Vision

The Friends Center is a retreat and con­ference center for outreach for the Christian unprogrammed Quaker­ism of Ohio Yearly Meeting.

The Friends Center expresses OYM’s grounding in Christian faith and its tradition of hospitality for spiritual seekers. Here we can explore, articulate and share an under­standing of Quaker faith and practice which is both unprogrammed and Chris­tian. While that faith is rooted in the ex­perience and writings of earlier Friends, we seek to express it in ways appropriate to the language and conditions of our own time.

The witness of Ohio Yearly Meeting is also shaped by our location, centered in rural eastern Ohio. It is an appropriate setting in which to explore issues affecting rural life and community as they grow out of faith.

Facilities

The central gathering space for the Friends Center is the Morlan, a house ad­jacent to Stillwater Meetinghouse and bor­dering  the campus of Olney Friends School. The Morlan provides meeting and eating space as well as a library and three bed­rooms. Additional rooms for lodging are available in the Mary Davis, the guest house of Olney Friends School. Stillwater Meetinghouse can also be available.

The Friends Center is in a rural setting surrounded by the hills of Belmont County The facilities of Barnesville, a pleasant town of under 5,000, are available within a few minutes’ walk or drive. Attractive, quiet grounds and nearby rural roads are available for walking.

 

Personal Retreats

Take time out from the busyness of your life to accept Jesus’ invitation to “come aside and rest awhile.” Friends have known since our beginning that times of retirement from outward activity nourish the soul and allow us to sink deeper into an awareness of God’s work in our lives. In solitude one can experience with Will­iam Penn that “True silence is... to the spirit, what sleep is to the body, nourish­ment and refreshment.”

A weekend, a day or several days in the solitude of a personal retreat offers time for refreshment of both body and spirit. It provides opportunity to take our lives into the silence before God, to listen more deeply to the Inward Teacher; it opens the way for God’s transforming work in us.

Persons wishing for consultation during their time of retreat may arrange to talk with a Friend experienced in spiritual guidance. Frances Taber, a graduate of Shalem Institute’s Spiritual Guidance Program, who also developed a personal retreat pro­gram at Pendle Hill, is available as her schedule permits.

The Morlan House is available for personal re­treats as the schedule permits. One may enjoy the use of the house alone, or possi­bly with one other retreatant in residence.

Each person will have a private bedroom with a comfortable chair and a writing table. The bath is shared; an additional half-bath is also available. A living room and a library of Quaker and other spiritual books are at the disposal of the retreatant. A patio and swing give oppor­tunity for sitting outdoors.

The retreatant may bring food to prepare in the Friends Center’s fully-equipped kitchen. Al­ternately, arrangements may be made to pick up the noon and evening meals at the Olney School kitchen, with breakfast groceries available in the house.

To schedule a retreat, use contact information below. Cost per day with retreatant bringing food: $25. The cost for a full week is $150. Meals from the Olney kitchen: $6.50 each for lunch and supper. Breakfast food provided at the Friends Center, per day: $3.00.  Two grocery stores are within walking distance.

 

Rentals

The Friends Center will rent space to com­patible groups needing meeting space or facilities for small conferences. Use of the Friends Center for a half day is $20; for a full day, up to 12 hours: $35. Lunch or supper from the Olney School kitchen, by arrangement, costs $6.50 per person.

To arrange for a rental, write

Friends Center Coordinator

61388 Olney Lane

Barnesville, OH  43713

 

Or phone Fran Taber at 740-425-1248.

 

 

Registration Information

 

Each weekend event begins with a meal at 6:30 PM on Friday and ends with a noon meal on Sunday. Please include a $25 deposit for each event with your registration, which can be refunded up to a week before the starting date of the event. If you need to cancel your registration, please phone Fran Taber (740-425-1248).  Requests for single occupancy rooms will be honored, as space is available, for an additional $20 for the weekend.  Scholarship aid is usually available.

 

 

A Weekend Workshop

 

Muslim - Christian Quaker

Experiences of the Living God

 

November 3 - 5, 2006

 

How can we affirm one another? How we can learn from one another as fellow "children of Abraham,” co-inheritors of the path of commitment to the One God?  This is a weekend of exploring how the scriptures and practices of each religious tradition can lead back to dependence on and sustenance by God.  We will look at stories of Abraham in the Bible and the Qur’an, at how Jesus and Muhammad make the presence of God real for their people, and at how Christians and Muslims today seek to walk in the path of righteousness. Attention will focus on sharing experiences of being in the presence of God, of having our lives transformed by that presence, and in that presence imploring God to bring us from where we are to where we ought to be.

 

Leaders. Harold Vogelaar, Pisamai Vogelaar “Mai”, and Ghulam Haider Aasi. 

   Harold Vogelaar lived for over 20 years in the Middle East, teaching for 14 years at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Egypt.  He has a degree in Islamic studies from Columbia Univ. and is currently  teaching at the Lutheran School of Theology (LST) in Chicago .  After the death of his first wife, Dr. Vogelaar married Pisamai Hasanine “Mai” from Thailand. 

    “Mai”  Vogelaar served 24 years in the Thai Dept. of Education with special responsibility for instruction in the Muslim community. She has graduate degrees Mahidol University (Religious Studies) and LST (D.Min.).  She has traveled extensively in SE Asia and now works part time at the Univ. of Chicago’s Lab School..  She and her husband have done numerous workshops on Christian-Muslim relations.

     Ghulam Aasi is Chairperson of Islamic Studies and History of Religions at the American Islamic College, Chicago.  He has advanced degrees in Arabic and Islamic Studies from the Univ of Panjab and  in Religion from Temple Univ., Philadelphia.  Dr. Aasi has a long record of teaching and research in Pakistan, Thailand, and the USA, including at the LST.  He has participated in  the Parliament of the World's Religions and in many interfaith dialogue groups.

 

 

A Structured Sojourn

with

Conservative Friends

March 23—25, 2007

 

Many Conservative Friends believe they can best share their faith by “letting their lives speak.”  Participants will spend two nights as guests in homes of Friends of Stillwater Monthly Meeting, joining their hosts for breakfast and parts of their ordinary lives, including work projects.

 

Time will also be scheduled for Sojourn participants to gather together with the group leaders at the Friends Center for reflection, discussion, and other meals.

 

Groups of 5-12 people who would like to sojourn together may contact the Friends Center to arrange a custom date and to discuss any particular interests the group may have.

 

Leaders may vary depending on date selected.  Possible leaders include Ken Jacobsen, Katharine Jacobsen, Frances Taber, and other OYM members.

 

Cost:  $60/ person

 

 

Register for an event

To propose dates for your own group for a structuired sojourn, phone Fran Taber at 740-425-1248.