Friends United Meeting’s Director of African Ministries, John Muhanji, will be on a three-month sabbatical leave from March through May. During this time he will be a scholar-in-residence at Pendle Hill Study and Retreat Center in Pennsylvania for ten weeks, during which he will be able to share in the daily rhythm of learning, work, and worship with other program leaders and scholars. His main objective is to showcase the African voice in Quaker theology. In his absence all office and farm operations will be taken care of by the able staff at the FUM Africa Ministries Office. We wish John well as he takes time away to re-energize and hope that the time spent at Pendle Hill will give him access to experiences he would never be able to come across within his area of jurisdiction, and that the knowledge acquired during the program will be shared through written journals for the Quaker audience.
Read MoreThe FUM Sustainability Committee together with FUM staff at large are pleased to welcome John Kibet Sitienei who is joining the team in the capacity of Farm Manager at the FUM Ambwere Farm in Kitale, Kenya. John comes in with vast experience in farm technical operations. He holds a Masters in Seed Science Technology from University of Eldoret and has been privileged to work with Kenya Seed Company among other prestigious seed production companies in Kenya. He has made various achievements in his career and has worked as a team player level as well as a manager. Apart from farm operations he enjoys spending time with his his wife and four children. We wish him well as he joins the team in this third season of planting at the FUM Ambwere Farm.
Read MoreDuring the recent gathering of the General Board, FUM’s General Secretary, Kelly Kellum announced the resignation of Oscar and Miriam Mmbali, who serve as our field-staff in Belize. Seven years ago, Oscar accepted the call to serve in Belize as FUM’s church planting pastor. When Oscar and Miriam were married, she joined him in the ministry. In 2024, Oscar became the director of FUM-Belize.
Read MoreJohn 15:1-4 (NIV)15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. When I read about pruning it reminds me of a time when my grandfather would send us to his coffee farm to help him prune the coffee bushes. In preparation, would sharpen the pruning saw and the pruning shears and head to the farm...
Read More“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15: 7 ESV) My father depended on a small-scale farm he owned to provide for his family. As a child, I saw how he struggled to plough, plant, tend and harvest his maize crop amidst constantly changing weather patterns. Each year, he trusted in God to get just the right kind of harvest to feed and clothe his family, keep his five children in school and sustain his calling as a Quaker pastor. Every evening before we read scriptures and prayed, Dad impressed on us to trust in God and focus on our education in order to change our family’s fortune...
Read MoreThroughout our history, the people known as Friends (or Quakers) keep rediscovering an essential and enduring truth: There is one who speaks to our most basic needs and most significant hopes—Christ Jesus the Lord. Both individually and communally, we are learning to know and follow the Voice that guides us in the way we should go. Together, we seek to understand and obey that truth which sets us free. As a people, we share in the experience of that powerful life which makes all things new. Maybe you are searching for an authentic and transforming faith and community to call home—if so, come in and join us as we seek to know and follow Christ.
Friends United Meeting commits itself to energize and equip Friends through the power of the Holy Spirit to gather people into fellowships where Jesus Christ is known, loved, and obeyed as Teacher and Lord.