Dear brothers and sisters in Truth, The past month has involved a lot of travel. From Flint, Michigan to Atlanta, Georgia, I have been all over the eastern United States visiting Friends and seeking to nurture the life of Christ in the communities I have visited. As is so often the case, I have surely…
One phrase that has deep meaning in the Quaker community is, “under the care.” Friends often employ this term in sentences such as, “Sarah’s ministry is under the care of Ministry and Oversight,” or, “James and Rachel’s marriage is under the care of the Meeting.” Most commonly, when Friends speak of something being under the…
I recently received an email from an American Quaker who had read my recent post, Freelance Ministry or the Body of Christ? They wrote:“I am totally in agreement with what you advocate — and my behaviors as minister among Friends are strictly Lone Ranger-mode. It’s not only my culture, it’s how I survived childhood. Those…
One of the most obvious features of the early Quaker movement was its emphasis on the spiritual reality of the Holy Spirit, preferring it to outward forms and holidays that the Church had long observed to call attention to these spiritual realities. In seventeenth-century England, these forms were abused horrendously, with the state church demanding…
Now you are the Body of Christ and individually members of it. – 1 Corinthians 12:27 Since becoming a Christian in the Quaker tradition, I have witnessed the wide range of character of many different congregations. There are the obvious differences, like attendance, geography and theology. There are differences in class background, age and the…
This weekend, Faith and I traveled out to southeastern Ohio to attend a retreat for Friends with a call to gospel ministry or eldership. The retreat was held at the Friends Center of Ohio Yearly Meeting, near Stillwater Meeting House. Our facilitators for the weekend were Brian Drayton and Jan Hoffman, both ministers from New…
In June of 2008, I attended the General Gathering of Conservative Friends in Barnesville, Ohio. This gathering, sponsored by Friends in Ohio Yearly Meeting, was one of my first interactions with the Conservative Quaker stream. Though I learned much and saw many new things at this gathering, there is one moment that stands out for…