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.