Cross-Cultural Connections - Friends World Committee for Consultation Section of the Americas

FWCC Census of Friends Shows Declines, but More Research is Needed

The Friends World Committee for Consultation collects membership data from yearly meetings around the world. Initial research from the most recent 2021 census suggests a decline of 24% in the number of Friends meetings and churches in the United States between 2010 and 2020. In addition, in that 10 year period there was a 12% decline in individual members and attenders, and an undocumented rise in Meetings that have no physical location and are held virtually.

Every ten years, FWCC Section of the Americas assists the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB) to conduct the US Religion Census. This is separate from the federal government’s population census, yet aims to be just as comprehensive in its reporting on religious congregations in the United States. Due to the pandemic, the data collection for the 2020 US Religion Census extended into early 2022.

From November 2021 until January 2022, FWCC gathered data on Friends of all branches throughout the United States. When possible, we received data on local congregations from the Yearly Meeting to which they belong. When that proved difficult, we contacted the local meetings themselves. Among the data we requested were counts of members and attenders. Some meetings reported both of these figures; some only reported one or the other. Some meetings didn’t report any figures at all.

So, here are the important things to keep in mind as we look at this data:

While we did our best to contact Friends, there may be congregations that were not counted.
Much of the data we collected came from Yearly Meeting offices. In some cases, local congregations hadn’t submitted updated counts to those offices for a year or two.
Among some Yearly Meetings that have split in the past ten years, we encountered some confusion about who was keeping track of membership data. We noticed that some meetings we know still exist weren’t reported at all.
FWCC plans to continue this research and analysis in the coming year.

With those things in mind, here is a comparison of the 2010 and 2020 counts for Meetings:

FWCC is raising funds to further this work, identify trends, and build new online resources for Friends. In order to promote healthy growth in the future, Quakers need to understand our truth today.

A version of this article will appear in New York Yearly Meeting’s Spark to be released in September.

Bogert Fund Announces 2022 Grant Recipients for Christian Mysticism Programs

“…I found the guidance and the shared times of reflection and silence profoundly reached me and recalled me to the recognition of the presence of the divine which is around me, within me always. This has been a lasting influence.”

Pendle Hill Participant

“…I learned to leave aside striving and to accept that simply being can be enough, and provide both rest and enrichment,” wrote a participant in Pendle Hill’s 2020 virtual Kairos retreat, “Our world so needs more humans to be able to find the peace Francisco’s Kairos retreat offers: Spirit’s well we can return to and take with us into our lives.”

The Kairos experience these retreatants found so meaningful was led by Francisco Burgos, Pendle Hill’s Executive Director, and held virtually August 20-23, 2020. A substantial part of the funding was provided by the Elizabeth Ann Bogert Memorial Fund for the Study and Practice of Christian Mysticism (Bogert Fund), which is administered by the Friends World Committee for Consultation, Section of the Americas (FWCC Americas).

The annual Pendle Hill Kairos retreats have received such positive responses that the Bogert Fund has helped fund several of them, including in 2022. This year’s retreat is scheduled for July 29-31 and will take place in person on Pendle Hill’s campus in Wallingford, PA. Again led by Francisco Burgos, it will include “extended periods of intentional silence, contemplative reflection on Biblical texts, walking meditation, worship sharing, group chanting/singing to support centering prayer, and individual guidance.” The $1,000 grant from the Bogert Fund will support scholarships and program subsidies so the program is affordable to more potential participants.

The purpose of the Bogert Fund is to support the study and practice of Christian mysticism. Recognizing the rich variety of mystical experience within Christianity, the Bogert Fund understands the mystical element in Christianity to be that aspect of its belief and practices that relates to an immediate and direct sense of the presence of the Divine. The Bogert Fund seeks to further both experiential and scholarly exploration of Christian mysticism.

In 2022, the Bogert Fund also gave grants of $1,000 each to Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW) for virtual Exploring Eco-Spirituality workshops and to Forward in Faithfulness for a Supporting Mystics workshop. Quaker Earthcare Witness seeks to engage new audiences and link eco-spirituality “to the realities of these pandemic times of climate crisis, economic inequality, threatened democracy, and structural racism in an accessible and embodied way.” Hayley Hathaway, QEW’s Communications Coordinator and an experienced workshop leader, will use the Bogert Fund grant to research the foundations of eco-spirituality, plan the workshop, create marketing materials, and offer the workshop virtually to Friends.

Forward in Faithfulness is a ministry of faithfulness, revitalization, and deep listening offered by Johanna Jackson and JT Dorr-Bremme, who carry a Letter of Introduction from Upper Susquehanna Quarterly Meeting in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. The Supporting Mystics workshop they are planning with partial funding from the Bogert Fund will be offered initially to a network of some twenty younger Quaker mystics with whom they have worshiped and who carry gifts of healing, discernment, eldering, prophecy, gentleness, and service. The workshop is designed to encourage a mutually supportive sense of belonging and allow space for participants to share prayer requests and stories about their mystical experiences and practices, including those of transformation.

While all the 2022 grants went to Quaker organizations for experiential programming, the Bogert Fund also supports academic research related to Christian mysticism and provides grants to applicants of many faiths. In 2020 the Bogert Fund helped further research for a book on the mystic Thérèse of Lisieux. The grant recipient, a Sister of the Order of Julian of Norwich, wrote, “I was able to purchase several books which helped directly with this project…. I have been thrilled to find some excellent, very new French scholarship….” The literature she discovered proved useful in furthering the writing of her book.

The Bogert Fund was established in 1983 in memory of Elizabeth Ann Bogert who, while reading William James’s The Varieties of Religious Experience, had a powerful, profound change of consciousness that transformed her life. Previously self-centered, she became sensitive to other’s needs, enrolled in a theological school, and became a Congregational minister and prize-winning painter of mystical scenes. Walter Houston Clark, one of her professors who became her counselor and friend, played a key role in founding the Bogert Fund and working with FWCC to set up its administration. Today, as from the Fund’s inception, a board of five members, three of whom are Quakers, makes decisions regarding grants at their annual meeting in May.

For information on applying for a grant, please see the brochure, available via a link from FWCC’s Our Work webpage. The deadline for 2023 grants is March 1, 2023. Please share this information with scholars, retreat leaders, or anyone you believe might be interested.

FWCC-COAL Report on Working with Right Sharing of World Resources

by Karen Gregorio de Calderon, Coordinator for COAL-FWCC

Right Sharing of World Resources (RSWR), a Quaker nonprofit, came to Guatemala from May 23-29, 2022 to investigate the potential for doing projects in Latin America and using Guatemala as a pilot project. For FWCC-COAL, it was beneficial for us to be a part of the working process for this visit because one of our objectives is to work on joint projects with a community improvement focus with Quaker organizations that wish to do this work in Latin American countries.

RSWR was for many years a program of the Friends World Committee for Consultation, but has now been an independent organization for over 20 years. RSWR works with marginalized women, offering them seed capital so that they can start their own businesses and become productive women, thus changing the lives of themselves and their families. This project would bring great benefits to the people of Guatemala.

How would work be done in Guatemala?

RSWR would work in conjunction with the COOSAJO Savings and Credit Cooperative located in Esquipulas, Chiquimula in eastern Guatemala. With this institution, the pilot project could be executed in the eastern region of the country. The staff of the Cooperative had the opportunity to learn who Quakers are worldwide and the work that Quakers do.

It is important to emphasize that the cooperative already carries out community work in the region with women, the pilot project would be a further development of their work. Two field technicians would be hired, who would form and train the women’s groups and accompany them in their training process, which is similar to RSWR’s work in Sierra Leone and India.

What activities were carried out during the visit?

Meetings with the management of the Guatemalan institution COOSAJO, to learn more about its work, its achievements and its values.
Meeting with the middle managers of the institution to share information about the projects and both organizations.
Meeting with the COOSAJO Board of Directors. We introduced FWCC and RSWR.
Meetings with leading employees of the institution: To learn about their testimony, their achievements and how the institution has been part of the change in their lives with the value of inclusion of women.
Field visits to the villages, where we were able to share with women who need to be taken into account and be benefited.
Meeting with young women leaders: to learn about the work COOSAJO has done with them, providing study scholarships, scholarships to study English, etc.

What did COAL-FWCC contribute during the RSWR visit to Guatemala?

Lodging
Food for two people.
General orientation on the region to be worked in (Statistical data and cultural information)
General information on Quakers in Guatemala, how they are organized and where they are most concentrated in the country and how Quakers work in this area.
Review of the information in PowerPoint and translation of the same, to present it in Spanish to the organization. Focus on the objectives with correct Spanish vocabulary.
Intervention in meetings, when it was necessary to make the idea of RSWR clear.
Support in decision-making processes when help was required.
Clarification of ideas
Accompany RSWR in each planned meeting, to support them in these processes (with the language, with small translations, synthesize the information, etc.)
Lead and facilitate scheduled meetings, to obtain the necessary information from each group.
Work meetings (RSWR-FWCC-COAL) at the end of the day to draw conclusions and learn from each scheduled activity.
Coordinate and manage meetings with Quakers in the region
Coordinate visits to the churches in the region
Coordinate a visit to the largest Friends campus in the Region. National Friends Church.
And the most important thing is that due to the support that can be provided by COAL and the Quakers in the region, Guatemala is a potential country for RSWR to start a pilot project in Latin America and that could later be extended to other countries.

What benefit do local Quakers have with this project?

Job opportunity: One of the benefits is that they will be considered in the process of hiring field facilitators. In other words, when the call to hire people is launched, it will also be sent to the Quakers in the region so that they can apply.
Opportunity for the women of our churches: The women of our Friends Churches will also have the opportunity to be taken into account, to provide them with seed capital, according to the RSWR processes.

What did COAL achieve during the RSWR visit?

First, connecting the affiliated and non-affiliated yearly meetings.

During RSWR’s visit, representatives and leaders from our affiliated and unaffiliated Yearly Meetings were invited to a meeting. At the meeting, the work of FWCC, the work of COAL, the future plans and an invitation to work together were announced. In addition, the RSWR project was presented to them, as a fulfillment of the mission and objectives of FWCC, making our slogan a reality: Connecting friends, crossing cultures and changing lives. This meeting was fruitful; we were together in harmony sharing the love of God that unites us.

Among attendees were:

Ambassadors Friends Monthly Meeting, represented by Susy Ramirez
Holiness Friends Yearly Meeting: With the participation of two representatives to FWCC, Teresa de Hernandez and Abner Garcia. In addition, 4 women leaders from the different churches of the yearly meeting participated.
National Friends Church: It was represented by its president Rigoberto Vargas and by 3 more members of one of the churches. That they are also part of the Shalom Jiréh Organization, who distributed the funds that FWCC collected, for the victims of Hurricanes Eta and Iota
We also achieved the participation of two disabled women entrepreneurs, who have not been supported by other organizations.
Total, we achieved attendance of 16 people.

All attendees were pleased and grateful for having been invited to the meeting and expressed their desire to be taken into account in the process of this project or others that we can work together as a region and as a church through FWCC.

What potential do we have after the RSWR visit to develop other projects with the Guatemalan institution COOSAJO for the benefit of local Quakers and society in general?

The institution has community development programs, with established processes.
Provide entrepreneurship training
They carry out projects to take care of the environment
They design training processes according to the needs of the projects to be worked on.
Provide scholarships to people with limited resources.
They have an agreement with the US embassy for young people who want to study English in a free program. This with the purpose of curbing migration, since Chiquimula is a department bordering Honduras and El Salvador vulnerable to the formation of migrant caravans. There are many bilingual youth who benefited from these programs.
Recruit new interpreter volunteers who already have command of the English language and who serve as interpreters among the international cooperatives.

Conclusions:

FWCC has the opportunity to start a closer relationship with this institution and manage benefits that are possible for our Quaker community. In this way, achieve that the yearly meetings have something in common and gradually break down the communication barrier between them.
An important point to emphasize is that the yearly meetings are interested in working together on projects for the benefit of the community.

[Translation by Diane Zappas and Robin Mohr]

Strengthening our Community of Friends: Visit to the Yearly Meetings of Bolivia

By Karen Gregorio de Calderon, Coordinator of Latin American Programs

In the month of January, God allowed us the privilege of making a visit to the affiliated yearly meetings of Bolivia, with the objective of strengthening our community and sharing the love of God that unites us. It was a wonderful experience to be able to greet the brothers of the different congregations to share with them, in the worship services and multiple scheduled activities, in which we were able to live together in harmony, worship our Lord Jesus Christ, share our cultures and our common heritage. We thank God for this privilege and for what it will allow us to continue doing in the near future with each of the Meetings. We are sure that God will direct the plans for the growth and expansion of his work.

I traveled with Raúl Pérez, member of the Executive Committee of FWCC-Section of the Americas and member of El Salvador Yearly Meeting and Robin Mohr, Executive Secretary for the Section of the Americas. We had the opportunity to visit the yearly meeting annual sessions of INELA Bolivia, the Bolivian Union Friends and the Central Friends yearly meetings.

We particularly want to thank Pr. Gualberto Torrez, of the Iglesia Evangelica Union Boliviana Amigos for his support and taking us to visit some of the rural churches of their yearly meeting.
We also had the opportunity to visit with Friends of Central Yearly Meeting. It was a blessing to share the message of God’s word and participate in the worship services. We thank its president Armando Mamani and the Congregation for the organization of the activities and their development.

The FWCC-COAL deeply thanks the local arrangements committee, who did an excellent job coordinating travel to the different Annual Meeting. They include: Jhoana Ramos, member of the Section’s Nominating Committee, (INELA Peru), Milena Villca, FWCC Executive Committee (Union Boliviana Amigos), Carmen Rosa Paye, (Bolivian Friends Union), Timoteo Choque and family (INELA-Bolivia), Agustina Callejas and family, (INELA Bolivia) Ruben Maydana (INELA Bolivia), and Florentino Ramos and family (INELA Peru). We appreciate and value their support.

Declaration of the Yearly Meeting of the Friends Church (Quakers) in Cuba

Peace is a desire and a necessity for all human beings. It is an essential condition for our personal and communal well-being. For the current moment in Cuba, marked by a crisis situation that affects the most sensitive areas of citizens’ lives, it is becoming something urgent.

Quakers, inspired by the teachings of Jesus, also seek to live and promote peace, through alternative ways, based on the principle of non-violence, to carry out civil justice and work within society to repair wrongs or errors.
Quakers believe in the Peace of Jesus. This Peace is not like what the world gives (John 14:27), from positions of power that exclude the voice of the least in the Kingdom. From this perspective, we Quakers know a Virtue that takes away the occasion of all war, and consequently, we do not support any way to solve conflicts that involves the use of force.

We therefore advocate for dialogue and for our authorities to recognize the tension and overwhelm of a people that feel vulnerable due to the precariousness of their economy, their health and their public services.
Likewise, we consider that the government must promote alternatives to violence in the face of other sectors of the people that, for various reasons, are fueled by positions of hatred that are encouraged from abroad and that in the current context of the crisis that we are experiencing, become breeding grounds for the emergence of violent demonstrations with unpredictable consequences.

We strongly encourage all the implicated parties to seek paths of dialogue that lead to peace and understanding in the future and the future and well-being of our country.

We desire and we work for peace and solidarity. We pray that all people may enjoy this blessing.

This is the time to open spaces for dialogue in the search for an answer to dissatisfaction and a solution to our problems. Let us all seek a common path that leads us to well-being and peaceful coexistence. Conflicts, if we address them with non-violent alternatives, are opportunities to find a peace that shelters all Cubans.

Shared by the Yearly Meeting of the Friends Church in Cuba, July 2021

Hurricane Relief Efforts

The impacts from hurricanes ETA and IOTA continue to affect our Central American neighbors, particularly in Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala. Friends locally have been very active in relief efforts, though they are limited by funds.

FWCC has been raising money to pass along to the Yearly Meetings doing this on-the-ground work. As of mid-January, FWCC has raised over $4,500 for Friends in Central America, in addition to other ongoing fundraising efforts in the United States. We are extremely grateful for those of you who have felt able to support this work!

We continue to pray for those in Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala who are are still suffering. May God also sustain our brothers and sisters who continue to bring aid and assistance to those in need. More detail about the relief efforts is as follows:

In Guatemala

Embajadores (Ambassadors) Friends Monthly Meeting in Chiquimula and Friend Elder Morales (a current member of the Section’s Finance Committee) have been assisting a group of families, most of whom are Quakers.
The Chaplain Team of Holiness Yearly Meeting of Friends is working with Friends from the National Yearly Meeting to bring food, clothing, mattresses, etc. to families in need.
Shalom Jireh (NGO) and FM Vida: This is a well established ministry including a radio station that has been organizing the purchase and distribution of articles for the victims. They work through a network of local church leaders and transportation volunteers who have been working to organize a fair distribution of food, clothing, etc. to at least 200 families.
Junta Nacional Amigos: This national yearly meeting is working through its regional superintendents at two points in the most affected zone.

In Honduras

Junta Nacional Amigos de Honduras: YM president Arody Ruiz and the pastoral teams in District 8 are located in the most affected zone of Honduras and have been working tirelessly. At the beginning of December they placed an order for new beds to be manufactured, to provide along with other needs.
Hno. Bernabé and Maria Felix Sánchez: (Pastors, First Friends Church, Santa Rosa de Copan) These Friends have been working on providing stoves and work tools so that people can continue their basic tasks, cook their own food and begin to earn money again.

In Nicaragua

We are receiving news of the victims in Nicaragua via El Salvador Yearly Meeting, which includes one of the Salvadoran missionary families, Doris Guardado (former FWCC Regional Coordinator) and Alcides Mejia, who continue ministering to their neighbors, despite the storm and looting damage to their home.

If you are able to give financially to support this ongoing work, you can send a check made out to FWCC Americas with Central American Disaster Relief in the memo. To make an immediate online donation, click here and choose Central American Disaster Relief.

Introducing the 2018 Traveling Ministry Corps – Spanish speakers!

The Traveling Ministry Corps has named five new members from Central and South America, and they are preparing to serve your meeting or church. In January, the new cohort will meet in the City of Coroico, Bolivia for training.

Get to know each of them, and invite them to share with your Yearly or Monthly meeting. Remember that it does not have to be a large event but a time to share fellowship and the word of God.

Betriz

My name is Beatriz Apaza. I am a member of INELA Bolivia Yearly Meeting. I have had opportunities to serve in missions, first within the Unión Jeventud Evangèlica Los Amigos in Bolivia. Currently, I am volunteering at the Friends International Bilingual Center, a new project that aims to promote teaching based on Quaker principles in service of church and society as a whole. The search for the will and purposes of God led me to meditate on Faith, Hope and Love (1 Corinthians 13) as eternal principles that allow us to transform our way of seeing and understanding things, being guided by the Spirit Holy to be convinced of the Love of God as the greatest gift that man can have without deserving it.

“Let your dreams be bigger than your fears and let your actions be stronger than your words”

Oscar

My name is Oscar Eduardo Rodriguez Merino. I am 22 years old and I am a member of El Salvador Yearly Meeting. Since I was born, my parents instilled in me values of brotherhood and holiness that helped me to grow as a Christian and as a person in society. I am the son of a pastor. I love working with young people. My passion is to give my whole life to the one who loved me on the cross of Calvary, to surrender in adoration. I am Vice President of the Youth Society Friendly Ambassadors in my country, and member of the district board; Serve, the blessed Jesus said! I am very excited to visit and meet more Friends.

Elvis

My name is Elvis Ivan Calderon Morales. I am 21 years old and I am from the Yearly Meeting Embajadores Amigos of Chiquimula, Guatemala. I am an industrial engineering student, and currently serving as the secretary of the council and president of the youth society of my church. I like to play soccer, to play the guitar; I like to serve, to help people. I am very happy to be part of the FWCC Traveling Ministry Corps and I hope to share with many Friends of the Americas.

Yulieed

My name is Yulieed, I am 20 years old and I belong to the Friends Church of Ciudad Victoria, where I attend regularly with all my family. I am a third year Civil Engineering student and what I most enjoy doing is taking care of my large collection of cacti and succulents, and attending the university where I study. I love to run in the afternoon and be in contact with nature. I am very happy to participate in the Traveling Ministry Corps and in to share my testimony with various Friends around the Americas.

Jonatan

My name is Jonatan Mamani, I am from La Paz, Bolivia, and a member of the INELA Bolivia Yearly Meeting. Since I was a child I have been blessed to be part of the Friends Church and to participate in all of its activities. In the last four years I have been integrating the youth board of UJELAB (Union of Evangelical Youth Friends of Bolivia), visiting rural and some urban churches, and sharing with young people the teachings of the Word of God. All this has been a great experience that the Lord has allowed me to live. Now, as part of the leaders traveling in the CMCA ministry, I have much more to thank God for.

Virginia

My name is Maria Virginia Jalire Pisque. I am 24 years old. I am a member of the Evangelical Friends Church of La Paz, Bolivia. Since I was little I was raised in the Christian life by my parents and grandfather, and I received the call of God at age 15. God has shown me great wonders along the way, showing me my talent in praise, in the solidarity of being able to raise many people internally. I work with people in rural areas, giving help and offering support with the profession of nurse and pharmacist by profession that God proposed. I am now about to finish the career of physiotherapy kinesiology. I believe God showed me these careers so I can help people with limited resources and I feel satisfied because I can talk about the word of God in hospitals.

Introducing the Traveling Ministry Corps

Debbie Humphries

Prophetic ministry

Prophetic listening

Unwritten rules of unprogrammed Quakerism

Spiritual wrestling practices for Quakers

Deepening worship

Debbie Humphries grew up Mormon and came to Quakerism in the early 1990s. Since then she has been a member of Ithaca (NY) Monthly Meeting, Charleston (WV) Monthly Meeting; and currently Hartford (CT) Monthly Meeting. She is currently clerk of the Ministry and Counsel Committee of New England Yearly Meeting. Debbie teaches at the Yale School of Public Health and conducts research on public health nutrition and community health, both in the US and internationally.

Emily Provance

Discernment

Courage

Leadings & Concerns

Supporting ministry

Technology & algorithms in relation to social justice

Spiritual gifts & spiritual authority

Emily Provance is a member of Fifteenth Street Monthly Meeting in New York Yearly Meeting. She is engaged in vari-ous spiritual accompaniment and social media-based minis-tries, and she travels with a minute from her monthly and year-ly meetings. Emily brings workshops and discussions for all ages on a variety of topics in Quaker faith and practice, and she seeks to connect particularly with Friends who may be feeling called into ministry. She tutors children in reading.

Julie Peyton

Science & faith

Bible & Quaker faith

Prophetic ministry

Evangelicals & Quakers

Julie Peyton is a member of West Hills Friends in Portland, OR, where she clerks the EarthCare Committee, and in the past has served as presiding clerk and recording clerk. In Northwest Yearly Meeting, she has served on the Epis-tle Committee, Nominating, and as an FWCC rep. She cares deeply about a core belief of Friends: that we all have access to the same Spirit, the Spirit who was there at the beginning of creation, and the Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures; thus we can listen together and be led together. She teaches chemistry at the college level.

Chuck Schobert

Traveling Across Branches of Quakerism

Prophetic Ministry

Convergent Friends

Spiritual Deepening

Chuck Schobert is a member of Madison (WI) Monthly Meeting, an unprogrammed congregation within Northern Yearly Meeting. Active in his monthly and yearly meeting, he also clerks an FWCC committee that engages Friends about the work of FWCC. In his ministry, God has called him to travel across the diverse branches of Friends, listen-ing with his heart, seeking common ground and the joy of spiritual transformation. He works as a veterinarian.

Click below to download a printable flyer of these biographies:

Traveling Ministry Corps Prepares

“We send them forth on wings of love”: The FWCC Traveling Ministry Corps.

by Chuck Schobert, Member of the 2016-17 Traveling Ministry Corps.

There were seven of us. Four North Americans and three Bolivians. Evangelical and unprogrammed worship styles. Different languages. Cultures. Social attitudes. We spent just over two FULL days together learning about each other’s spiritual journey’s, sharing worship “styles”, singing, trading experiences of traveling in the Quaker ministry, the joys and the pitfalls. We were the inaugural “class” of the Traveling Ministry Corps of the Friends World Committee for Consultation, Section of the America’s (FWCC-SOA). Despite this time together, we all knew the actual training would be in our travels, with God as our teacher.

We had three trainers, and two elders holding us in prayer (one of whom was NYM’s Susan Greenler). The work went prayerfully deep and God was with us throughout. As we grew closer, I felt God becoming nearer. We were often moved to tears, especially when we talked about the divisions among Friends. Those wounds. Our wounds. And yet, much hope……….embracing the opportunities, the possibilities of our common ground to explore what Friends can do as a prophetic people to bridge those divisions. We came to realize that by crossing our own Quaker divisions, we can take that healing knowledge out into a broken world and “be patterns, be examples”. No one pretended THAT would be easy! These Friends are living their faith into action. And I love them all, these sisters and brothers, even though we don’t agree on every thing. In a broken world, our allies in healing will not always be “like us”.

The FWCC Section of the America’s plans to make the Traveling Ministry Corps its major focus in 2017. Rather than organize large meetings requiring many Friends to travel great distances at great expense of money and cost to the environment from airplane travel, the intent is to send out ministers by twos, a minister and an elder as companion, to visit or connect with churches and meeting in the Section over the next five years. After a year, our group will meet again in community, to learn from each other and help train the next “class” of the Traveling Ministry Corps, which we hope to be primarily young adult Friends, if that is God’s will.

Immediately following the training, the biannual Section of the America’s meeting began. This rich time was chock full of plenary talks, worship, singing, committee work, good food and fellowship. In the midst of this meeting, the body held a blessing for the seven ministers. We sat in a ring together in the center of the auditorium, full of Friends in worship. The Clerk of the Section spoke of sending the ministers off from the “ring of fire” and shared his image that we were embarking in “little boats” to carry out the work God gives us. At this point, he invited the rest of the Friends, 100 or so, to lay hands on us and asked people approaching the growing circle to continue to lay hands on the people in front of them, forming concentric circles of humans, holding the seven ministers like a woven basket of concentric human circles, holding our little circle of seven in prayer.

A beautiful blessing, writing by Susan Greenler, was read. We continued in silent prayer for several minutes. The circles created a spiritual, human well that was filled with the Living Water of God and love from our friends. I can’t say exactly what happened, but I was changed. Transformed? The quote from the journal of George Fox came to me: “All things were new, and all the creation gave another smell unto me than before, beyond what words can utter”. So I end with Susan’s blessing and the query that came to me after the blessing: “What just happened?”

BLESSING FOR TRAVELING MINISTRY CORPS

God of compassion,
God of love,
With Christ’s light, and with God’s love,
We send forth these seven traveling ministers, Part of our world community of Friends.

We send them forth on wings of love,
To share the Gospel ministry as they are called and led. As part of our beloved community.

We hold them tenderly in our hearts.
May they be graced with light and love
As they go forth – open vessels, giving and receiving.

May they be open, vulnerable, protected.
Building bridges of faith,
Opening us all to the power of God’s love and Christ’s spirit.

Blessed be.

—Susan Greenler

Introducing the 2017 Traveling Ministry Corps

Congratulations to the inaugural members of the FWCC Traveling Ministry Corps! In the 21st century, inter-visitation is an important way to realize our vision of a thriving and integrated network of Friends woven together in transformative faith.

The South American members are Agustina Callejas, Estefany Vargas, and Hector Castro (National Evangelical Friends Church INELA Bolivia). The North American members are Debbie Humphries (New England YM), Emily Provance (New York YM), Chuck Schobert (Northern YM), and Julie Peyton (Northwest YM).

Over the next two years, the Friends who serve in the Traveling Ministry Corps will visit Friends meetings and churches in yearly meetings other than their own and offer one of the following:

Facilitate a weekend workshop on a topic of mutual interest to the meeting and the minister
Bring a message and organize worship sharing after a weeknight potluck
Attend a regularly scheduled worship service.
Write a letter of encouragement and pastoral care, particularly to meetings who were just outside the travel route or who may be wary of receiving a visitor.

Their initial training retreat will be in March, just before the Section Meeting. More information about each of them will be available soon on our website. In the meantime, if your church or meeting would like to request a visit from any of them, please fill out the form on our website!

Traveling Ministry Corps