Vitality by Rashid Darden

A personal reflection on FGC’s new governance structure, simplicity in Quaker faith, and the enduring spirit of renewal.

For me, a big thing is ‘what does God want me to do?’ And my answer to that is use my work to somehow provide comfort, to somehow improve the lives of other people, to create moments of connection as opposed to ‘How far am I? How much further can I go?’ – Brandon Stanton,…

You may know that the Friends General Conference Staff was in retreat this week at Pendle Hill in Wallingford, Pennsylvania this week.  I am happy to let you know that we have been rejuvenated and given language around our strengths and gifts. Besides letting you know how great our time was with one another, a…

Who’s ready for another reference to “The Wizard of Oz?” At the dawn of the 20th century, two journeys began. In 1900, L. Frank Baum introduced the world to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. That same year, Friends General Conference was born. Both have since spawned countless new versions, remixes, and re-visions. Quakerism, like Oz,…

Last week I shared the stories of two congregations in a major metropolitan area:  my meeting and my childhood church in DC.  I promised that I would discuss how each community could contemplate outreach and growth.  However, I’ll generalize the answers for even further relatability. In one faith community, the neighborhood became largely Spanish speaking….

One thing I recall about growing up churchy in the 1980s and 1990s was that church was typically nearby, part of the community, and, broadly speaking, a family of families. I grew up in the Greater Tried Stone Baptist Church in the Columbia Heights section of Northwest Washington, DC. Established over a hundred years ago, Tried Stone…

Earlier this year, I sent a message comparing the 125th anniversary of the publication of The Wizard of Oz to the 125th anniversary of Friends General Conference, both occurring this year. At the annual sessions of North Carolina Yearly Meeting (Conservative), I continued that idea, reminding Friends that even though the Quaker faith exists in many…

This week, my colleague Johanna alerted me to a poem written by Langston Hughes. It reads, in part: I swear to the LordI still can’t seeWhy Democracy meansEverybody but me. It reminded me of a speech from Frederick Douglass that I am quite familiar with, in which he asks “What, to the slave, is the Fourth of July?” I…

I want to hear from you! Outreach is one of the many things I do with FGC, and I want to hear what you have to say about it. Many Friends confide in me that they are concerned about the future of Quakerism in North America. They say their meetings are shrinking. Well, it’s time…

It’s Pride Month! I am grateful to be a member of a meeting that has wrestled with how to become more welcoming to the LGBTQIA+ community over the years. As a result of years of discernment, my meeting is now a place where I have never doubted whether my sexual orientation would be counted against…

Many of you know by now that I have written a novel called A Peculiar Legacy. It is available at QuakerBooks, which I hope you are already in the habit of supporting. Part of the novel depicts a fictionalized version of Jennie Mustapha, a very real, and very fascinating Black Quaker woman. She spent over 40 years in…