The mission of Friends United Meeting calls us to “energize and equip” Friends. While this is happening in multiple ways, the General Board is initiating a new effort to support the financial sustainability of our project partners and ministries. In June 2019, the Board adopted the policy that all current and future FUM ministries should move toward the goal of being self-sustaining. The Board recognizes that paternal missional systems that create financial dependency do not “energize and equip” the communities we serve. The Board committed FUM to come alongside ministry leaders and boards to develop sustainability plans that will result in long-term financial stability. At that time, the Board stated, “This absolutely does not imply a diminishing of our commitment and spiritual partnership with any given ministry. Rather, we believe that genuine spiritual partnership is one in which no one is indefinitely dependent on the other.”
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For the past twelve months, FUM has been gathering the global community of Friends together for prayer. The next International Friends Prayer Gathering will be 19 March 2021. Join us by Zoom, Facebook Live, and WhatsApp
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During the first week of October 2020, about a dozen Samburu pastors and leaders met together for five full days of classes on how to start and run a small business as a part of their Christian ministry. The class and trained teachers were sponsored by an organization called Global Disciples, along with Indiana Yearly Meeting. Each person who completed the class then had the opportunity to develop a business plan and apply for a no-interest loan (from a couple of generous FUM donors) to start their business. Personal loans and small business loans are very difficult to obtain in Kenya, especially without significant collateral—like the title deed on a piece of property. Even then, re-payment interest is around 20%. So a no-interest loan is a pretty big life-changing deal! All of the loan payments from this initial group of ministry entrepreneurs will go back into a development fund to become seed money for whoever next becomes eligible.
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In observance of Women’s History Month, the FUM Bookstore will feature books authored by or written about Quaker women. These featured books will be highlighted on the home page of the FUM Bookstore:
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Recently, Friends in the Narok region in southern Kenya (the center of Maasai-land) undertook a biosand water filtration project among Friends. This training and filter construction was meant to benefit both the local members of Friends churches and to additionally serve as an outreach opportunity into the broader Maasai community.
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Each issue of Quaker Life revolves around a particular Christian theme. We hope that by making the theme of each issue widely known, we will be able to deepen the pool of our contributors, and persuade some reluctant authors to send in a submission—in text, image, or both—by virtue of a powerful experience with our theme for the issue.
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