As of 15 May, 2015, little more than two weeks had passed since the first earthquake in Nepal. A second quake hit two days before and the ground is still trembling. According to one of Evangelical Friends Mission’s (EFM) missionaries in Kathmandu, the aftershocks numbered 169 as of last Saturday, May 9.
Hundreds of thousands of people have left Kathmandu for fear of epidemic outbreaks. There are still widespread shortages of food, water, and shelter. EFM is seeing pictures like the one above from more remote and hard to reach areas.
Quaker Religious Education Collaborative (QREC) is a grassroots network of Friends holding a sense of stewardship for life-long spiritual formation through Quaker religious education. We welcome Friends from all branches of our international Quaker family. The Collaborative formed in April 2014 and since then has grown to
- more than 175 members from - 19 yearly meetings across - 3 countries.
The 31st Beethoven Letter – John Calvi, May 2015 Dear Friend, Good work continues and I am well used still, after all these years. I have just returned from work with tortured refugees in North Carolina, a stop in Texas for final edits on my 2nd book How Far Have You Traveled? due out next month, and soon will teach near Boston. We celebrate the 10th year of The Quaker Initiative to End Torture- QUIT! ...
COMING INTO BEING: WAY OF THE SPIRIT by Marge Abbott and Christine Betz Hall
We love the Pacific Northwest: the community of Friends here: the beauty of the mountains and the seas, and so much more. Friends here are few in number compared to the Midwest or East Coast and our numbers can feel even smaller when you realize we are split between two different yearly meetings which are on nearly opposite ends of the Quaker spectrum. Perhaps pushed a bit by such circumstance, some of us have been able to build rich connections with “the other” Friends and have been nourished by such connections.
Martin Kelley wrote in a March 2015 appeal for QuakerQuaker:
"It's hard to believe, but this summer will mark the 10 year anniversary of QuakerQuaker. Isolated Friends had started blogging a few years earlier but the scene was exploding. It seemed as if some fascinating new blog started every week. And the aggregate was growing into something more--a conversation, a community. We were finding ways to talk about spirituality out loud with Friends from across the Quaker spectrum, growing in our own faith as we grew past stereotypes and built bridges.
"By the summer of 2005 the 'Quaker blogosphere' was getting too large for casual readers to follow easily. What grew into QuakerQuaker began as a daily index to the conversation.
Allison Randall (NEYM) writes, "I find this Releasing Ministry Alliance extremely exciting. For decades I did not have the money to carry out my ministry, and was always so happy and grateful for personal donations or scholarships that came my way. I have always thought there should be some central way for Quakers who have plenty of money to hear about those Quakers who are trying to carry out a ministry and don’t have the money to do it. Releasing Ministry Alliance has now come up with a method in which to do just that!
Ashley Wilcox is a member and recorded minister of Freedom Friends Church and a sojourning member of Atlanta Friends Meeting. She wrote these reflections after traveling to visit North Carolina Yearly Meeting (Conservative) annual sessions in 2012. This is a revised version of a post on her blog, www.questforadequacy.blogspot.com.
Traveling ministry is expensive. I believe that Friends have misunderstood our tradition of "free gospel ministry" as ministry with no cost. There is always a cost and, right now, most of that cost is falling on the traveling ministers.
I have been fortunate to receive many grants and scholarships from Friends in doing traveling ministry, as well as donations from individuals. However, I have always lost money when I have done traveling ministry.
Releasing Ministry Alliance is happy to announce that we were a 2014 recipient of a Lyman Fund grant. We hope that Charlotte's story of supporting ministry as a mininstry in itself will inspire others.
It does not take a lot to release ministry. First one becomes aware of an inward nudge, a spiritual leading to do so. Second one asks for divine guidance. Third one begins with small steps and moves gradually as way opens.
This letter by Vanessa Julye's Support Committee illustrates one approach that Friends take towards supporting their ministries. Releasing Ministry Alliance aims to be a tool for furthering this kind of support.
Dear Friends,
I write to you on behalf of Vanessa Julye’s Support Committee to ask you for a financial contribution to the Ministry of Helping the Religious Society of Friends to Become Welcoming to People of Color. Vanessa carries this ministry on behalf of Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting.
During my twenties, I searched for a deeper understanding of reality and discovered a Light that infused me and everything. I learned ways to open to daily communion and communication with God, then began to teach others how to do the same. Among Quakers I found a spiritual community supportive of someone receiving direct guidance from God. Soon, among Friends, I was traveling to speak at Quaker meetings, helping to convene gatherings on Worship, Ministry, and Eldering, and leading a class on writing a spiritual autobiography. In 1996 I was a co-facilitator for a Pendle Hill weekend gathering.
little more than two weeks had passed since the first earthquake in Nepal. A second quake hit two days before and the ground is still trembling. According to one of Evangelical Friends Mission’s (EFM) missionaries in Kathmandu, the aftershocks numbered 169 as of last Saturday, May 9.
Martin Kelley wrote in a March 2015 appeal for QuakerQuaker:
not have the money to carry out my ministry, and was always so happy and grateful for personal donations or scholarships that came my way. I have always thought there should be some central way for Quakers who have plenty of money to hear about those Quakers who are trying to carry out a ministry and don’t have the money to do it. Releasing Ministry Alliance has now come up with a method in which to do just that!
Ashley Wilcox is a member and recorded minister of Freedom Friends Church and a sojourning member of Atlanta Friends Meeting. She wrote these reflections after traveling to visit North Carolina Yearly Meeting (Conservative) annual sessions in 2012. This is a revised version of a post on her blog, 
Releasing Ministry Alliance is happy to announce that we were a 2014 recipient of a Lyman Fund grant. We hope that Charlotte's story of supporting ministry as a mininstry in itself will inspire others.
This letter by Vanessa Julye's Support Committee illustrates one approach that Friends take towards supporting their ministries. Releasing Ministry Alliance aims to be a tool for furthering this kind of support.
During my twenties, I searched for a deeper understanding of reality and discovered a Light that infused me and everything. I learned ways to open to daily communion and communication with God, then began to teach others how to do the same. Among Quakers I found a spiritual community supportive of someone receiving direct guidance from God. Soon, among Friends, I was traveling to speak at Quaker meetings, helping to convene gatherings on Worship, Ministry, and Eldering, and leading a class on writing a spiritual autobiography. In 1996 I was a co-facilitator for a Pendle Hill weekend gathering.