The Way Opens: Stories of Call and Community

Every Friend carries gifts of ministry, though many of us hesitate to name or share them. This interactive workshop invites participants to explore storytelling as a spiritual practice for discerning and strengthening ministry, including forms of public ministry that speak beyond the meeting. Through worship, reflection, and guided storytelling exercises, Friends will practice sharing their…

Workshop Description

Every Friend carries gifts of ministry, though many of us hesitate to name or share them. This interactive workshop invites participants to explore storytelling as a spiritual practice for discerning and strengthening ministry, including forms of public ministry that speak beyond the meeting. Through worship, reflection, and guided storytelling exercises, Friends will practice sharing their experiences of call while learning communal practices such as eldering, accompaniment, and discernment that help sustain ministry.

Participants will have the option to record a short video testimony about their call with guidance from Layla Cuthrell, producer of QuakerSpeak. The workshop will be led by Windy Cooler, convener of the Friends Incubator for Public Ministry, and Layla Cuthrell. Friends will leave with greater clarity about their gifts and practical tools for telling their story of call in ways that deepen connection and accountability within their meetings.

Topics to be Covered

• Naming and discerning a call to ministry: What it feels like, how we test it, and how it changes over time.
• Community support and accountability: Eldering, clearness, accompaniment, and the difference between encouragement and structure.
• The prophetic edge: Speaking truth in love; balancing privacy, intimacy, and accountability.
• Anti-racism in ministry: Recognizing how racism and white supremacy culture affect whose calls are heard and imagining practices of repair.
• Storytelling as spiritual practice: Learning to tell the story of your call in ways that invite connection and deepen understanding.
• Boundaries and aftercare: How ministers and meetings can hold one another with tenderness before, during, and after ministry.

What this workshop will not cover: We will not focus on credentialing, certification, or professional ministry tracks. The emphasis is on Spirit-led discernment and storytelling in community.

Recommendations for Reading No advance reading is required. Friends who wish to prepare may find the following works supportive:

• Brian Drayton, On Living with a Concern for Gospel Ministry
• Vanessa Julye and Donna McDaniel, Fit for Freedom, Not for Friendship
• Marty Grundy, Tall Poppies: Supporting Gifts of Ministry and Eldering in the Religious Society of Friends
• Excerpts or queries from these works may be shared during the workshop, but no formal assignments will be given.

Requests for Participants: Bring a journal, notebook, or laptop for writing. Bring a story or memory of a time you felt called—whether to a ministry, an act of witness, or a small moment of faithfulness in daily life. Comfortable clothes for sitting in circle and moving between small groups. If you wish, bring an object (a book, a letter, a piece of art, etc.) that symbolizes your call or reminds you of a time you felt led. All recording equipment for optional video storytelling will be provided by the leaders.

This workshop is about learning to listen, to speak, and to be heard. As we practice telling our stories of call, we will strengthen our capacity to live more fully as a prophetic people—open to the Light, accountable to one another, and grounded in love that moves outward into the world.

Leader Experience

 

Windy Cooler has led interactive workshops, retreats, and plenaries for Quaker audiences across the United States and internationally, including sessions at yearly meetings, Pendle Hill, Quaker Leadership Center, Woodbrooke, and Friends General Conference. Her facilitation style blends worship, storytelling, and trauma-aware practices that invite deep participation and shared discernment.

 

 

Layla Cuthrell brings extensive experience guiding Friends in storytelling and dialogue through her work as producer of QuakerSpeak. She has facilitated interviews and group conversations with Friends from diverse theological and cultural contexts, creating spaces where participants feel both seen and supported. Together, Windy and Layla have designed workshops and discernment processes through the Friends Incubator for Public Ministry, focusing on nurturing prophetic imagination, practicing accompaniment, and equipping Friends to share their stories of call with confidence and care. Their workshops are highly interactive, balancing worship, presentation, discussion, and experiential practice so that participants leave with both personal insight and practical tools.