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Friends United Meeting |
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News from Friends United Meeting
Grace Family Begins Service in Kenya
Join the Chain of Prayer
2004 VBS Project Surpasses Goal
Quaker Devotional On Web
FUM General Board Commissions New Workers
Grace Family Begins Service in Kenya
The newest Friends United Meeting field staff, Eden and James Grace, and their sons Isaiah (8) and Jesse (6) began work in Kenya this fall. After a period of orientation and language study, they will assist in the establishment of the FUM African Ministries Office in Kisumu, Kenya. Together with a Kenyan colleague, they will help facilitate collaborative ministries of the East African yearly meetings, encourage contextually-relevant implementation of the four core priorities of FUM and enable cross-cultural partnerships between North American and East African meetings. The Graces are members of New England Yearly Meeting and are active among Friends and in international Christian concerns. Eden currently serves as FUM’s representative to the World Council of Churches. James brings 25 years experience in business management in the computer industry. In describing their call, they share that:
“We have long desired to raise our boys with a signifi cant cross-cultural experience, as a way of helping them understand themselves as part of God’s wonderful and diverse world. As a family, we are committed to working for global economic and racial justice, through faithfulness to how God is already at work transforming the world. We are led to join with Friends United Meeting to work toward the transformation of relationships between American and East African Quakers, with a vision of global partnerships marked by the Quaker testimonies of community and equality. We feel so privileged to be able to serve in this important ministry, and pray that God will make good use of us during our years in Kenya.”
Eden and James have a deep concern for the spiritual vitality of global Quakerism; they see God calling Friends to new partnerships across cultural, racial and economic divisions. Through their work with FUM, Eden and James will seek to facilitate genuine global partnerships for the sake of Christ’s mission in the world.
Please include them in your prayers as they settle into their new life in Kenya. Contributions for their support should be marked “Graces support” and sent to: Friends United Meeting, 101 Quaker Hill Drive, Richmond, IN 47374-1926.
Dressed in Kenyan garments at the USFWI Triennial this summer, Eden and Jim Grace pose with their sons, Jesse and Isaiah.
We invite your Meeting to participate in the 2005 Friends United Meeting Chain of Prayer which follows the theme of the upcoming FUM Triennial Sessions: “And the Lamb Shall Overcome.” The Chain of Prayer will run from New Year’s Day, January 1, 2005 through Pentecost Sunday, May 15. A positive response to our call to Meetings last year to participate by holding a gathering for prayer on its day found many Meetings praying for the next Meeting in the Chain. Some Meetings were quite creative in communicating with one another; one even sent a video introducing their members and their prayer concerns to the Meeting that was scheduled to pray for it! Pray-ers upheld FUM’s world ministries, and knew that another Meeting was also holding them in prayer. To participate, each Meeting should register, providing a short description of itself and a few prayer concerns. For a January date, return the registration form by December 1. For more information, contact info@fum.org or 101 Quaker Hill Drive, Richmond, IN 47374; phone (765) 962-7573. You may also register online at http://www.fum.org/naministries/ chain_of_prayer.htm.
2004 VBS Project Surpasses Goal
Contributions for FUM’s 2004 VBS project have surpassed the $10,000 mark, which is 25 percent over the goal of $8,000. All money will go toward the cost of a more permanent Lindi Friends School building in Nairobi, Kenya.
Set in the midst of Nairobi’s sprawling Kibera slum, the school serves 200 children. The Kenyan government has promised to provide teachers (and pay their salaries) when the school has a more permanent building. Members of Africa Quaker Vision (AQUAVIS) are committed to help Lindi Friends Meeting eventually develop the school into a “life center” to meet the varied and critical needs of their students. Your Bible School, meeting and individual contributions will make a significant contribution toward the projected cost of $30,000 for the school building. Your contributions have helped open the door to a new way of life for children of Lindi Friends School. FUM is grateful for this support. Remaining contributions can be made with checks payable to Friends United Meeting and addressed to: 2004 VBS Mission Project, Friends United Meeting, 101 Quaker Hill Drive, Richmond IN 47374.
FUM’s weekly devotional and prayer requests are available on the web or as a free subscription email service. Each week, a devotional quotation from a Quaker author (old or new) is posted, plus a few prayer requests related to the world of Friends.
To view, go to our website, http://www.fum.org. Scroll down to the devotional area. To subscribe, enter your email. This replaces the former FUM’s Intercessors’ letter with more timely prayer requests and devotional content.
FUM General Board Commissions New Workers
The Friends United Meeting General Board met in Richmond, Indiana, October 1-2, 2005, with Brent McKinney, Clerk, presiding.
Staff changes were announced. The General Board accepted, with regret, the resignation of Ben Richmond as of July 19, 2005. A search will begin for a new North American Ministries staff person to begin after the Triennial sessions. Two new workers were commissioned who will be ministering on behalf of Friends United Meeting.
Retha McCutchen, general secretary, announced the appointment of Kathy Sawyer as the new Development officer for Friends United Meeting. Kathy has been working with Quaker Life magazine and Friends United Press for the past two years. “I decided to make myself available to God in a new way,” Kathy said. Led by Don Garner, treasurer, Howard Fullerton, clerk of Finance Committee and Paul Smith, FUM’s Director of Financial Services, the Board prayed for Kathy’s new ministry.
Colin South, director of Global Ministries, announced that Eden and James Grace and their children, Isaiah and Jesse, will depart for their assignment as field staff in East Africa, November 2, 2004. The Graces will help to open the new FUM office in Kisumu, Kenya. Led by Colin, Jens Braun, clerk of the Global Ministries committee and Mary Lee Comer, clerk of Western Yearly Meeting, the Board prayed for the Graces new ministry.
Retha McCutchen has begun her three-month sabbatical leave from her position as FUM general secretary. Ben Richmond will be acting general secretary through January 30, 2005.
An ASHA grant has been received to begin the work of upgrading the Lugula Friends Hospital, Kenya. The Finance Committee reported a clean audit for the six-month budget from January-June, 2005.