FUM News

Spring FUM Board Meetings Scheduled at Quaker Hill - March and June 2025

The clerk of the FUM Board (Sarah Lookabill) has decided that the North American and Caribbean Region of the Board will meet in Richmond from March 6-8, 2025. Rania Maayeh, RFS Head of School and and Kelly Kellum, General Secretary have advised Sarah Lookabill that it is not advisable for the General Board to continue plans to host our Spring meeting in Ramallah, she approved. We did not decide to cancel the planned trip to Ramallah lightly, especially considering the tradition of hosting a General Board meeting at one of our field sites every triennium. The clerk has decided that the North American and Caribbean Region of the Board will meet in Richmond from March 6-8, 2025. Kelly Kellum is currently making arrangements to visit with a much smaller group on a pastoral care and solidarity trip to Ramallah during the first week of April.

Crossing a Border with Gratitude

As 2024 winds down it is important to reflect on the year that is passing. Friends United Meeting has invited a variety of Friends to share their thoughts on gratitude. As David Steindl-Rast the Catholic theologian said “It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful,” so we too shall take time to be grateful. This week's reflection is from Margaret Fraser, who served as executive secretary of Friends World Committee for Consultation, Section of the Americas. She now lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland. On a Saturday in mid-November, eighteen Quakers from Frederick Street Meeting in Belfast took the cross-border Enterprise train to Connolly Station, Dublin, two hours away. At Connolly we were greeted by two members of Eustace Street Meeting and guided on the light rail and on foot to the Eustace Street meetinghouse in Dublin.

Friends Meet in Tunduma for Tanzania Annual Conference

The Friends Church Tanzania (FCT) Annual Conference officially began on October 23 under the theme “Rebuilding the Broken Walls,” inspired by Isaiah 58:12, “Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.” Over 300 delegates attended, many of whom were participating in a Quaker conference in southern Tanzania for the very first time. The excitement was contagious as delegates arrived from across Tanzania—from Mwanza, Kahama, Manyara, Iringa, Morogoro, Tabora, Sumbawanga, Kyela, Dar es Salaam, and even from neighboring Malawi and Zambia. The joy of these new connections and friendships filled the air.

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Thirty Days of Prayer - Day Fifteen

Genesis 22:9 – 9 When they came to the place God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood. The blunder many believers make I to think that, the last thing that God wants from them is the sacrifice of death, but when we carefully look at the passage above, we realize that God is interested on the sacrifice through death which enables us to do what Christ Jesus did.

THirty Days of P{rayer - Day Sixteen

Mathew 4:19 - He said to them, “Follow me, and I will turn you into fishers of people!” For us to become effective co-workers with Christ, we must come to a place of fully accepting our ministry call. 1 Thess. 5:23 – Now may the God of peace himself make you completely holy and may your spirit and soul and body be kept entirely blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Your whole spirit… the great mystical work of the Holy Spirit is in the less bright side of our personality which we can get at. This is what David thought when he wrote Psalm 139 and said – “though art the God of the early Mornings, the God of the late nights, the God of the mountain peaks and greater depth than any sea in nature – You are the God of all these, be my God. I cannot reach the depth of the horizons of my soul without you. Take my hand and lead me in ways everlasting.

Thirty Days of Prayer - Day Fourteen

In the physical realm, none of us wants to abide (stay, remain, live) in the darkness. When they were young, my children feared that an approaching storm might cause us to lose power and be cast into darkness. Explaining that it would be temporary didn’t give them much comfort. But a flashlight placed in their hand seemed to do the trick. Having a light with them gave them reassurance that they would not be left in the dark...

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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.