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Friends United
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September/October 2007
Sacred Moments by Sylvia Graves, FUM General Secretary
FUM General Board Meets in Plainfield, Indiana
FUM Announces General Fund Campaign
FUM Sunday is November 4
FUM and Quaker Hill Conference Center Workteam, June 29-30, 2007
FUM Triennial Moving Forward
2007 VBS Update
Sister Meetings Bring God's Love to Belize
Sacred
Moments
By Sylvia Graves, General Secretary
The garden is one place I go for reflection and renewal. Some people might call it therapy. While I was anticipating the July FUM General Board retreat and business meeting, God revealed a profound caution as I was working in the garden. Several unwelcome plants had grown between the rows of tomatoes, sweet corn and green beans. One particular plant was really quite beautiful with shades of red in the stems and shiny thick leaves. But I hadn’t planted it there, so I pulled it out. And then it hit me. The idea that “If I didn’t plant it, it must be a weed” could be just the wedge that could drive FUM apart.
During the board retreat, however, that attitude was recognized as a barrier that could prevent God’s Light and Love from keeping us together. When we take our place in an organization with an attitude of “My Way or the Highway,” we just may keep some right and beautiful things from happening. There are many distractions that pop up in our lives that interfere with the healthy growth and nourishment of goodness and righteousness. Yet not all that pops up is a weed.
In 2002 when Dale and I visited the acreage of a Kenyan friend, he showed us his orange and avocado trees, his crop of onions that would be harvested for market and other crops that would be used to feed his family. In the middle of what I call a garden and he called his farm, a tall plant with broad leaves and bold flowers grew which was not like any other plant he had. He commented that he didn’t know what it was, that it had not been planted by him. I recognized it as a very healthy and beautiful hollyhock.
“Hollyhock? You know it?” he asked. “Then I’ll let it stay.”
Let us pray for discernment that we may know the real weeds from the
hollyhocks that God may plant to show us something new and beautiful.
General
Board Meets in Plainfield
The FUM General Board met at the Plainfield (Indiana) meetinghouse July 16–19. Local meetings provided the meals that were well appreciated.
The time began with an “Identity Retreat” which was part of the strategic plan. Facilitators were Johan Maurer (Portland, Oregon), former General Secretary of FUM and Rebecca Mays (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).
The General Board sessions were clerked by Brent McKinney (North Carolina Yearly Meeting). Staff reports were received and approved. Trish Edwards-Konic presented a PowerPoint describing her work as Friend-in-Residence at Ramallah Friends Schools this spring.
The FUM Annual Fund campaign was presented in an engaging PowerPoint presentation and approved by the General Board. The theme selected by staff who believe that we are united is “United? YES!” Red t-shirts with these words were worn by staff members. Watch for the kick-off this fall where you can collect “prayer cards” of staff members in order to fill your campaign brochure.
The budget for 2007–2008 was approved and apprecition was expressed for the reports that were available. The Kaimosi Hospital Task Force shared their findings concerning the running of the hospital since FUM accepted responsibility. Eden Grace has ably been helping with financial reconciliation.
The next General Board meeting, October 11–14, will be hosted by New England Friends Meeting at Woolman Hill Quaker Center in Deerfield, Massachusetts.
FUM
Announces General Fund Campaign
In an atmosphere of support and enthusiasm, the General Board in their meeting on July 20th approved an Annual Fund goal of $210,000 for FUM’s fiscal year 2008 General Operating Fund. This fund includes all of the operational expenses for the Richmond and Africa offices. This amount is to be raised from individuals, in addition to the support received from monthly meetings and yearly meetings.
The theme is “United? YES!”—to care, love, serve, etc. The theme will focus on many areas of ministry and services offered by FUM and supported by staff in Richmond, Indiana and Kisumu, Kenya.
To set the pace, staff members at the Richmond office gave over $5,000
with 100% participation in support of this campaign. Board members asked,
“What can we do to support this campaign? How can we join with staff in
support?” The answer is true for all of us:
• Pray for the campaign and staff.
• Invite staff members to your monthly meeting.
• Donate to this campaign.
• Volunteer to help with mailings, coordinate staff visits to your area,
share the story of FUM with friends and families (remember support often
comes from outside Quaker circles).
• Provide feedback to staff on how the campaign could be improved or how
to better enlist support.
United? YES! is our campaign— staff, general board members, church leaders, all members. It takes team effort, working toward a common vision of “energizing and equipping” the church. For more information about ways to support this campaign, contact Paul Smith, Director of Operations/Richmond at (765) 962-7573. You will receive more exciting information by mail in September.
Learn more about the resources available to you free of charge from FUM. Your support makes the mission of FUM possible. Pastors and clerks, watch your mailboxes for an information packet coming soon! Watch for information to become available online, too—www.fum.org.
Recent
Events at Ramallah Friends Schools
Workers from Western Yearly Meeting participated in the FUM workteam. They worked in the new Welcome Center sorting the many Quaker books collected from various FUM offices. Much work was done outside, including general gardening work, cutting down trees and clearing the trail to the waterfall.
Volunteers were offered lodging at Quaker Hill Conference Center and food was provided by FUM staff members. Mark your calendars now to attend the 2008 FUM workteam. Contact Terri Johns for more information: (765) 962-7573.
The plans for the 2008 FUM Triennial are moving forward under the theme, “A Hope and A Future.” High Point Friends Meeting and School in North Carolina has been selected as the site. Nearby motels and transportation will be available. John Punshon, author of several books, will present the Johnson Lecture. Many workshops on a variety of topics are being scheduled.
Watch for the registration forms and save July 9–13, 2008 on your calendar. Plan to spend time with your international body of Friends.
The 2007 FUM Vacation Bible School (VBS) Mission Project, as of August 17, raised $3,466.60. The goal was set at $8,000 this year for the purchase of a computer and textbooks for the children of Lyndale Home for Girls and Swift-Purscell Boys Home in Jamaica.
Contributions can still be made to this project. Please contact Terri Johns for more information: (765) 962-7573.
2007 FUM VBS Mission Project page
Sister
Meetings Bring God's Love to Belize
By Scott Wagoner
From June 9-16, one meeting from North Carolina Yearly Meeting and one meeting from Indiana Yearly Meeting joined together to witness to God’s love in the beautiful country of Belize. For the last two years, Friends Memorial Church (IYM) and Deep River Friends Meeting (NCYM) have had a “sister meeting” relationship. This relationship was spurred on in part by the fact that Bill Wagoner is the pastor at Friends Memorial Church and his son, Scott Wagoner, pastors Deep River Friends Meeting.
Friends Memorial Church originally had the leading to take a workteam to Belize City and join Mike and Kay Cain in doing necessary repairs to the Belize Friends School. As part of the sister meeting relationship, Deep River Friends was contacted and invited to join Friends Memorial. During this time members of Deep River Friends began examining the possibilities of taking a work team overseas as well. The two meetings got together and soon a missions workteam to Belize City was planned.
Twenty-seven Friends arrived in Belize City to work with Mike and Kay Cain—16 from Deep River Friends and 11 from Friends Memorial. The group had a wonderful diversity and was made up of youth, young adults, middleaged and retired adults. It was also a wonderful mix of talents and abilities. This was very important as the work required a diverse mix of giftedness.
The work on the Belize Friends School had three main focuses: 1) Installing a soffit (eave) around the building so it could be insured; 2) Repairing and putting new tops on the school desks; 3) Putting in a new sidewalk in front of the building. Most of this work was done in the morning and afternoon with all age groups lending a hand. Even some of the students from the school came by to help.
In the afternoon, a team of high-school students, young and older adults traveled to another part of Belize City where a mission church had been established by the Presbyterians. The church is located in an extremely poor part of Belize City and the neighborhood is essentially made up of squatters with homes on stilts.
This afternoon team provided an After-School Program complete with skits, songs, crafts, Bible stories and games. On Monday, we began with near 20 children. By Thursday, almost 50 children were coming to the program. The children were full of energy, love and enthusiasm. They loved singing the songs and jumping all over our high school and young adult participants.
The trip was a wonderful time of experiencing another culture as well as becoming more acquainted with the work of Friends in Belize. Mike and Kay Cain were wonderful hosts and we thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them and the work to which God has called them. Most importantly, the trip was a spiritually transforming experience for everyone and we truly felt that we had been able to do God’s work and bring God’s love to some new friends in the wonderful country of Belize.