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Friends United Meeting |
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December 1998
News from Friends United Meeting
Elias Chacour To Keynote FUM Triennial, July 1999
General Board Approves Challenging 1999 Budget
Curriculum and Activities Books Are Selling Well
Elias Chacour To Keynote FUM Triennial, July 1999
Internationally known Palestinian Christian leader and Catholic priest, Fr. Elias Chacour, will be the keynote speaker for the FUM Triennial sessions to be held in Williamsburg, Virginia, July 14-18, 1999.
Chacour was born in Baram, in the upper Galilee, Palestine, to a Christian family in the Melkite Catholic Church. At the age of eight, Israeli authorities evicted his village and eventually destroyed it. After studying in Nazareth and at the Sorbonne in Paris, he was ordained a priest in 1965, and has served in the village of Ibilin ever since, eventually engaging in a remarkable ministry of reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians.
Chacour has built eight public libraries, four youth centers, and a high school for Palestinian Christian, Moslem, and Israeli Jewish youth. He has also developed a summer camp program involving over 4,500 children of different religions from 30 different villages in the Galilee district of Israel.
Chacour's autobiography, Blood Brothers, has been translated into 27 languages. The sequel, We Belong to the Land, has been translated into ten languages. Chacour has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize on numerous occasions, as well as for the Templeton Prize in Religion.
Registration materials for the Triennial will be published in the January/February issue of Quaker Life. More information is available on-line at www.FUM.org.
General Board Approves Challenging 1999 Budget
The October meeting of FUM's General Board approved a 1999 administrative budget with a 3% decrease compared to 1998's budget. The program goals, on the other hand (which pays for field staff and programs, but not home office salaries and expenses) are increasing by 23%, largely reflecting the projected increases in the World Ministries program for 1999.
The 1999 totals: $775,357 in the administrative budget (including World Ministries and Meeting Ministries personnel); $1,331,756 in program goals (including field staff and field expenses). Income is projected at $2,107,711, leaving a predicted surplus of $598.
Board members thoroughly discussed the reasons for FUM's current shortages in administrative income. Many agreed that FUM's financial vocabulary and practices were not as clear as they might be-even to Board members. As a result, the terms "administrative budget" and "program goals" were adopted in place of the former terms "general budget," "field staff budget" and "restricted budget." Staff were challenged to find more ways to communicate the importance of the administrative budget, without reducing the visibility of the program goals which pay for the World Ministries field staff and for such Meeting Ministries programs as the new meetings' seed fund.
In other General Board business, Henry Freeman explained the feasibility study he is conducting for a possible major-gifts campaign or capital campaign for FUM. Barbara Mays brought the Board up to date on Friends United Press-nine books are in development, including such authors as Bill Charland, Randall Wisehart, Rod Routon and Mary Glenn Hadley. Several minor changes in FUM's Organization and Procedure were approved to be forwarded to the Triennial sessions next July.
Presiding clerk Wayne Carter made a very moving report on his travels in East Africa, including his visit to the site of the U.S. Embassy bombing in Nairobi and the damaged offices of the National Council of Churches of Kenya. Johan Maurer reported on his recent visit to Russia and his attendance at the Board meeting of Friends House Moscow.
In her World Ministries report, Retha McCutchen mentioned the importance of finding additional staff to work with the Davises in Kenya, along with other field recruitment priorities, such as Jamaica and Russia. A grant from the Chace Fund Committee (appointed by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting) will enable the Turkana Friends Mission in Kenya to develop a pilot income-generating program of staff housing for Friends Schools; the program includes management training for the Turkana Friends involved. Shortly after the Board meeting, Retha McCutchen left for extensive visitations in Ramallah, Tanzania and Uganda.
Mary Glenn Hadley, reporting for Meeting Ministries, had several pieces of good news for the Board: New curriculum materials (Preparing Hearts and Minds and On Becoming a Friend) are being well received by Friends. Enrollment for the Ambassadors for Christ seminar at the United Nations has surpassed expectations. The Children's Missions Project for 1998 Vacation Bible Schools also more than met its goal, with over $4474.02 received for the Friends Boys School in Belize.
Pastors Intensive Coming
The intensive study, Gaining Confidence as Pastoral Ministers, is coming January 20-23, 1999. Sponsored by Friends United Meeting and hosted by Earlham School of Religion, this study will focus on things pastors may not have learned in seminary but are very important for serving effectively in their meetings. Leadership includes J. Stan Banker, Josh Brown, Della Stanley Green, Jay Marshall, Doug Bennett, David Brock, Curt Shaw, Bob Garris and Frances Kinsey. Costs to the participants include only travel, food and lodging. The event begins at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 20 and will close at noon on Saturday, January 23. For more information, contact Mary Glenn Hadley at (765) 962-7573 or e-mail at Resources@xc.org.
Curriculum and Activities Books Are Selling Well
The new Activities Book, Preparing Hearts and Minds, is selling well, as is the new membership piece, On Becoming a Friend. The activities book, Preparing Hearts and Minds, is available for $17.50 (with notebook); the membership curriculum, On Becoming a Friend, is available for $14.95 (teacher's book) and $5.95 (student book). Order through the Quaker Hill Bookstore, (800) 537-8838.
Copyright (c) 1998 Friends United Meeting
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