Ministry

Helping Prepare Children and Teenagers for Quaker Worship
By Margaret Katranides. Session-by-session breakdown on a First Day School course on waiting worship for teens 13-17 years old.

The Nurture of Women in Salem (NJ) Quarterly Meeting
By Mary Waddington. Stories from a long-running "Women in Transition" support group.

To Lima with Love
A Quaker view on baptism, eucharist and ministry. This is Britain Yearly Meeting's 1987 response to a World Council of Churches "Faith and Order" paper, reprinted on the FGC website by permission.

Creativity, Spirituality and Effective Social Change — Connections
By Margaret Slavin. “So how is it going, people ask me, and what is its purpose? Its purpose is to visit, and to listen. Also I travel with special concerns around our creative gifts (I am a writer) and around the children (there is a connection.) I encourage Friends to bring something they have made. The sharing that is grounded in this way—in quilts, paintings, poems, song, wooden bowls, painted birdhouses—goes deep.” From FGConnections, Summer 2004.

Lessons to Travel By
By Deborah Fisch. “I learned many things that have benefited me not only in travel, but in life in general. They include: don’t take more than you need and you probably don’t need as much as you think you do; remember you have to carry everything you take; check the weather where you are going; layer; allow time for making errors; carry your family with you (in pictures and prayers); seek to be faithful not successful; pray and ask others to pray for your safe travel and faithful service; remember to breathe.” From FGConnections, Summer 2004.

Quaker Finder
By Tommy Gipson. “I wasn’t looking for Quakers, but I found them anyway. Over a year ago, I took a test at beliefnet.com at the prompting of my daughter and the results suggested I was 100 percent Quaker. I admit I knew little about Quakers and associated them, as do so many others, with the Amish. I began exploring the internet and found some excellent web sites introducing me to the wide diversity of Friends today as well as the rich history of Friends.” From FGConnections, Summer 2004.

Visitation in Quaker History
By Margaret Hope Bacon. An overview of traveling ministry. "From our earliest days, Quakers have been a traveling lot... From Mary Fisher to the present, there is a continuing stream of intervisitation, making glad the City of God." From FGConnections, Summer 2004.

Report by David & Virginia Wood on trip to 2003 Minnesota
"Toward the end of the trip we were asked by one of the groups what we had found common about Friends in Minnesota. To that question we responded that we had been struck by the number of young adults within the meetings, by the amount of involvement in social action issues, that the majority of meetings had changed their location within the last couple of years, and that the number of Quakers in Minnesota appears to be increasing."

“Seasoned Friend”
By the FGC Traveling Ministries Committee, 10/2003. “‘Seasoned’ is an old Quaker term expressing the reality of individual Friends whose lives bear witness to their spiritual maturing.”

FGC Religious Education: Lessons for the 21st Century
By Beckey Phipps. "I asked three Friends to share some of their concerns about the spiritual condition of contemporary Friends. In their experience, where did they see that God was leading us? How can we grow a vital Quakerism in the 21st century?" An extended version of an article from FGConnections, Winter 2003.

Report by Deborah Haines on the visit to Kalamazoo Friends Meeting
I have really struggled with the question of whether I am called to a preaching, or at least a “teaching”, ministry. Some of the knowledgeable Friends I have consulted have advised me that a “listening” ministry is far more powerful, and that I should be wary of imposing myself on others by speaking too much. But when I read the Bible, or the works of early Friends, there are words that pierce and burn themselves into my heart, as if they were written in letters of flame. Traveling ministries, November 8-10, 2002.

A Faithful Experiment Blossoms
By Deborah Fisch. "Discernment and faith continue to be key words for the work of the Traveling Ministries Committee and Program. Through God's continuing grace, the TMP, since its inception, has been blessed to be able to help arrange approximately 155 visits by 42 Friends to monthly and yearly meetings, worship groups, and individual Friends living at a distance from other Friends." From FGConnections, Fall 2002.

FGC Letters of Travel and Traveling Minutes
From FGConnections, Fall 2002.
 
Traveling in the Ministry as a Spiritual Companion
By Jean-Marie Barch. "Without question, the experience of being held in the Light by a companion or group of companions while being open to Spirit’s leadings in the discharge of a ministry is like no other experience for me. There is the physical sensation of being attended to, of being spiritually fed which is akin to those deepest moments in a covered meeting when I feel filled and surrounded by God’s grace and love." From FGConnections, Fall 2002.

Ministry Travels in Canada
By Lynne Phillips, Argenta Monthly Meeting, British Columbia.Travel in the ministry, you say? In Canada, you say? Imagine your yearly meeting with members living 8,895 km apart. This is reality for Canadian Yearly Meeting. From FGConnections, Fall 2002.

Quaker House, A Kind of Ministry
By Chuck Fager. "In this latter respect, I think this form of “traveling ministry” is much less like the disinterested labors of John Woolman or Lucretia Mott than those of more recent but also venerable Friends like E. Raymond Wilson or Rufus Jones. Rufus, for instance, traveled uncounted miles among Friends and others drumming up support to get the AFSC off the ground." From FGConnections, Fall 2002.

The Many Gifts I Received from the Traveling Ministries Program
By Vanessa Julye. " was surprised when I received a letter from Deborah Fisch inviting me to participate in FGC’s Traveling Ministry Program (TMP). I spent several weeks discerning if, in fact, I had a ministry. I decided to ask my meeting, Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting (CPMM), to appoint a clearness committee to help me discern: if I had gifts to share with FGC’s Traveling Ministry Program..." From FGConnections, Fall 2002.

Religious Educators as Traveling Ministers? Sure, Why Not Send the Whole Committee!
By Beckey Phipps. "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." From FGConnections, Fall 2002.

Traveling in the Ministry
By Kenneth Sutton. "This experience brought home to me a surprising lesson. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. “Traveling in the ministry” seemed to be all about God, spirituality, faithfulness, and well, ministry. And it is. But it’s also just plain traveling. I’d like to share some observations based on that trip and others." Kenneth Sutton traveled in the ministry in the Fall of 1999.

Travel Among Friends in the Atlantic Provinces of Canada
By Marty Grundy. An account of Marty Grundy's April 2002 trip to worship groups and monthly meetings in eastern Canada on behalf of FGC's Traveling Ministry Program. See also: Travel Among Friends in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, the account of this trip by Charley Basham, who served as spiritual companion and elder on three of the stops on Marty's travels.

Response to The Nature and Purpose of the Church
An October 2001 response by FGC's Christian and Interfaith Relations Committee to a recent paper issued by the World Council of Churches. Part of the WCC's Faith and Order series, "The Nature and Purpose of the Church" sought to "advance ecumenical dialogue by seeking 'to give expression to what the churches can now say together about the nature and purpose of the Church.'"

A Few Passages Relating to Elders and Ministers
Historical quotes about traveling in the ministry prepared by Bob Schmitt, Jan Hoffman, Kenneth Sutton for a 1999 conference.

Traveling in the Ministry
By Jonathan Vogel-Borne. "Over the years Friends Meeting at Cambridge has been blessed by those among us who have felt led to travel in the ministry under a minute from the Monthly Meeting. In recent years, due to the increasing number of requests for travel minutes, the Meeting on Ministry and Counsel has felt a need to clarify the process through which these travel minutes are obtained and exercised."

Report on Visit to Downers Grove Meeting
By Marty Grundy. A traveling ministry report from a November 2001 visit to Downers Grove Meeting in Illinois Yearly Meeting.

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting's "Covenant on Education"
By Tom Hoopes. "As we have stated in Faith and Practice (1997), "whether within the family, monthly meeting, Friends schools and colleges, or the various levels of public education, Friends are committed to an educational experience that balances heart, mind and hand in spiritual wholeness." With the implementation of the "Covenant on Education" we have taken a big step toward letting our lives speak." From FGConnections, Fall 2001.

It's in the Walls
By Mary Beth Hempel. "What Friends schools do in particular is nurture the spirit giving our children a collective opportunity to learn and practice those beliefs we hold most dear. The education is an intentional one that leads children to internalize a way of being. Each Friends school may have a different means of making that happen, but central to all is meeting for worship." From FGConnections, Fall 2001.

Love is Our Subject Matter and our Process
By Karen Stewart. "Emily arrived home from her first year of college last Mother's Day. She and four of her new friends had driven for 20 hours in order to make it to Durham in time to go to meeting for worship. They had wanted a road trip, but they also wanted to visit Emily's community and see for themselves if it was as good as it sounded. They were blown away!" From FGConnections, Fall 2001.

Chena Ridge Monthly Meeting Retreat
Traveling Ministries Program report by Linda Chidsey. "I have traveled in the ministry a fair amount in recent years, leading workshops, retreats and such, however this was the first time a Friends meeting or gathering had explicitly requested a retreat on the subject Christ Jesus. I experienced this retreat as a kind of fulfillment of that recording minute. This was the first time I explicitly was asked to come and be that minister of Christ, serve in this role, extend the gift that had been recorded. And it was received. This was Chena Ridge Friends gift to me." Includes photographs of the February 2001 trip by Chidsey's traveling companion/elder Deborah Fisch.

Traveling Ministries Program in Arkansas/Oklahoma and Traveling in the Ministry--But Not on Horseback
Nancy Middleton's report, "Traveling Ministry Program...," tells of her visit to Arkansas/Oklahoma Quarter of South Central Yearly Meeting in October of 2000. "These conversations often brought to the surface issues and matters of concern which are deeply troubling to Friends. There was a mix of issues that reflected on experiences of Friends within the Quaker community, as well as in their personal lives. It has become clear to me that our Friends communities need to be very attentive to those who struggle with painful personal matters." "Traveling in the Ministry" is by Mary Waddington, her traveling companion and elder for the trip. Both links include a series of photographs of the trip by Mary Waddington.

Selected Bibliography on Ministry and Eldering
Compiled by the Friends General Conference Traveling Ministries Program.

The Ten Commandments: A First Day School Lesson
By Melissa Meyer. "The purpose of this lesson is to familiarize children with one of the most important parts of our religious heritage, the Ten Commandments, and also to foster a searching spirit."

Thinking about Entitlement
By Barbara Greenler. "Many people searched for ways to be exceptions to the rules. The merest suggestion of a rule was too much for some Friends... When asked to respect a rule, the response was 'Oh, I thought it would be okay if I did that.'" From FGConnections, Winter 2001.

Visit to Northern Yearly Meeting
Linda Chidsey's report of her visit to Northern Yearly Meeting's sessions in November 2000.

Ideas for Teaching First Day School
Marsha Holliday has both developed and collected material for use in First Day School Classes and put it altogether as a six-part online pamphlet on teaching the Bible, Quaker history, Quaker faith and practice, Quaker values, how to build community within the monthly meeting, and on encouraging children to experience the mystical. This piece includes lots of great ideas! From the FGC Religious Education committee.

Remarks on Eldering
By Linda Chidsey. The history of Quaker elders and the role of eldering today. "In the beginning, the Quaker movement was fluid and there was no definite membership. There were fanatics and others of questionable personality claiming to be part of the group. It soon was recognized that individuals, well-grounded in the Truth and the Light, were needed to subdue the extravagances of the fanatics and to encourage the spiritually immature... Today the eldering function may occur in the context of the spiritual friendship, spiritual formation or accountability group, the gathering together for study or the practice of individual and corporate disciplines.

Eldering Stories
By Kenneth Sutton. "In this sense of growing into my gifts, I experienced an extended weekend at Pendle Hill in September 1999, "A Gathering of Quaker Ministers and Elders," as an adolescent elder. My experience of this weekend, from the first meeting for worship, was of vocal ministers run amok. A cohort of those I think of as "adolescent elders" rose to this need. If ministers are those who have laid upon them messages for or service to the meeting or the world, then elders are those who nurture and draw forth the ministry, giving attention to both the minister and the meeting."

Minds and Hearts Awakened at FGC Religious Education Conference
By Becky Morehouse. A description of FGC's August 2000 Religious Educators Institute.

A Personal Odyssey Toward Traveling in the Ministry
By Barry Zalph, Louisville MM, Ohio Valley YM. "Five years ago, no one could have convinced me that I should 'travel in the ministry.' As I understood it, traveling ministers had an extraordinary sense of the Divine presence and an undeniable leading to carry their witness to others. Neither of these descriptions fit me at all." From FGConnections, Spring 2000.

FGC's Consultation on "Calling Forth & Nurturing Gifts of Ministry"
On March 17-19, 2000 a gathering of representatives from the affiliated yearly meetings of Friends General Conference took place at Bethany Hills Camp near Nashville, TN. The meeting was arranged by the FGC Traveling Ministries Program (TMP) for the purpose of worshipping together and sharing with each other about recognizing and nurturing gifts of ministry in our meetings. With pieces by Deborah Fisch, Rachel K. Wood, Daphne Davey, Linda Chidsey. From FGConnections, Spring 2000.

Ministry: Learning How Much We Don't Know
By John Calvi. "The most sure way to get yourself into trouble is to offer to be of help. It works most of the time. It's the kind of trouble that teaches the essences of spiritual life and cannot be replaced by reading or prayer." From FGConnections, Spring 2000.

Travel Among Friends
David and Virginia Wood's account of their travel among Friends in Canada in Alaska during the Summer of 1999. "Instead we were greeted by welcoming faces and a body of people eager to hear from us about news of Friends both near and far. We had a deeper understanding of what it means to be an "isolated Friend," to be a part of the wider fellowship of Friends, and to grow in faith by sharing ones faith." Sponsored by FGC's Traveling Ministries Program.

Spiritual and Social Change
by Jennie Sheeks. A look at the intersection between spirituality and a commitment to righting the wrongs in the world: "I began to think about what my goal was in my activism. What future was I hoping for, what was I trying to end? I realized at that point that my goal was to stay true to myself and to my sense of calling. My goal was to live my path, not change the world. Living true to my path was a commitment to manifest love in the world and have faith that love was enough." From FGConnections, Winter 2000.

Nurture of the Teen Group
By Eileen Bagus. Looks at how Community Friends Meeting and Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting work to bring teens into committee work and into the Friends community at large. From FGConnections, Winter 2000.

Ministry and Eldership: Some Definitions
By Liz Yeats. Issues and questions around contemporary ministries. "It also opens many questions for the future about how we can do this more effectively. In what ways should meetings recognize and affirm the God given gifts of members? When members are called to minister, how do Friends support them? What forms will assure appropriate accountability for the use of such gifts? What role do Friends organizations beyond the monthly meeting have in recognizing and supporting ministry?" From FGConnections, Spring 1997.

Making the Stranger Welcome
By Liz Yeats. "When Friends across the continent look back on the 1990's will they say, 'We were blessed with an influx of newcomers, seekers from other traditions, who found an openness in Quaker worship and a faith community in Friends meetings, both small and large?' Or will they say, 'we had many visitors, but few who stayed.'" From FGConnections, Fall 1996.

Nurturing the Nurturers Conference
In March 1999, FGC hosted a conference in South Carolina on "Nurturing the Nurturers." The purposes of the conference was to extend a nurturing hand to the nurturers, to help others learn how to nurture the nurturers, and to generally increase awareness in the Religious Society of Friends about the importance of nurturing and supporting Friends who are performing a variety of ministries in our meetings and the world. Three pieces came out of the confence: Ernie Buscemi's "Lesson Learned"; "Walking Gently Over the Earth at Penn Center," a poem by Penny Wright; and "Healing the Wounds," by Robert Duncan. All three pieces appeared in FGC Connections.

A Seeker Finds Welcome
By Vanessa Julye. A story of a seeker returning to Friends after a long absence: "When I walked into the Race Street Meetinghouse after a 15 year absence from Quaker worship, I felt as if I were returning home. I was warmly received and immediately comfortable." From FGC Connections, Fall 1996.

Reweaving Spiritual Connections
By Deborah Fisch. "In the last six months I have visited several meetings within Friends General Conference. There is a great desire among Friends to feel more spiritually connected, to know what issues other meetings are laboring with and how they go about discerning what they as Friends are called to do." From FGC Connections, Winter 1999.

Characteristics of Healthy Meetings and Worship Groups
By Jan Greene and Marty Walton. A look at what makes a Monthly Meeting healthy: "A healthy meeting has a clear sense of itself and what it is called to do and be. It cares for the spiritual development of all but does not demand that anyone be at any particular place in their development. It recognizes that all are on a journey and are bound to be in different places. It provides a place where it is safe to say, "This is what I truly believe.'" From FGC Connections, Summer 1998.

Cleveland Meeting Nurtures Ministry
By Marty Grundy. An example of a Meeting becoming aware of it's members' gifts of ministry. "In the last few years, some Friends have begun to notice God-given gifts in themselves. With this awareness has come great joy but also the heavy responsibility of using these gifts appropriately." From FGC Connections, Spring 1997.

Responding to Calls to Ministry
By Patricia McBee. How one Meeting developed guidelines for releasing members into the ministry. "In the early 1990's Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting had several requests from members to "release" them or to take specific work "under the care" of the meeting. It became clear we had no consistent process for dealing with these requests and no clear way of discerning the meeting's proper response." From FGC Connections, Spring 1997.

The Gathered & Hungry Meeting
By Ms. Mindful, an advisor on etiquette from Milwaukee Friends Meeting. From FGC Connections, Winter 1997.

Yearly Meeting Supports and is Supported by Ministry
By Allen Oliver and Liz Yeats. How Illinois Yearly Meeting responded to requests from some of it's Monthly Meetings and members to support calls to the ministry. From FGC Connections, Spring 1997.

RELATED RESOURCES

Resources On: Concerns of Ministry and Counsel

Resources On: Advancement and Outreach
From the Resource book for Fostering Vital Friends Meetings

FGC Traveling Directory Form
One of the more popular resources FGC provides is a directory of Friends who open to their homes to Friends traveling through their area. Here's the form to sign up for the new edition.