By Norval Reece, Newtown Monthly Meeting
Quaker Lessons for the 21st Century
Jon Watts, Quaker entrepreneur and online media creator, will speak to Newtown Quaker Meeting about Quakers in the Age of the Internet at 9:45 a.m. at the Quaker Meetinghouse, 219 Court Street, Newtown. Worship based on expectant silence in the manner of Friends will follow at 11:00 a.m.
Jon Watts is a Quaker influencer who has founded multiple successful online Quaker projects, including the QuakerSpeak YouTube channel, Thee Quaker Podcast, and the Daily Quaker Message. He will give a presentation at Newtown Friends Meeting about “Quaker Lessons for the 21st Century” in the rapidly changing world of the internet.
Watts said, “During times of global disruption, threats of violence, and rapidly evolving communication technology, Quakers in the past have had a major impact on society despite their small numbers. On topics like conscientious objector policies, women’s right to vote, and the abolition of slavery, Quakers’ deeply held spiritual convictions of nonviolence, simplicity and equality have found their way into the mainstream cultural conversation.
In today’s age of social media, smartphones, AI, climate change, and interruption to the global order, what guidance does this age-old Quaker wisdom offer us? How are Quakers making themselves heard in our current age of upheaval”.
Jon Watts is a member of Central Philadelphia Friends Meeting in center city, and the executive director of Thee Quaker Podcast, a 21st century Quaker media company. Previously he was the director of the QuakerSpeak project at Friends Publishing Corporation, and a Quaker artist and singer-songwriter. Jon grew up as a Quaker in Richmond, VA and graduated from Guilford College in Greensboro, NC.
Newtown Friends Meeting, co-founded by “Peaceable Kingdom” painter and Quaker minister, Edward Hicks, in 1815, is open to all who wish to attend. First Day Education classes (Sunday School) for all ages begin at 9:45 a.m. and Meeting for Worship begins at 11 a.m. Childcare is provided.