FUM's two Belizean pastors-in-training—Clifton Major and Christopher Luben—joined us about four years ago. I was introduced to Clifton by his wife, Athina Major, who taught at Belize Friends School. I had asked Athina for help with organizing a basketball tournament, as part of the Belize Friends Center’s campaign against human trafficking. When Clifton heard about it, he offered to help. I later learned that he was a community organizer who worked with youth groups in the community.
Read MoreFriends United Press received word last week that Renovaré—an international organization dedicated to Christian spiritual formation—will be using The Journal and Major Essays of John Woolman for an upcoming Book Club study. With Richard Foster’s input, Renovaré selected the Phillips Moulton edited version, which Friends United Press publishes. This book club will lead approximately 1,800 people through the study, and it will be facilitated by Dr. Jon Kershner.
Read MoreWith no employees allowed on the Ramallah Friends School campus for a month, no one will be there to do the heavy landscaping work until at least April, after I leave. I won't be able to participate in the installation of the Circle. My disappointment is pretty intense—so much design happens when you actually install. Besides the landscaping, the connections I have been developing with people here are not going to have this last month to deepen.
Read MoreI served as a pastoral minister among Friends for most of my adult life. In preparation for a recent move, I sorted through twenty-three years of sermon files, notes, and manuscripts. This revealed a lot about me and the kind of messages I like to preach—and the kind of messages I avoid.
Read MoreThroughout our history, the people known as Friends (or Quakers) keep rediscovering an essential and enduring truth: There is one who speaks to our most basic needs and most significant hopes—Christ Jesus the Lord. Both individually and communally, we are learning to know and follow the Voice that guides us in the way we should go. Together, we seek to understand and obey that truth which sets us free. As a people, we share in the experience of that powerful life which makes all things new. Maybe you are searching for an authentic and transforming faith and community to call home—if so, come in and join us as we seek to know and follow Christ.
Friends United Meeting commits itself to energize and equip Friends through the power of the Holy Spirit to gather people into fellowships where Jesus Christ is known, loved, and obeyed as Teacher and Lord.