Unleashing the Power logo

Unleashing the Power is a North American program intended to combine spiritual formation and practical skill-building to energize and equip Friends in nurturing healthy and faithful congregations.

Nine virtual workshops are proposed for 2022–2023.
Most, if not all, of the series workshops will be an hour-and-a-half in length and held on a weekday evening. Beginning in October 2022, these monthly Zoom workshops will cover topics such as the following:

• Community ministries (shelters, tutoring programs, food pantries, etc.)    
• Having grounded conversations across differences    
• Conflict within congregations    
• Gifts and leadings and how these can guide nominations and service in the Meeting    
• Small congregations    
• Children’s ministries    
• How congregations can be supportive of parents    
• Hybrid worship communities and the implications of this beyond worship    
• Faithful closure for congregations reaching the natural end of their life cycle

We hope that many of our North American churches and Meetings will send one or more members to each of these workshops. Dates, facilitators, and registration information are coming soon, and we will all be enriched by the presence of Friends throughout North America.

“…to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”— Ephesians 4:12-16

Workshops

Volunteers work at framing the walls of a house.

May 2023

Connecting to your Local Community through Community Service

Gar Mickelson

Tuesday, May 16, 7 p.m. ET

Have you ever had a burning desire to serve within your local community in some way, but really didn’t know how to get started? This workshop will provide practical insights for you to consider as you navigate your way forward to rewarding, impactful, and sustainable service. This workshop will discuss community networks, community systems, and community organizations that are present in every community—how they work, and how to connect with them. This workshop will also touch on how to see service to community as an exercise in real-time discipleship, and how this shapes and transforms our spirituality.

Pastor Gar Mickelson has been bridging the gap between the Church and local communities over the last 25 years of ministry. Street side, Gar has provided catalyst leadership for numerous local outreach initiatives in his local community including hands on work with at-risk youth, returning citizens from prison, isolated seniors, addicts, those stuck in cyclical poverty, and street homeless. Church side, Gar has provided training and discipleship to hundreds of volunteers in his local community, and throughout the Pacific Northwest, through his practical workshops and coaching.

Register
Volunteers work at framing the walls of a house.

June 2023

Supporting the Ministry of Parenting

Karin Heller, Madeline Johnson, and Katrina McConaughey

Tuesday, June 6, 7 p.m. ET

Parenting is a vital ministry, but it’s often under-supported. Many Quaker parents long for nurture and community.

In this conversation-oriented workshop, we’ll first hear lessons learned from four different approaches to supporting parents: a Zoom-based mutual support group model, an integrated system of support in the context of a single pastoral meeting, a yearly-meeting-wide listening project focused on the needs of parents and families, and a community outreach approach that built community among parents in the church's neighborhood.

Then, we’ll have a chance to ask questions and delve deeper as a group: how can Quaker communities best support and nurture parents as they engage in the holy work of raising children?

Register

Register