Building back better resource

Set up a series of Meetings for Learning

To help people set up a series of Meetings for Learning, we have produced this guide on How to set up the Building back better Meetings for Learning (PDF). Anyone can set up a group of their own, with members of their meeting or wider Quaker community and other people of faith.

The series includes three meetings of 90 minutes. They can be held on Zoom or in person and there is a session plan available for whoever leads each session.

Each meeting centres on three key questions for reflection and discussion. We have also shared a handout containing a number of resources to accompany each meeting. These resources have been shared to help people prepare for each meeting and to embed any learnings or reflections that flow from it.

Handout and session plans

Once your group is ready to begin meeting, the session plans provided on this page will help you explore the different topics in an inclusive and Spirit-led way. Each one is provided in a Word .doc format so you can edit them to suit your group's needs.

The handout provides an overview of the series and includes links to preparatory materials, discussion questions and suggested follow-on work to help integrate learning from the sessions.

• Building back better Meetings for Learning: Handout (PDF)
• This short guide to worship sharing (PDF) may also be useful.

Meeting 1 – Grounding and reflecting

This session plan introduces the series and allows everyone to settle into the space (online or in person) together. The focus of this session will be to reflect on our experience of the COVID-19 pandemic and what we have learned. We will then step into a space of bold imagining to vision the better world we would like to build.

• Building back better Meetings for Learning: Session plan for Meeting 1 (Word .doc)

Meeting 2 – How might Quaker faith guide us?

This session plan allows us to reflect on our faith and Quaker testimonies. As Quakers, our social action is rooted in our faith. Sometimes this is framed as what love requires of us. It is a powerful source of strength and can sustain us as we work to build a better world.

The session plan can be adapted for anyone of faith. Different preparatory reading will need to be sourced to adapt one of the activities.

• Building back better Meetings for Learning: Session plan for Meeting 2 (Word .doc)

Meeting 3 – How can we put our faith into action?

This session plan explores how we move from our testimonies into action or 'witness'. The final session invites us to reflect on whose work we might build upon and what strengths we might offer. In doing so, we explore how we fit within a wider web of communities and struggles.

• Building back better Meetings for Learning: Session plan for Meeting 3 (Word .doc)

Whilst this is the last of the session plans, we encourage groups to continue meeting and reflecting on materials that support and sustain their witness. Take a look at this blog from the 'Making a Difference' group in Bolton Local Meeting for one idea on how to do this.

You can also join the  Quaker Faith in Action mailing list and opt in to the relevant updates to get news of articles, reports and books about Quakers in Britain's work on behalf of Britain Yearly Meeting.

Meeting for Discernment

We have not included a session plan for a Meeting for Discernment in the series. However, some groups may feel there has been a lot of agreement about shared priorities and would like to discern a way forward together. If so, you are welcome to adapt our new economy reading group session plan to support discernment on building back better.

• Leading a Meeting for Discernment to build the new economy session plan (Word .doc)