsettled about things he saw that seemed unjust.
                              2. Refusal to create a bill of sale for a slave.
                              3. Woolman's travels "under a concern" for Native Americans and slaves.
                              Note: See Woolman's Journal on retreat, and inserts in Staff Notebook)

        Crandall:      1. Hired first to educate girls from prosperous families in Canterbury, Ct, then later accepted a "Negro" girl that 
                                 caused a huge uproar. What was happening?
                             2. Crandall refused to dismiss the black student, then was fired, then started a school just for "Negro" girls, who 
                                 came from all over New England.
                             3. How she was jailed overnight, then basically run out of town and moved to Kansas. 
                             4. What was at stake here? How did she suffer? Where do you suppose she got her strength from? 

        Carter         1. A person of deep faith who later became the 39 president of the US. After leaving the White House, 
                                he used his notoriety and fame to work with Habitat For Humanity, establish the Carter Center, etc.
                            2. Note how even as a devote Baptist, he now longer could remain a member of the Southern Baptist 
                                Convention because of their extreme views on things. (Being general, here!!)
                            3. How at 81, he still writes (20 books thus far!), travels and witnesses and calls attention to human rights 
                                violations around the world instead of retiring.
                            4. Was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2002, and still teaches Sunday School in his church.

C.    Resources to Consider

Resource Books for staff to use on retreat:
        Prudence Crandall
        The Journal of John Woolman
        The Friendly Story Caravan

Readings to share with children:
        Advertising for a thief, (p.75) in The Friendly Story Caravan
        Friends Against Slavery, (p.26) in Cobblestone publication called "Quakers" 

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