Religious Education Committee meeting, September 27–29, 2002, hosted by Woodstown (NJ) Monthly Meeting.

uakers are accustomed to the idea of traveling ministers—Friends traveling individually and in pairs, following the promptings of the Spirit. The practice is foundational to our tradition, to our experience of being led to use our gifts in ministry, wherever we may be led. The accounts of traveling ministers of different eras continue to illumine our paths.* In the past few years, the FGC Traveling Ministries Program has responded to the spiritual needs of present-day Friends with a contemporary interpretation of our tradition. New life has been breathed into the Religious Society of Friends through the faithfulness of dozens of Friends.

The variety of ways that Friends reach out to each other in our wider Quaker community is as varied as our gifts of ministry. The FGC Religious Education Committee, for instance, travels to Friends’ meetings en masse. Three times a year! This practice expands our committee’s capabilities for ministering to the Friends we are led to serve. It provides the opportunities to listen carefully to their needs and to respond through the development of FGC Religious Education programs and materials.

The FGC RE Committee meets four weekends each year to conduct our business. Three of those meetings are held in residence with a monthly meeting that serves as our host. Some weeks or months prior to arriving we invite the host meeting to share their concerns with us, within the particular scope of our gifts—religious education. After many years of visiting monthly meetings, we’ve heard common concerns that are widely shared among Friends:

How do we start a First Day School program? For children? For adults? How can we teach the Bible to adults and children? The Old Testament is problematic for many of our adult members, so how can we teach it to our children? How can we create and maintain an inspired roster of First Day School teachers? How do we devise a First Day School program when our children are few and their ages and grade levels are spread widely? How can we create a curriculum that meets the needs of sporadic attenders; how can we be ready no matter who comes through the door? We struggle with making our First Day School meaningful to our Young Friends; how can we prevent them from dropping out in their teen years? What materials are there for teaching our peace testimony to our children?

With these concerns in mind, the RE Committee offers a Saturday evening program, or conversation, for our hosts. After breaking bread together in a potluck, committee members and hosts gather for a period of centering worship. Following worship, we divide into small groups where RE members offer presentations on various aspects of religious education that address our hosts’ concerns. Or sometimes we simply all gather in a circle, sharing broadly of our concerns and experiences.

Drawing on a wide range of teaching experiences, the RE Committee members respond to the concerns we’ve heard by offering specific information and advice about curricula, resources, and ideas for FDS and adult programs. Some members have shared their knowledge about how theories of child development and age-appropriate spiritual development impact First Day School programming. Some have related their experiences teaching intergenerational First Day School for a monthly meeting of 10 Friends (with only 2 children). Others have witnessed to their experience of teaching adults in large, university-town meetings.

The RE Committee’s visit concludes at the rise of meeting for worship on First Day, frequently followed by a farewell, potluck luncheon. Our presence over the weekend often leads to messages during worship on the general theme of religious education, and the particulars of our time together. By sharing our mutual concerns and wisdom during the weekend, a bond has formed among those Friends gathered. And the word “religion” at its root, religio, means “bond.” That which ties us together.

Though not typical of how Friends might imagine traveling in the ministry, this practice of the FGC RE Committee is no less faithful for its innovation. And the experience of traveling among Friends in this manner has proven so mutually enriching. I always come away feeling profound gratitude to God—for the gifts of the Friends who serve on the RE Committee, for the love shared between the committee and our hosts, and for the pure joy of our communion. Together we are the wider Quaker community, the Religious Society of Friends.

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*See Resistance and Obedience to God: Memoirs of David Ferris (1701–1779), about an eighteenth-century Quaker minister, edited by Marty Grundy and published by Quaker Press of FGC in 2001.This publication was sponsored by the Religious Education Committee who helped create a study guide, making the life of minister Ferris a rich resource for adult religious education.

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