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Friends United Meeting |
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July/August 2001
News from Friends United Meeting
Confronting Wealth and Poverty
The Ambassadors for Christ program will be held November 18-21, 2001, in New York City. Youth, from 10th grade through the second year of college, will confront the seminar theme: "Reconciling Wealth and Poverty with the Gospel."
Rich Swingle, a Quaker actor, will use socio-dramas and the city of New York will serve as a perfect backdrop for the theme. Participants will worship together, visit Quaker projects at the United Nations, do service, and see important sights like Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty and Central Park, plus shows at Radio City Music Hall and a Broadway play.
The $113 registration fee (including workshops, tours and Broadway plays) is due September 7 and the lodging fee of $193 (which covers three nights at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel) is due by October 5.
Sponsored by Friends United Meeting, leadership is provided by Darlene Pittman and Ray Luther of North Carolina Yearly Meeting. For information, contact Ben Richmond at Friends United Meeting.
Fasting and Building: Young Friends in Jamaica
"I did it! I made it through 30 hours starving!!" This enthusiastic response came from Sarita Williams, daughter of Dwaine and Becky Williams, FUM field staff in Jamaica. She and several other teenagers from Highgate Friends Church, Jamaica, had just completed a 30-hour fast to raise money to feed the hungry. The following story is SaritaÕs account of this memorable experience.
"I took Friday off from school and peeled what felt like millions of oranges. We did that for most of the day, then at 4:00 PM we said we would start the fast.
"While everyone was arriving and settling in (boys in the church; girls at Jessica's house), the lights went out. It was pitch black! We played games and tried to do a talent show without stepping on each other or knocking each other over. After about an hour the lights came back on, so we settled down and watched movies. Tired and hungry, we headed to bed at about 11:00 PM. Of course, some of us girls weren't quite ready to go to sleep so we stayed up, played slumber party games, and did oatmeal masques. Later, we heard a loud "bang" from something hitting the roof of the house. At first we were "freaking out," but then we realized it must have been the boys. Finally, at about 1:00 AM we all went to bed.
"The next morning the boys woke up at about 5:00 AM (way too early for us girls) and tried to wake us up by banging on the door, the gate and anything else that would make a noise loud enough to annoy us, the sleeping beauties. Then the boys left to help with chores at Swift-Purscell Boys Home while the girls got up and washed their school uniforms for Monday. When the boys returned and the girls finished their laundry, we loaded the big truck to go to the work site where we were going to help build a house.
"Our building project was to re-build a one-room house that had been destroyed in a hurricane. We were to use the leftover material from the original house, but the boards were infested with termites and full of nails. Some of us spent the day pulling nails while others began building the frame of the house using the better pieces of wood. At about 3:00 PM, tired and dirty, we packed up and headed back to take showers (ladies first, of course!). The boys had to wait for over an hour to get their showers, so they played cards and chess, listened to music, did cartwheels and back flips and various other things to entertain themselves. One of the girls had some Herbal Essence shampoo, and the boys thought it smelled really good, so they all washed their hair with it!
"After showers (we all smelled good), we met at the church to plan the worship service for the next morning. We decided to do a skit about Jesus going into the desert for 40 days and how Satan tempted him to turn the stones into bread (since it related to what we were doing). After this, some watched another movie while others went outside until "Break-Fast," the meal that marked the end of the 30 hours of fasting. At 10:00 PM, we had our feast of dumplings, rice and peas, pizza, jerk chicken, salad, apples, cake and ice cream. I was very hungry and ate too fast, so I started feeling sick. The boys, of course, didn't get sick, and after four plates of food, they still ate cake and ice cream. After eating, everyone went home to get lots of sleep.
"The next morning we led the worship service at church. Ryan talked about the work site, Shauna Kay gave a short devotional, Mandy explained the purpose of the 30-hour fast, and we all told what we learned from our experience. The service went really well. Next year we're planning to invite the youth from all of the Friends churches in Jamaica to participate.
"This was a really great experience for me and taught me that even though it was hard for me to starve for 30 hours, there are people who have been starving for weeks, months and even years. I'm very excited about doing this again next year."
Nandi Friends Move into the 21st Century With a Difference
By John A. Muhanji
Africa Quaker Vision (AQUAVIS) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to evangelize and equip Christian servants with the relevant, necessary skills and knowledge to communicate the gospel of Christ more effectively. Training is based upon Biblical and Practical Management Guidelines (BPMG) and is carried out through lectures, seminars, case studies and discussions.
The goal of AQUAVIS is to equip the Quaker Church in Africa in new spiritual leadership skills and approaches as it moves into the 21st century. This will be facilitated through an integrated approach that progresses from a genuine practice of true Christianity, such as the early Quakers did, to the establishment of professional methods of applying appropriate solutions to African problems.
Many challenges await the Quaker Church, but it must be ready and equipped as Jesus Christ equipped his disciples before his death, resurrection and ascension. AQUAVIS prayer is to strengthen the Quaker church in Africa, especially in Kenya, so that the church can reach other parts of Africa for Jesus.
First Leadership Seminar in Nandi Yearly Meeting
AQUAVIS held its first leadership seminar in Nandi Yearly Meeting on March
17, 2001, which was attended by 54 leaders. In his opening remarks, Julius
Biama, Presiding Clerk of Nandi Yearly Meeting, expressed the need for
all leaders in the yearly meeting to go through such leadership training.
Although he was not aware of what AQUAVIS was going to present, he encouraged
leaders to be attentive in order to learn at least something new in their
leadership. General Superintendent, Solomon Mwanzi, opened in prayer and
thanked God for this opportunity.
The seminar included three sessions:
1. Africa Quaker Vision Introduction by John A. Muhanji, Finance Coordinator for AQUAVIS. I explained the objectives and goals of AQUAVIS, stressing how it is committed to steer the Quaker Church in Africa into the 21st century with new leadership skills in order to cope with the many challenges facing the church today. AQUAVIS is not bringing a new kind of leadership, but is seeking to create an improvement on what leaders already know in order to make them more efficient.
2. Church Growth of the New Testament by Lynnette Kisaka. Lynnette began her presentation by going to the roots of the early Christian church where Jesus was the foundation of the church and was seen as the high priest. Church growth occurred in the early church despite the many challenges. As it grew, it increased in its humbleness before Christ and in its Christlikeness. She also explored some challenges in the church today.
3. Church Leadership in the Early Church by Michael Mbeshi, Project Coordinator. Michael reminded attenders how the early church began in its leadership. He then elaborated on Jesus as the leader of the church and the early church leadership of the Apostles. He concluded with seeing ourselves as leaders.
4. Sunday Sermon by Samson Ababu, Secretary. Given at Tindinyo Friends Church, Samson encouraged members to live in harmony of Christ Jesus and stop blaming one another for what is not their fault.
Response & Way Forward
General Secretary, Fredrick Inyangu, requested AQUAVIS to organize more
seminars on Evangelism and Outreach Mission skills within the yearly meeting.
In response, AQUAVIS agreed to continue offering various leadership seminars
within the region to foster better leadership skills and give the yearly
meeting a new face of organized Quaker leadership in Eastern Africa. AQUAVIS
has agreed to concentrate on this meeting as per their request until they
make progress by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This kind of training
program is what AQUAVIS had planned in its initial formation.
It is a real sacrifice and joy for the AQUAVIS secretariat to move to Nandi Yearly Meeting. The secretariat is composed of Chairman Lotan Migaliza; Secretary Samson Abubu; Finance Coordinator John Muhanji; Training Coordinator Oliver Kisaka; Projects Coordinator Michael Mbeshi; and Program Coordinator Jotham Lubia. Plans are at an advanced stage for the move to serve God through this outreach mission where missionaries can be trained and sent out, and re-create an original missionary oriented church in Nandi. AQUAVIS members have committed their time, money and vehicles, which God has blessed them with, to see that the Quaker church in Africa wakes up beyond its limitations and focuses on this new approach to leadership.
John Muhanji is the Finance Coordinator of AQUAVIS and a banker.
Copyright (c) 2001 Friends United Meeting
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