How Can Spiritual Accompaniment Support Witness?

In this session participants will learn more about how our free Spiritual Accompaniment program can support friends in living our climate witness.

It's often difficult to know where to start when faced with such monumental and complex issues. Our Quaker concern for the Earth and the well-being of all who live in it is deeply rooted in our faith, yet in our 'busy-ness' and the increasing sense of urgency, we can easily lose the spiritual underpinnings of why we do what we do, and how this can uphold and sustain us.

A supportive relationship can help us maintain the connection between our spiritual values and our activities which they motivate. Such a relationship can also nourish and support us as we discern our path and undertake our climate witness.

The climate crisis has its roots in an unjust social and economic system, so any work seeking to change this system could be seen as addressing the climate crisis. Therefore, the support we offer is not only for people who self-identify as stereotypical 'activists', or who overtly focus on environmental issues. Peace and social justice are intrinsically interlinked within the climate justice perspective.

Our witness can take a myriad of forms:

Speaking truth to power (political lobbying, writing letters, and petitions)

Community organizing

Connecting with other linked struggles (refugees, peace, economic inequality)

Additionally, vital supporting roles enable other friends to undertake 'riskier' actions.

Kim Harrison will outline the current Woodbrooke offering, and Linda Murgatroyd will talk about her experience as an accompanier and her hopes for the emerging network.