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It is safe to say that each one of us was uncomfortable some of the time, and I know for a fact that some Friends came away from the event feeling that it was a “mostly Liberal” gathering, while…

A useful vision statement is sort of like a star to steer by. In the absence of a clearly illuminated path or an easy-to-read road map, a brightly lit star can keep us heading in the right direction. In ministry, when so many options are available to us and so many needs crying for attention, we need some sort of direction to help us stay focused on the work God called us to do. When we live in harmony with our stated vision, we not only see good results—we wind up moving forward together.

There is often a reticence among liberal Friends to be more involved in each other’s lives. I can understand the fear of living under a microscope, but when that fear is taken to an extreme, instead…

Part six of the her “Valiant Sixteen” series: “As I have traveled, I have really appreciated the meetings that have prepared to receive me and my ministry… I have been particularly grateful when my…

As a young person who travels in the ministry, I found it was easy for me to get traveling minutes, and not very difficult to get money, but it was harder to find spiritual nurture. So I decided to…

Part two of “The Landscape of Ministry” series shares advice on spoken ministry. “It is easy to say that these things about elocution are not important, and to a degree that is true. However, reading…

This series on the landscape of Friends ministry provides a context for an evaluation of one’s own ministry / discernment (with the Lord’s assistance) as well as some aids for Elders to perform their…

I don’t think it’s an accident that I am frequently called to ministry between the branches of Friends. As someone who grew up in an evangelical culture but now worships with liberal Friends, I feel…

I decided to try to learn a new kind of ministry: outreach—being welcoming (coming out of a shy and reserved self) and learning how to be strong and steady (while feeling quixotic and pessimistic). I…

One role of the Elder is to look out for anything that takes away from a person’s ministry, emphasizing the strengths and guiding the minister away from shortcomings. Elders are not the enemies of ministers - in fact, Elders work to help ministers grow in their gift and improve.

From the blogger:

I want to reengage with my readers and with contemporary issues with a new series of posts on Jesus’ politics and, specifically, on the politics behind his words and actions in the last week of his prophetic ministry. By ‘politics’ I mean, in general, the relationships a person or a movement or community has with the institutions of power in their culture and with the people who wield that power.

Callid Keefe-Perry in Emergent Village

In part of which he and Faith comes to visit us (yea!):

The last month has been full of work and blessings, and there is much to report. After being able to spend some weeks at home in DC, travel has reemerged as a signature feature of my life and work. In the months ahead, my schedule looks to grow only more intense as I work to strengthen Friends throughout my region and in North America as a whole.

As I understand it, the goal of our work and our life together as Friends is twofold: first, to empower each of us to follow the way or the will of the Divine (as we understand it, to the best of our…

Over in the Guardian (left), a post by a Theo Hobson sure to elicit many comments: If Quakers were more Christian.

My response in the comments:

Hi Theo: your article made it up to QuakerQuaker.org and I see that regulars over there are starting to pop up here. I started the site and the tag line is currently “primitive Christianity Revived again.” There are many of us who think that the original Quaker message is still relevant. There are Friends meetings and churches that are rooted a bit more in the Quaker understanding of gospel but they can be hard to find. If you visit one of these, you’ll certainly hear the Lord’s name and Christian ministry.

At this point “Friends” and “Quakers” mean so many different things depending where you go (and you just experienced one end of the spectrum) that the name is not really descriptive of anything anymore. I written about these sorts of things a lot on my blog, the Quaker Ranter, but here’s one article where I hope liberal Friends don’t simply become a least-common-denominator faith.

Thanks for sharing your observations and stirring the pot a bit. God bless.