FUM News

Board Makes Changes to NAM Committee

At the March meeting of the Friends United Meeting General Board, North American and Caribbean section, board members agreed to changes in the work assigned to the North American Ministries committee of the board. Previously, the North American Ministries Committee was responsible for four FUM programs: Stoking the Fire, African Friends in North America (AFNA), Flourishing Friends, and Unleashing the Power.

Report from the FUM General Board

Friends United Meeting’s General Board met in person and via Zoom from March 6–8, 2025. The meetings started with a development session led by Colin Saxton, Director of Church Relations and Stewardship Theologian for Everence Financial Services. Colin initiated a discussion on how Everence could further build financial capacity within Friends United Meeting, prompting a deeper conversation among board members.

What Does it Mean to be Publishers of Truth?

In these partisan and divided times, when many Americans are arguing not only about how to respond to the truth, but what truth (or Truth) even is, Friends United Meeting has been asking what it means for us to be publishers of truth in this time. The FUM staff has agreed to the following guidelines for our news stories, social media posts, and our own personal communications, whether on social media or in person: • Share first-hand experience • Resist passing along AI “news,” or even an AI voice • Avoid creating or spreading memes that pass along partial truth without context• Ask whether what we are communicating will enhance a person’s dignity, or is intended to take dignity away

For more news, click here.

To sign up for our weekly e-mail newsletter, click here.

Who We Are and What We Do

Find Out About. . .

FUM Journal

When A Storm Comes

The wind is frothing the waters and whistling in their sails, and the sailors have been rowing against it all night. They’re tired and frightened. Their shoulders and arms are sore. They’re straining to see land, but instead they see a ghost-like figure walking across the water.

“Joy is not the opposite of sadness”

Today is the 3rd Sunday in Advent, the Sunday designated with the theme of Joy. This seems like a difficult time to speak of Joy. The condition of our country is confusing and distressing, leaving us all feeling a new level of vulnerability.

3rd Week of Advent: Sumoud, Patient Resistance

This Sunday’s lessons remind us that God’s nature is justice. In that sense, God has already lifted up the lowly. God has already brought down the powerful from their thrones. Signs of God’s activity are everywhere, as in Isaiah’s vision of the transformation of the land. “Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God!’” Yet the vision is incomplete. We are like farmers—we must learn to wait.

For more reflections, click here.

An Enduring Truth

Throughout 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.