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Friends United Meeting |
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April 2005
News from Friends United Meeting
General Board Report
Africa Ministries Holds Retreat
A Brand-new Calf Named Retha
Evangelism in Turkana
General Board Explores Russian Mission; Seeks Communication Director
The General Board of Friends United Meeting, meeting in Richmond, Indiana, February 12, 2005, approved an exploration of a new mission field in Electrostal, Russia, which is about 10 kilometers outside of Moscow. There are small Friends communities in Electrostal and Moscow, and the proposed project would be designed to support the growth of Christian fellowship among Friends and attenders in the surrounding area and to provide training in Christian faith and practice. Colin South, FUM’s Director of Global Ministries, will visit Electrostal with Johan Maurer, FUM’s former General Secretary, this spring to investigate the feasibility of this project. Should this exploratory visit result in a positive recommendation, Friends United Meeting will move to appoint an FUM Representative to Russia who would work with the Educational Institute in Electrostal.
In another significant development, the General Board recommended to search for a Director of Communications. This person will oversee the communications projects of FUM, including the Bookstore, press, magazine and Internet, and seek to develop more effective means of sharing the story of FUM’s work with both the constituency and the general public. The increasing emphasis on Global Partnership means that part of the work of the new director will be to assist communication between the various national groups that make up Friends United Meeting.
The Board heard of the appointment of John Muhanji as FUM’s representative for African Ministries, and the search for a new representative for FUM’s North American Ministries to replace Ben Richmond who will be leaving the FUM staff at the conclusion of the FUM Triennial Sessions, July 13-17, 2005. The Board expressed its great interest in incorporating the Africa section of the General Board in overall FUM decisionmaking, particularly in questions that affect their region, such as the appointment of members to the Friends Theological College Board of Governors.
The pricing structure for registrations for the Triennial Sessions in Des Moines, Iowa, was reviewed by the Triennial Planning Committee and significantly revised from the figures that had been published in order to make attendance at the Triennial more accessible for children and youth. These new prices and the online registration form are available through the FUM site.
The Board also approved a budget for the 2005-2006 fiscal year. The budget projects a modest surplus over projected expenses of $1.13 million in FUM’s general fund and $1.78 million in restricted giving. The restricted giving budget includes $300,000 from ASHA (American Schools and Hospitals Abroad), a funding agency of the U.S. State Department to enhance the facilities of the Friends Schools in Ramallah/el-Bireh and of the Lugulu Hospital in Kenya. At the recommendation of the Finance Committee, the Board also decided to use undesignated funds held by the FUM Trustees to pay off debt that FUM had accumulated in the 1990s so that all current contributions will be devoted to meet current program expenses. This action was seen as a vote of confidence in the financial management of FUM in recent years. The Board also extended calls for renewed service to Retha McCutchen as General Secretary, Colin South as Director of Global Ministries and Paul Smith as Director of Financial Services. The executive staff of FUM traditionally work on three-year calls from one Triennial Session to another.
Africa Ministries Holds Retreat
Twenty-three Friends gathered from the various FUM projects in Kenya for a time of prayer, biblical refl ection, fellowship, visioning and recommitment on February 25-27 at St. Mary’s Pastoral Centre in Nakuru, Kenya. The program on Friday evening began with personal sharing of their spiritual gifts and challenges. The weekend continued with in-depth sharing from each of the project sites about the joys and challenges of ministry. The four core priorities of FUM were explored as they relate to the Kenyan context and their specifi c projects. The newly-opened Africa Ministries Offi ce in Kisumu, Kenya received considerable affi rmation of its role as a facilitator and energizer of the ministries of Friends in Africa. At the closing of the weekend, all committed to pray daily for each other’s work, according to a weekly cycle.
On Thursday, December 9, 2004, around suppertime, Friends Theological College became the proud owners of a brand-new calf…thankfully a female this time, daughter of Pauline. Because she arrived on the same day as the FUM General Secretary, she now bears the same name: “Retha.” To the right is a photo of the two of them together. (It looks very sweet, but actually, it’s really hard to photograph a newborn calf — it tries to hop all over and kick or knock over any dignitaries who wish to pose with it.) We at FTC are thankful we managed to get this brief moment of calm recorded on fi lm. Retha’s honored to have a namesake — we think!
By Trish Edwards-Konic
When John Moru was in the United States last fall, I had the chance to interview him. What an inspiration he is! The Spirit of the Living God fl ows through him and falls on all those around him. In our culture, he inspires faith to grow and blossom. In the semi-arid land of Turkana, he also waters faith and inspires it to grow and blossom.
When Turkanan Friends open a new mission fi eld, they go to place where people are traditionally a herding culture, moving from place to place. The fi rst things they do is to provide water through a water bore, open a school and health facility, then provide a meetinghouse where the people can learn about the Living God.
I noticed right away that what John and the others are doing is building little towns in the middle of the semi-arid land — a place where people are assured there is water available, education and health care. But most importantly, they bring the word of God as a Friend, as a Quaker.
I asked him, “How do people come to know that? How do they give up their old understanding of God and come to this new understanding?” What follows is our conversation. John: We normally do evangelism and most of the time, like now; I have a book you have written, On Becoming Friends. I use that to teach them.
Trish: No kidding! Well, that blesses my heart, John, to know my words are in Turkana.
John: I use that book, a book of music and the Bible. So I compare them, make posters of material from how I want the threads to be presented and teach them. I have classes. This is how we make them to be strong in Christian fellowship and also in our meeting.
I have my curriculum. The first lesson is “Choosing the Way,” then, “Dependence,” and “Being Born Again.” Then I begin to teach them “Quaker Faith and Practice.” Then “Giving” and “What Are the Works of the Holy Spirit?” and then “Prayer.” I finish with “Quaker History Now.”
Trish: So, “Quaker History Now,” does that take them outside of Turkana?
John: Yes, where the church begins and who began it, and how they spread it where. They should know how the church came to be in America and how did the Quaker church come to be in Kenya. It came to Kenya in 1902. Now we are the people who bring the Quaker faith to our culture.
Trish: So they begin to understand that you who live in Turkana and I who live in the United States are brothers and sisters. To me, that’s one of the most amazing things about the Christian faith — that we can be brothers and sisters with so many people all over the world. For those in Turkana, people who have just herded in a small area, to get that vision of how they’re connected with people in Kenya and Uganda and the United States and England and Russia and Cuba and Ramallah.
To assist John Moru and other Turkana pastors to bring the Living God to remote areas, send your donations to FUM and mark them for “Turkana.”