ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects on an experience at Belgirate 2009 where a number of individuals in the exploratory event remained in situ in the plenary venue and became the "Remnants", those that are left behind. It explores the theological idea of a "remnant people" and takes the Quaker movement as a case study. The early Quakers sat and waited for a direct experience of the divine: they experienced themselves as a remnant community and were an early influence on the group relations movement. The remnants spent the whole of the inter-group event together, sending no expeditions outside but feeling engaged in the system, welcoming visitors to hear their preoccupations and stories. Quakers emerged from a vacuum caused by the failed attempts of radical groups, such as the Levellers, the Diggers, and the Ranters during the English Civil War, to bring about radical change.
