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Friends United Meeting |
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July/August 1999
Transitions
By Johan Maurer
When I began my service at FUM in 1993, we faced many uncertainties in our finances, purpose and public credibility. It might have been overwhelming but for a crucial factor: program work was already under the stewardship of two wise, experienced Friends, Bill Wagoner and Mary Glenn Hadley.
With their hard work, counsel and considerable patience, I was able to take the time to "learn FUM." Even now, six years later, I have plenty more to learn, but neither FUM nor I have the luxury of a static classroom. Bill left the FUM staff in 1996, having already recruited as field staff the Friend (Retha McCutchen) who would eventually be chosen to take his place in World Ministries.
This July we face the reality of Mary Glenn Hadley leaving her Meeting Ministries position after twelve years. (She will become administrator of Raintree Square, a retirement center in New Castle, Indiana.) Counting her time in Kenya, she has given over thirty years of dedicated Christian service to us. Quoting from the General Board's minute of appreciation, "Mary Glenn Hadley's service has been centered in prayer, and we appreciate her sense of urgency in helping Friends and meetings to relearn the importance and vitality of prayer. She has a passion for Friends to recover our zeal for bringing the Gospel to a lost world, and she has modeled the ways that a Quaker leader can communicate this passion to a diverse audience with joy and sensitivity. To our great benefit, she has testified to her experiences of God's healing and overcoming power as she has faced important decisions, accepted challenging assignments, and confronted physical danger."
As in Bill Wagoner's case, we are counting on continued access to Mary Glenn's wisdom and care. We hope that they will always play a role in keeping FUM on track. Mary Glenn has written a book on prayer that we are preparing for publication, so that through its pages she will continue to exercise her teaching ministry among Friends.
Mary Glenn has been deeply involved in the discussions which led to a new vision of Meeting Ministries. In February, the General Board approved a plan which provides for direct participation of yearly meeting superintendents and general secretaries (or other yearly meeting appointees in nonstaffed yearly meetings) in the coordination of Meeting Ministries. This plan will be tested right away as we work together to design the job description for the next Meeting Ministries head and search for the right person to take on that ministry. In the meantime, FUM's own publications coordinator, Barbara Mays, will serve as interim head of Meeting Ministries and ensure that ongoing programs such as the Ambassadors of Christ seminars, Chain of Prayer, and Christian education resources are maintained.
We want to acknowledge another transition right here at Quaker Life. Anne Thomas is ending her Bible study series with this issue; in September, we will welcome Jan Hodson as our new Bible writer. Anne is one of the very best Bible teachers of our time, both as a scholar and as a communicator; it has been a privilege to make her work available to those Friends who have not yet been fortunate enough to hear her in person.
One more transition, this time outside our immediate FUM circle but very
much "in the family": Two months ago, the Right Sharing of World
Resources program left the organizational structure of Friends World Committee
for Consultation and became an independent organization. Colin Saxton
of Northwest Yearly Meeting is its presiding clerk, and Roland Kreager
is continuing to staff its small office in Cincinnati, Ohio. Right Sharing's
grassroots development aid and its economic discipleship education work
are a tiny gem of a program which deserves far more recognition and support
among Friends. As long as poverty exists, may Right Sharing continue to
help Friends pray, learn and respond.
Johan Maurer is general secretary of Friends United Meeting and editor of Quaker Life.
Copyright (c) 1999 Friends United Meeting
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