The clerk of the FUM Board (Sarah Lookabill) has decided that the North American and Caribbean Region of the Board will meet in Richmond from March 6-8, 2025. Rania Maayeh, RFS Head of School and and Kelly Kellum, General Secretary have advised Sarah Lookabill that it is not advisable for the General Board to continue plans to host our Spring meeting in Ramallah, she approved. We did not decide to cancel the planned trip to Ramallah lightly, especially considering the tradition of hosting a General Board meeting at one of our field sites every triennium. The clerk has decided that the North American and Caribbean Region of the Board will meet in Richmond from March 6-8, 2025. Kelly Kellum is currently making arrangements to visit with a much smaller group on a pastoral care and solidarity trip to Ramallah during the first week of April.
Read MoreFriends United Meeting sends Living Letters trips to Cuba annually to experience the life and witness of Cuban Quakerism. We hope to encourage Friends, to worship with Friends in Cuba, and to receive encouragement from Friends on the island. We also hope to bring our Friends in Cuba basic items, like over-the-counter medication. If you would like to send us items to carry with us, you may donate via our Amazon Wish List here: https://bit.ly/FUMCUBA or scan the QR code! We also invite your prayers for safe and fruitful travel January 7-15. Thank you Friends!
Read MoreThe lessons for this Sunday describe signs of God that appear in the midst of everyday life. Joseph was an example of faithfulness, even when the signs he perceived were unclear, even mysterious. When we have been “fed with the bread of tears,” scorned and ridiculed, we long to be restored by God.
Read MoreSeveral years ago, I was inspired by the one of ten in the Gospel account, so I started the spiritual practice of “returning.” On a sheet of paper, I counted my many blessings, identifying places that were transformative in my life and people who have influenced and encouraged me along the way. My list became quite long. Then, when possible, I returned to those places and people to simply say, “Thank you.” I have had opportunities to return to my childhood church in Burundi, teachers, family members, pastors, colleagues, high school, friends, the youth camp where I answered the call to ministry, and other places of blessings.
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.