“Compassionate Communication: Life in Relationship” returns to Pendle Hill, March 2-3, 2019

Pendle Hill has long been a place where people come to learn and hone the skills essential to peacebuilding, to strategic nonviolent resistance to injustice, to organizing spirit-led campaigns for justice, and to feel and express creatively their connection with Spirit.

Below are just a few of many examples of how Pendle Hill nourishes and spreads seeds of peace, justice, and beauty.

Listening deeply to others whose experience is different from our own is perhaps the most fundamental skill for building peace.

Regularly, Pendle Hill sponsors experiential training in Compassionate Listening, from the work of Quaker peacemaker Gene Knudsen Hoffman and Compassionate Communication, based on the Nonviolent Communication principles developed by Marshall Rosenberg. Both enhance participants’ capacity to listen and to hear other people at a deep level without judgment and communicate their own needs clearly in a way in which they can be heard.

AVP attendees working on the “Tree of Violence”

We offer a full complement of workshops to train facilitators in the Alternatives to Violence Project, a program of experiential learning developed by Quakers and incarcerated people over 40 years ago. It has spread into communities across the globe, helping people understand the roots of violence and practice skills that can transform conflict.

We are excited that Beyond Diversity 101 will return again this year. Niyonu Spann and Ingrid Lakey will co-facilitate this five-day intensive interactive workshop that helps people get at the roots of the “isms” as they show up in their own lives and understand better how deeply they are embedded in our society and culture. Beyond blame and guilt, the BD101 process works at developing how we can become co-creators of Beloved Community.

Radical Faithfulness in Action is an ongoing program of three campus residencies coupled with online and community learning. Those already engaged in peace and justice work in the world join with experienced organizer-facilitators and committed people of faith to deepen spiritual practices, build community, and enhance organizing skills to strengthen the resiliency of their witness in the world.

In March, longtime Quaker author and Earth Quaker Action Team leader Eileen Flanagan will guide those seeking more skills in applying nonviolent direct action in social justice campaigns in Upping Your Change Game: Building Skills and Confidence in Nonviolent Direct Action.

Pendle Hill conferences bring people together to focus intently on timely peace and justice issues. Two conferences this fall continue that tradition. Within and Without: Liberation Theology at Work in Social Movements will bring together people whose faith inspires and sustains their work for personal and societal transformation. In December, with the American Friends Service Committee, we will sponsor “What would justice look like?,” an examination of the work of Friends in Palestine over the past 70 years and a look forward to see what Spirit calls us to do now.

For many years, Pendle Hill has encouraged people to explore creativity as a way of finding and expressing their deep connection with Spirit. Our Minnie Jane Artist-in-Residencies support visiting artists working in various media. An extended stay at Pendle Hill and a well-stocked studio help them listen to Spirit and to express that connection creatively – enriching the Pendle Hill community with their presence, and the wider world with their fresh insights and works.

“Altered Book-making” workshop with Jesse White

Organized by Jesse White, Arts and Spirituality Coordinator – whether one-day experiences, weekend workshops, or four-day short courses – our programs all serve to awaken and nourish the inner artist that each of us harbors. In so doing, they bring us closer to the divine and our true selves. Our varied Arts and Spirituality offerings include a monthly open mic poetry coffeehouse, monthly open studio day, and wide-ranging program, including collage, intuitive painting, weaving, writing, songwriting, and beyond.

Several programs in the year ahead will involve artists employing their creative talents in spreading the seeds of justice and peace. For example, Art That Liberates will feature artwork by incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people, the film The Pull of Gravity, and a panel discussion with leaders of organizations helping to create social and spiritual change for people in the justice system through filmmaking, songwriting/working music, and visual arts.

Your gifts of support to the Annual Fund help us continue to spread seeds of peace, justice, and beauty. Thank you!