By Leslie Manning

Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.”
— Saint Augustine

“True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.”
— Martin Luther King, Jr.

I was born in a state of hope (Rhode Island) and grew up in a state of possibility. I was taught that if I saw an injustice, I was to speak out about it and work to change it. Although I no longer live there, I continue to practice the teachings of my state and my family and to work for justice.

In my work, which is reducing and preventing gun violence and illegal gun trafficking in the U.S., I work with many people who are angry. I, too, am angry, angry about our continued callousness and disregard of the sacred nature of human life; all life, every life; the life of the victim and the life of the shooter; the life of the prisoner and the life of the jailer; the life of the oppressed and the life of the oppressor. “What part,” I ask myself, “of thou shalt not kill, do we not get?”

And yet, anger as a catalyst is not enough. When we work for justice, march for justice, weep and pray for justice, we are engaged in a marathon, not a sprint. We have to have the nourishment to sustain us and the ability to get up every morning and do what needs to be done. As we move out into the world, we need to be sustained by faith and love. No one of us is ever good enough, or strong enough or ready enough to do the work we are called to do. We need the love and mercy of G-d* and the love and support of our community to build G-d’s kindom* here on earth. We need to preach forgiveness, practice reconciliation and ask ourselves how we make ourselves available to G-d, not just ask G-d to be available to us.

It has been my experience when we do that, we are then open to transformation, as individuals and communities and are given what is needed to undertake the work. We become the instruments, the face and the hands of G-d on earth.

One of the things from which I draw the greatest encouragement is the life of Jesus, the carpenter from Nazareth. His life, especially in the period of his public ministry, is an example and a lesson to me constantly. In his words of hope and his acts of healing, I draw strength, comfort and encouragement. I am reminded that with a small group of imperfect people, we can change the world, and redefine our relationship with each other and the Holy.

Perhaps the story that speaks most directly to me, which moves me beyond any other, is told by Luke, the physician and companion of Paul (Luke 22). The story begins on the night before his death, or early that morning, after praying and weeping blood in the garden; after being disappointed by his followers falling asleep and unable to pray with him; after being betrayed by a kiss from the one whom he trusted with his group’s money; and knowing that he was being asked to die for these and others; Jesus is seized and being led to the civil authorities by the servants of the priests. One of Jesus’ impetuous followers (Peter, according to John 18:10) grabs a soldier’s sword and slices the ear of one of the captors.

Does Jesus make a run for it? Does he urge his followers to break into a fight for his freedom? No, he tells his followers to put up the sword and he then heals the ear of his captor. He willingly submits to his trial.

I am inspired by this, and seek to emulate it. But, in this as in so much else, I will fall short. I will need the love and encouragement of my community, my chosen faith, to hold me and to hold me accountable. It is in this embracing and testing of each other that we find the courage and the grace to do what we are called to do. Listen, pray, obey. Test the leading and ask for help. It will be given to you. Have hope, for it is the anchor of the soul.

*Editor’s note: Out of respect for God, the author practices the Jewish custom of not writing the name of God. Jews interpret the law that was given by Moses (Deuteronomy 12) as a prohibition against the transcribing the name of God as the written word could be disrespected or defaced. Writing G-d is incomplete and runs no risk for defacement. The author requests that the word kindom be used instead of kingdom.

Leslie Manning is a member of the Durham Monthly Meeting in Maine, and serves as a representative from New England Yearly Meeting to the FUM General Board. Leslie was born and raised in Rhode Island, whose state motto is “Hope”. This motto served as a refuge of religious tolerance and freedom, welcoming all who chose to live in peace.

By Randy Quate

In his first message as Pope, Francis I stated that the role for older people in the church is to pass on optimism and hope to younger generations looking for spiritual guidance in a modern world full of temptations. Though Quakers and Catholics may be at very different places in practices and beliefs, the Pope definitely speaks my mind. Recently, while trying to envision a new Friends movement that could reach a new generation, I providentially met a man named Mike Berry.

Mike is the founding pastor of CrossRhythm Church in Annapolis, Maryland. CrossRhythm is an intergenerational church with a high percentage of young adults and a mission to reach a new generation for Christ. He was introduced to me by a mutual friend who understood that Mike and the leadership of this young church identify themselves with the principles of the Quaker faith. This congregation believes that their mission and the testimonies of Quakers are the same, sensing kinship with the history of Quakerism and with the Friends’ message.

In January I made a trip to Annapolis, Maryland, to train the leadership at CrossRhythm Church in Quaker business practice, decision-making and leadership. They later held their first business meeting using these principles. During the silence, this dynamic group experienced a Spirit-filled, gathered meeting and continued worshipping throughout the business meeting. I am overjoyed to see the richness of Quaker history, faith and practice becoming a channel for an energized church to fulfill its mission in a fresh way. North Carolina Yearly Meeting and CrossRhythm Church are presently exploring how their fellowship can become part of NCYM-FUM.

This experience has riveted a divine thought in my mind. The picture of this budding church causes me to believe that the best years of Quakerism are not behind us but before us. There are those who are seeking the inward knowledge of Christ. When this influx of people embrace the way of Friends, the result will probably look a little different from what many Friends in North America are accustomed to. In fact, a new Quaker explosion will probably evoke that fear provoking word: change.

What could Quakerism in America look like in the future? The meeting of the future, in my estimation, is going to birth a new breed of Friends. I believe a new Quaker explosion is on the horizon if certain components emerge in equally strong measure throughout North American Friends fellowships. Some of these components may seem severe in light of where we are now; others will be more subtle but equally as significant. I believe the following ingredients will be present in those Friends meetings where a fresh flame emerges. The future Quaker meeting/church should be:

Passionately Christ-Centered

There was only One who spoke to the condition of George Fox, and it was Christ Jesus. The term “Christ-Centered” must become more than a theological name tag that reveals what “brand” of Quaker we are. Christ-Centered has to become descriptive of the lives we live as a community of faith, collectively and individually. This Christ we center in is the Preexistent Logos, Jesus of Nazareth, the Sacrificial Savior, the Risen Christ, and the Present and Coming King seamlessly woven into One whose presence is in the midst.

Deeply Historical

Our history is rich, but our history must launch us into a present-day movement. I have a friend who says that some Quakers are like a person driving a car with a rearview mirror the size of the windshield. That type of historical bondage enslaves vision and hinders the adaptation needed to be relevant in ministry. However, when history becomes a true catalyst for new vision, it is serving its purpose well. I don’t think there would have been one Quaker in the first generation of our history who would have wanted us to laude their achievements yet lose their fire. Our history as Friends is amazing and exists primarily to stoke the flame of spiritual transformation and cultural illumination by the light of Christ.

Unashamedly Biblical

Early Friends were not busy defending the Bible; instead they were focused on living it. While the author of scripture was the focus, the use of scripture was the means to proclaim that conviction. Scripture has been and still is the most reliable guide for Friends as the Holy Spirit applies its truth to our souls.

Eagerly Applying Friends Testimonies

The future is rich for us, if we are deeply rooted in the Quaker expression of the Christian faith. It will be a movement that will avoid the extremes of generally Wesleyanized evangelicalism and Quakeristic cocooning.

I was once on a task force that hired a consultant to help us look at our declining numbers and increasing conflict. Some in the group were insistent on training the non-Quaker facilitator on Quaker language, like saying “meeting” instead of “church.” It was like we were rearranging a sock drawer while the house was on fire! As we look at ourselves, there should be a sense of urgency to see our future flourish. As a knife collector, I describe a pocketknife that has maximum value as “uncarried, unused and unsharpened.” That will not describe the wave of the future as Friends find new ways to use our history and testimonies to foster an awakening through the Holy Spirit. There will be a deep social consciousness to this fresh wind. Human trafficking and sex slavery are just two areas where grass roots energy is emerging. A New Underground Railroad could be the mark of this new day, and there will be more to come.

Outwardly Focused

The cocooning of Friends in many areas of North America has several causes. One could be that we have many rural Meetings comprised of intertwined families. Such familiarity can cause us to creep into complacency and become inward focused. The tendency of others is to conversationalize Quaker history, so that we talk about the great works of God through our historical lineage, but never endeavor to do something great for God ourselves. The Holy Spirit through a missionary zeal in early Friends, generated the Quaker explosion of the 17th century. I believe a new breed of Quaker will emerge who will not only know and value the Valiant 60 and Mary Fisher’s journey to the Sultan of Turkey, but will journey across the street and begin to introduce neighbors to life with Jesus along the Quaker path, thereby igniting a new explosion.

Tuned Into a Different Generation

Churches across America are being challenged to attract and retain our high schoolers and young adults. The exodus of these young people from the traditional church has been widely noted. Young adults in NCYM love their home meetings, but are drawn increasingly to other non-Friends churches to be with folks their age and to experience more passionate worship and teaching ministries. However, we have noted that many of our young adults in NCYM still orbit Friends by participating in yearly meeting events. Quaker youth and young adults repeatedly speak of going to other denominations and missing the unique worship and ministry of their home meeting. You can take the person out of the meeting, but you can’t take the Quaker out of the person. We are all grateful for the contributions of every generation of Quakers in every Friends meeting. We want to engage Friends of every age into vital, intergenerational fellowships. However, for that to happen, we will have to face the need for some change and we will have to have meaningful conversations across generational lines. A fresh approach to Quakerism will attract the young and speak to their lives in ways that can keep them with us, helping us be a more intergenerational movement for years to come.

I received an email from Len Sweet through a mutual friend. Len is a noted Christian author who has a gifted insight into the state of the church in America. He said, “George Fox and Quakerism will be rediscovered in the 21st century and may be the best answer in presenting Christ to the postmodern mind.” Wow. Maybe it takes a Methodist to tell us what we should already know. To quote John Punshon’s title, there is a “reason for hope”!

Randy Quate is the General Superintendent of North Carolina Yearly Meeting. He is married and has two children.

By Jim Le Shana

Recently I spoke in front of a large class of undergraduate students and asked, “How many of you have ever been a part of a church plant?” A few students raised their hands. I responded with a probably over-dramatized but inquisitive look as I probed further. “Hm-m. Well . . . how many of you have ever been a part of a local church?” They all raised their hands, and a few light bulbs turned on as I repeated my first question, “OK . . . so how many of you have ever been a part of a church plant?” This time around, almost all of the students raised their hands. At least some probably thought it was a silly line of questioning, but they got the point. In that moment, these 18 to 22 year-olds realized the simple truth that they already really knew: every church in existence today started out as a church plant.

What’s the significance of remembering that your church began originally as a church plant? Many people like to hold on to traditions in a church setting. In fact, that is the norm for most of us. We like to live in our comfort zones, sit in the same places, talk to the same people and participate in the same sacred rituals — even among traditionally non-traditional Quakers. Maybe that’s the point. Among Friends, we pride ourselves in our non-sacramental and non-creedal ways, and yet we hold as firmly as anyone else to what we think of as our distinctives, convictions and practices that contribute to our self-identity and reputation. Typically, we cling to the traditions that we grew up with: the norms, social practices, ways of conducting corporate worship, appropriate church business methods and a host of other religious priorities and activities — from how we collect (or do not collect) an offering to serving the right kind of coffee (Is it really fair-trade? How do you know? What if it doesn’t taste as good?). However, as many of my pastor friends have confessed, there are times when those traditions serve to slowly kill a congregation. Yet, that doesn’t mean we should jettison the past.

We may need to embrace our heritage even more! As a historian, I contend that the problem for many Friends is not that we embrace history, but that we don’t hold onto it in as tightly or in as informed of a way as we should. If we would take an honest look at how our actual meetings began, remembering the reason why people took the steps and made the sacrifices in the first place, it might just serve as a new kind of motivation to do it again. I would contend that very few Friends churches that persisted began with a self-serving intent. If in fact they did, they probably shifted their focus very soon or they died. Even if a new birth came as the result of an “unwanted ecclesiastical pregnancy” (a church division of some kind), for a new church to survive it takes sacrifice, time, money, energy, prayer, dedication and a lot of hard work. Like a marriage, it is not something to enter into flippantly or unadvisedly. A gathering of believers is a visible testimony to the idea that God did not intend for his children to live alone and in isolation.

The full story provides motivation for the future. When people in an existing church can learn and remember the whole story — that someone(s) probably gave sacrificially, prayed fervently and worked diligently to start their congregation — that provides great encouragement and impetus. It involves getting past the lesser traditions to the deepest kind of heritage, the heartbeat of getting outside of yourself for the sake of others. What a wonderful legacy to own and share! In some ways, it’s a matter of stewardship of the vision and faithfulness to pass on the calling of the founders to every new congregation. This is the best kind of tradition to maintain, and it’s close to the heart of God to reach those who don’t have a relationship with him yet.

Remembering the origins of your church gives hope in another crucial way. In simple terms, if someone had the vision and then followed through to start your church, there is reason to believe that your congregation could turn around and give birth to another new church in the future, regardless of the age, size or context of your congregation. Before you dismiss this notion too quickly, remember that Sarah once laughed pretty hard when told that she would give birth to a child even though she had been ordering off of the senior menu for many years. In response, God made clear his position on the topic by asking rhetorically, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18: 12-14) Friends need to be reminded of God-honoring questions like that today. If God was able to help launch your church, despite the obstacles, why do you think that he wouldn’t enable and equip you to start new churches to reach others that he loves?

But isn’t this a bad time to even think about starting new churches?! I have talked with many Friends pastors and denominational leaders across the country in the past couple of years and have observed that there are many things that feel distracting at best and discouraging if not debilitating at worst. Numerous pressures serve to paralyze and fears freeze us from taking action. Churches grapple with very real conflicts, pastoral and leadership changes, financial difficulties, theological/lifestyle issue debates and politicized divisions to name a few. It’s in these times that there can be a tendency to pull back, hold our collective breath and simply try to survive or weather the perceived storm. But, is that really the life that God has called us to live?

This is a hopeful time to move forward! Rather than hiding or devolving into self-absorption and irrelevance, we need to remind ourselves of our central calling and purpose. God once established Friends, including your church, to make a difference in this world for him. Rather than take a defensive “back on our heels” posture or maintenance mentality, this is the time to continue to move forward with a “gates of hell shall not prevail against it” passion. This may be the exact right moment in the ongoing history of Friends to give sacrificially, pray fervently and work diligently to start more new churches for God’s glory and the good of others.

Can you imagine what would happen if God poured out his Spirit in such a way that we experienced a Friends church multiplication movement? Although God hasn’t called Friends to win the whole world to Christ by ourselves, he has entrusted to us a portion of this unfinished task. For many months, a number of leaders have been talking, praying and considering how to help Friends do our part to fulfill the Great Commission, cultivating a renewed passion for evangelism and church planting. Exciting flickers of this fire exist among Friends, around the country and globe, but it is time to begin to bring these sparks together. Plans are well underway to do just that.

A National Friends Church Multiplication Conference is coming. Evangelically-minded Friends from around the country will gather on the campus of Barclay College, May 8-10, 2013, for encouragement, inspiration, information, dreaming and synergistic fellowship. The main speaker is Bruce Redmond, the Director of Church Planting for the Evangelical Free Church of America, Southeast District. Recognizing that it takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people, a number of different methods and approaches will be discussed in a variety of “best practice” workshops and general sessions. Conference organizers anticipate attracting younger as well as older participants. Both undergraduate credit (through Barclay College) and graduate credit (through George Fox Evangelical Seminary and the Friends Center at Azusa Pacific University) are available.

It’s best thought of as a catalyst, not the conclusion. Of course, the real goal of the NFCMC is not simply to have a great conference. It will be an inspiring, informative and encouraging time, but the ultimate objective is to help launch new churches and rekindle a church multiplication movement among evangelically-minded Friends across the country. In many ways, this event is not the finish line of the synergistic undertaking; it is the starting line. Other gatherings are anticipated for the future.

How can someone register for the conference or find out more information? If you have a heart for church planting or want to learn more about it, this first National Friends Church Multiplication Conference is for you. The web page as well as the online registration form can be found at the Barclay College website.

As for my undergraduate friends, it is easy for Christ-followers of any age to forget that every single church was once started by someone (and usually by a number of people), an undertaking involving risks, sacrifices, joys, costs, gains, heartaches and triumphs. May God help us to recapture the hope and faith of our founders, rekindling a passion for others as we build bridges of new churches. May we stay in step with his Spirit as we look to the future, joining him in what he is doing (and desires to do) among us.

Jim Le Shana is the Vice President of Academics and the Director of the Master of Arts in Transformational Leadership program at Barclay College in Haviland, Kansas.

By William Dillingham

When a crisis comes our way — whether that crisis is within the family, the community or the country; whether it is financial, relational or existential — we can truly discover amazing things about ourselves, our families and our communities; thoughts that we could not have known if the crisis had not happened. Of course, I’m not saying that crises are to be sought out or caused just so that we can grow in self-awareness, but I am saying that such situations often highlight personal characteristics of our walk with God. President Jimmy Carter, in his classically folksy way, once remarked that we are, each of us, like tubes of toothpaste: We find out what’s inside when life applies a little pressure.

Sometimes, unfortunately, the things that we learn about ourselves are not things we want to know, although they can be the things that we very much need to know. One such lesson that many of us have learned is that we often don’t truly empathize with others and often fail to demonstrate love for one other.

Empathy is, in my view, the truest form of the outworking of equality. It is what allows us to become the helping hands and embracing arms of God here on earth. We are all equal — as sinning Saints — in the eyes of God, but God instructs us, in Luke, Romans and Philippians, to treat others better regardless on their actions and our biases than we may want to treat them.

I don’t think that this view on empathy is a surprise to many Friends. There are so many verses in scripture and so many queries that speak to this subject that I cannot possibly hope for originality. Consequently, I would like to broach this topic from a somewhat surprising starting point: 1 Corinthians 8. While, nominally, in this chapter Paul is talking about temple meat, he makes a very powerful statement about how we live our lives in relation to others, both directly and indirectly. in essence, he is saying that our knowledge of certain things, whether they be right or wrong, is of little value if by our actions we lead others astray. Our knowledge of right and wrong, in other words, matters not at all if our actions convey little concern for the place of others in their walk with Christ.

Paul, in still other words, is saying nothing more than the simple truth that love and love alone should guide our actions, not our knowledge of rules or facts or history.

Of course, love is not empathy, but love can serve as the basis for empathy, and empathy can be a fertile ground for love to prosper. This isn’t just clever word play; clinical research has shown that viewing the world from another’s perspective makes it impossible for us to simultaneously maintain anger, contempt or frustration towards that other person. Think about that for a moment: God created in us the psychological condition that as we empathize with another’s condition, as we earnestly and honestly strive to see the world through another’s eyes, we cannot continue to harbor ill feelings towards that person. We cannot dehumanize (to use an extreme verb) someone with whom we feel connected.

The awesomeness of how we are inextricably knitted together allows us to understand another person’s pain. Through empathy, we want to help alleviate it, overcome the cause, fix the situation and make it better not only because we feel sorry for someone in pain, but because that pain has become our pain also. Frustration with a suffering person fades into the background as we become closer to that individual and his or her condition. Our motivation is no longer to frustrate, hurt or to get even with an adversary, but, rather to lighten the burden.

One of Rufus Jones’s favorite verses was Ezekiel 1:8, and of it, he remarked, “The work of God will not be done by angels from the sky, but by men, here, with their hands.” For us, the work we must do is by showing love one to another, thereby glorifying God. Love, in this regard, is self-sacrificial love manifested in works — deeds and words — that build up another. We cannot evince that love without understanding the anger, fear and physical needs of others, particularly our adversaries, and that cannot be done other than by knowing the individual as well as we know ourselves. Without that knowledge, we are simply giving to them what we feel they need, and to the extent that we help, we do so by accident.

Consider further that feelings of frustration and anger towards others — children, co-workers, foreigners, spouses or strangers — don’t just happen, but arise from initial thoughts about them. How much better our lives would be if we trained ourselves to think of the others’ point of view, to empathize, first, and do so with an open heart? I may think to myself, “Why is so-and-so trying to give me a heart attack by being so lazy and willful?” Perhaps I should ask instead, “What pressure and distress must so-and-so be under to miss the deadline, and how have my actions contributed to her distress?” Imagine, moreover, how by simply encouraging our children to see events through the eyes of others, we could help them to avoid unnecessary anger and frustration.

As we, and through our examples, our children, begin to intentionally practice empathy, imagine how much more the kingdom of God would be increased. What can you do today to make empathy a defining characteristic of your life? In the end, and this can’t have been lost on our magnificent creator, we will be happier too.

William Dillingham is a Conservative Quaker who lives in Denver, Colorado. Being the father of two young children gives him unbounded pleasure.

By Robert Wafula

Some people would say that hope is simply wishful thinking; that is, hoping for something to happen without taking any action. I do not think this interpretation of hope is what the Bible implies. The definition I have found in my reading of scripture is, “confident expectation.” Romans 8:24-25 and Hebrews 11:1,7 expound further on this subject. Other sections of the Bible such as Proverbs 23:18 point to hope as a fundamental component of righteous life. It is in hope that we have life and look forward to a better tomorrow. In fact the writers of Lamentations 3:18 and Job 7:6 bluntly point out that life without hope is like a body without a heart. A lifeless body has no anticipation for tomorrow.

Friends Theological College (FTC) has a heart and has quite a bit of hope for tomorrow. It is a ministry that shapes the continuing future of African Quakers. Since its foundation at Lugulu in 1942 and subsequent relocation to Kaimosi eight years later, hundreds of servants of God have gone through its doors to effect change in the world and win a joust for Christ. I am one of many graduates (Class of 1985) who received the grounding to minister and effect change in our world.

The arrival of the 21st century has put FTC at the cusp of yet another profound change ushered in by what I can only describe as an inexorable era of technology. Within these changes, FTC has maintained its call to provide inspirational spiritual service and theological formation to the members of the Religious Society of Friends and others. Despite its success in fostering positive change, like any other institution of higher learning, FTC has had its share of struggles and challenges. These challenges include its relationship with the wider Quaker community, both in East Africa and overseas, and with the lack of sufficient funding to run the academic programs.

Friends United Meeting’s (FUM) General Secretary, Colin Saxton, graciously accepted my invitation to speak at my church (Orange Friends Church) and on February 17, 2013, he gave a presentation on FUM Ministries in Kenya. Our congregation was amazed that FUM consists of 31 yearly meetings and that Kenya is the largest constituency of Friends in the entire world. There is an estimate of 200,000 to 500,000 Friends in Kenya, with 18 yearly meetings, over 2,000 village meetings and over 1,500 Friends schools. There are two major Friends hospitals and subordinate clinics; outpost missions in Samburu and Turkana, and other outreach missions in South Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It was a surprise to many within North American Evangelical Friends that other Quaker organizations such as FUM are engaged in mission work globally.

Giving to FTC by Yearly Meetings

All those institutions and ministries mentioned above look up to FTC as a reservoir of pastoral and spiritual leadership supply. However, the challenge is that not many of the 18 Kenyan yearly meetings are involved in the financial support of the FTC programs. If it is true, as Colin Saxton indicated that Kenyan Friends are the largest Quaker community in the world, then we need to translate our numerical superiority with action. I am a social scientist and arithmetic has never been my area of expertise, but working with the lowest number of 200,000, if each one of these members gave only Ksh. 1.00 per month towards FTC, there will be a total of Ksh. 200,000 ($2,500) per month. Or putting it this way, if each gave only Ksh. 12.00 annually, there would be Ksh. 2,400,000 (equivalent of $30,000). I would call this simple Friends preparatory stewardship, which would then require only lower level capital campaign.

For FTC to be an effective agent for holistic change in the state of the African Christian Church, it must be thoroughly transformed. Transforming the spiritual character, the theological behavior and the intellectual capacity of students is the work of the faculty and the administration. Transforming the infrastructure and other physical facilities, however, is the responsibility of the sponsoring Christian community: the Kenyan Friends. This discussion goads the yearly meeting presiding clerks and all other leaders with a special responsibility to develop and support FTC programs. It is an imperative that we do so with a tremendous sense of pride.

The assistance from North American Friends in financial support, theological personnel and leadership enhances unity in our partnership. We are indeed proud of this kind of partnership and appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts. However, perpetual dependency on Western giving and leadership may create a mind-set within African Friends and may smother their spirit of giving. As a gift-driven institution, FTC is always very grateful for the relationships with the supporting local and overseas Friends. There are FTC graduates serving God all over the world.

Therefore, FTC covets a strong relationship with the yearly meetings. Current students, faculty and alumni should be given a chance to play an active role in every aspect of social and theological life within the entire Quaker community. Every yearly meeting must therefore fully participate in every level of FTC’s development process. Every presiding clerk and the entire leadership should take time to pay a visit to FTC and become familiar with FTC’s condition. Such visits will instill hope and stimulate enthusiasm in the lives of students, administration and the faculty and enhance a stronger connection with the local church. To cultivate a strong relationship and better understanding of the physical need of the college, every yearly meeting should be represented on the Board of Governors. The Executive of the Board of Governors should evaluate yearly meetings’ annual financial contribution to FTC, encourage those who may be committed in their giving and re-energize those whose spirit of giving is dissipating.

Giving to FTC by the Alumni

If a record of FTC graduates were to be published, I imagine it would be a relatively long one. I propose the FTC alumni should develop a trajectory of giving to serve as an example to the flock to which we minister. Here is my proposal:

1. To supplement and renew the energy of the existing Alumni Association, I propose that a list be published and every alumnus be identified (with full contact information).
2. Establish two chapters of the Alumni Association: the Local Chapter and the Overseas Chapter.
3. Each chapter should appoint coordinators.
4. Each member should be encouraged to contribute a minimum amount of money or primarily be responsible to fundraise for his or her required annual contribution to FTC.
5. Each member should look for foundations, corporations and individuals in both local and overseas communities for endowment.
6. Face-to-face and virtual annual meetings and frequent communication between members in both chapters to be maintained.
7. Co-coordinators of both chapters should evaluate the level of alumni giving and develop further fundraiser strategies annually.

Giving back to what others have given in you in terms of the spiritual and theological reform, mentoring, support in difficult times, relationships and inspiration is a virtue not a vice. Remember, someone invested in you and influenced you to move on. It is now your time to invest in the next generation at the FTC to influence a new paradigm of hope for the future.

Robert J. Wafula currently teaches Comparative Religions, Anthropology and Cultural Diversity at Columbus State College and Central Ohio Technical College, Ohio. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Malone University, and coordinator of Global Missions at Orange Friends Church, Ohio. Wafula is a graduate of Friends Theological College (FTC), St. Paul’s University, Earlham School of Religion (ESR) and Ohio University.