World Gathering of Young Friends

The World Gathering of Young Friends is the name of several gatherings of members of the Friends from North America and Europe.

1985
The WGYF was held in 1985 in Greensboro, North Carolina, on the campus of Guilford College.

Seen as a defining moment for the divided theologies of Quakers around the world. Many participants and organisers went on to take up key roles of leadership in their respective Yearly Meetings. The epistle from the 1985 WGYF and the report of the process of its creation get cited in many Quaker contexts and it makes inspiring reading, whatever one's background may be.

2005
The aim of the World Gathering of Young Friends 2005 was to bring together, at Quaker leaders. They studied and learnt from their heritage, shared their present-day expressions of faith, and tried to discern how British government refused even temporary visas to many attendees from The Friend'' 19 August 2005 Link to Online archive, 26 August 2005 Link to Online archive.

Refused Visas
While the British government refused a large number of visas, in a number of cases these refusals were entirely understandable. In some cases names were given that did not match other documentation, some applications were made late, and some were made to the wrong office. It is highly debatable where the fault lies in many of these cases.

Epistles

 * Epistle from the WGYF in Greensboro, NC, USA, in 1985
 * Epistle from the WGYF in Lancaster, UK, in 2005
 * Epistle from the WGYF in Mombasa, Kenya, in 2005