Download the March-May 2009 issue
In this issue:
Olympic View Friends Church is currently seeking a new pastor. We are a small Friends church in Tacoma, Washington. Though we are hoping to eventually release a person to serve full-time, right now we are probably limited to supporting someone on a bi-vocational basis. We are still working on finalizing a job description. Please see the attached mission, values and qualifications for a pastor to gain a better picture of our congregation and desires for a pastor. Please contact Colin Saxton, NWYM superintendent, for additional information about OVFC and to apply for the position.
Qualifications Sought in a Pastor:
All women from across the Northwest are welcome!
DATE: April 17 – 19, 2009
LOCATION: Camp McCullough, Covington, WA
Guest Speaker: Jan Wood
THEME: Blessing
CONTACT: Patty Federighi, 206-522-6513 or Patty Federighi
DOWNLOAD a brochure and registration form
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Karen Oberst is a member of the NWYM Board of Communication. Her recent book , But I Tell You, regarding the Sermon on the Mount is available at barclaypress.com. Her website is www.quotelady.com
Have you ever noticed that when a candle flame grows small, you have to pour off some of the wax for it to flare into vigorous life again?
For me that is also true of possessions. I started a serious journey on the road to simplicity a couple of years ago. Klamath Falls Friends had a “Simplify Your Life” garage sale, which inspired me to get busy. Beginning with my office, I weeded, sorted, and gave away boxes of accumulated “stuff.” What a difference! Not only do rooms feel lighter and more open, but it is easier to find the things that are left.
I had made spurts towards simplicity before. In the mid-90s I made a concerted effort to pay off all my debts, and have been debt-free since then. I never use my credit card unless I know I have the money to pay it off in full. Though there may be times in a life that this is impossible, I strongly advocate it if only for the freedom of not having to consider debts when making an important decision, such as changing jobs or moving.
I have found that the more I step off the cultural merry-go-round, the less I miss it. A year ago, I discontinued cable TV, and have not had the television on since. I thought I would miss it, but I haven’t at all. I get news and weather via the computer, and that’s enough.
Because you are more likely to buy things when you are in a store, I limit shopping to once a month for groceries and household supplies. I then spend that weekend cooking. I make several kinds of meals, divide them into portion sizes and freeze them to eat during the coming month. This works very easily for me since I am single. I’m sure it would be much more challenging with a family. Because I get out my frozen meal the night before to thaw in the refrigerator, I’m not tempted to stop for fast food after work.
Though an avid reader, I only bought two or three books last year. I get books, CDs and DVDs from the library. Requesting the library purchase a title or using the inter-library loan may take a few days longer, but they neither cost me anything nor clutter up my home when I am done reading or listening. Rather than highlighting memorable passages, I have learned to take notes as I read.
I have no car, so I travel on public transportation when I can, or get a ride. Taking the bus keeps me in contact with people I might not otherwise notice: the young, the old, the poor. On the other hand, riding with others gives me a chance to get to know them in a one-on-one setting where we aren’t interrupted. Inconvenient? Sometimes, but it is worth it to me.
Now I am about to move simple living to a whole new level, taking a big step in faith to leave my job. I have found that being away from home nearly ten hours a day isn’t healthy for me anymore. If I am going to be true to myself, I must step away from the nine-to-five world and into a life that feeds my soul. I don’t know exactly what my new endeavor will look like. It will involve writing, and it will involve simplifying my life even more. Other than that, I don’t know. I am walking into the dark, with only the next step before my feet illuminated.
I’m both excited and frightened to be moving into this new life. Some people wish me well; some people think I’m crazy. I only know that it is time for me to step back and discover what is uniquely mine to offer this world. Simplicity and integrity have become much more than just words to me – they have become a way of life.
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I remember shifting in my chair twelve years ago as I sat before my college pastor for premarital counseling. Chad asked, “Do you have a budget yet?” At 21 years of age I don’t think I had ever done a budget. Chad assured us it was important. “The number one stressor in marriage and perhaps life in general is finances.” I remember thinking, “that won’t be us. This is about love, not material stuff.” I smile sheepishly now as I realize God’s kingdom is very much about how we acquire and use material wealth to “put skin on God.”
As I reflect on this month’s queries there are two questions that emerge for me: How can we be faithful with the big stuff? Our houses, apartments, cars, retirement, tithe, college savings, debt, etc. And how can we be faithful with the little stuff? Eating out, coffee or tea here and there, hobbies, etc
To be a little cliché, it’s important to make the tough decisions before they make us. We need to avoid getting over our heads in debt. Yet when faced with downsizing we need community. This is the part we miss, even as followers of Jesus. We forget that we need Christ’s body to shoulder big changes and big losses. In fact, all change is a form of loss and often lands us in the midst of grief processes that surprise us. Even when change is for the best, in response to God’s invitation—there is loss. And we need support to walk through the denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance of it. We need our sisters and brothers in Christ to remind us that the pain of change is not the absence of God’s presence or favor in our life—it’s just part of the human journey.
We prepare to carry the big stuff well, by carrying the little stuff well… every day. Do I need to eat out or can I make a lunch? Can I carpool to class or work? Can I move closer? What is it like to say, “I can’t afford that and that’s OK.” Here we often need community to cultivate the freedom it takes to make more difficult financial decisions later. All of these decisions become opportunities to affirm that our freedom does not come from doing whatever we like, when we like. It’s much deeper than that. Our freedom comes from a place of knowing that while we want to do many things, deeper still we want the peace of living in our own skin, within our own means, being found faithful at the end of the day. And this work of growing in freedom is messy. So we need companions who won’t judge us when something that may seem silly to them is very difficult for us.
Like me, you might find it helpful to cultivate one or two trustworthy friends. Start by giving them something small such as: “Things are really tight lately with the economy.” See how they respond. If it seems a favorable and godly response, give them something a little bigger: “We’re facing some tough decisions.” Jesus’ wisdom about keeping our pearls from swine is apt here. We all have the capacity to be piggish at times with the precious things people entrust to us. If you feel trust is growing you can share an area where God is calling you to deeper freedom. Ask them to pray for you and check-in with you on it. Be clear about your expectations for confidentiality. Be willing to offer listening and support for them as well.
The point is that we’re made to carry heavy things in the Light of Christ with other people. The enemy loves for us to feel isolated, trapped, alone and despairing in our struggles. Though community is messy and painful, it is where Jesus’ love is made real and we find traction to awaken to an interior joy that provides strength in the darkest of times.
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Colin Saxton is NWYM Superintendent
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Last summer, I was invited to attend Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM) to speak on the spiritual basis for the Friends peace testimony. Together, we walked through the whole of Scripture—from creation, through the fall, alongside the prophets, right up to God’s greatest act of peacemaking—Christ’s life, death and resurrection. To conclude, we considered Jesus’ often repeated phrase “go in peace” to those around Him and what it meant and means for disciples to be sent out into the world as ministers of reconciliation.
Before going to PYM I checked out their website for their peace-related queries. Most of them, like most of our own are strategic. That is, the questions are framed so that we might consider the particular choices we make in light of the circumstances we are in. There was one query on their website—the one I was hoping to find—that was more foundational and on which all of the others really ought to rest. They express it this way:
Do I live in the power of that Life and Spirit that takes away the occasion of all wars?
Sit with that for just a moment, will you? Continue reading …
By Patrick Neifert, who, along with his wife, Christy, will be availab le to share around NWYM during the months of June, July, and August 2009. Contact Shawn McConaughey to schedule them.
“Living within your means?” Bah! I don’t believe in it anymore. I used to, but I recently learned a few lessons from my new Arab friends that made me
change my mind. Wait a second. Don’t write me off until you read further, because I’m speaking, not of finances, but in terms of faith. (And please don’t
stop sending in your support checks because then we definitely wouldn’t be able to live within our means!)
Since moving here almost six months ago we have been challenged by local believers who daily live and minister well beyond their means.
You can see evidence of God’s blessing everywhere. The New Covenant Church started with a group of 5-10 people meeting in a small room of a
clothing distribution center. 
Five years later, they are a congregation of over 120 worshiping in a beautiful building that
God provided and that they built with their own hands.
But reaching Haifa, Israel, must have seemed too easy for God because the church felt that He wanted them to also reach out to their Arab brothers and sisters around the world, even in places where it is against the law to preach the gospel. To do so, they started a media ministry that includes a 24-hour internet radio station and a fledgling video ministry. Again, they didn’t have much to begin with, only a seed gift from a fellow believer to purchase a computer.
Five years later, through their reliance upon God and their great faith in His provision, God has built up a thriving ministry that draws thousands of listeners and viewers each month.
Who knows what God has in store for the future, but it’s exciting to work with people who are attempting to dream God-size dreams and believing that they will come true.
So, when it comes to spending money on your own needs and desires, discipline and restraint are essential, but when it comes to the things that glorify God, aim for the stars. He could always say no, but just maybe sometimes He’ll give you a star.
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.”
Ephesians 3:20-21
Caj’s Moose
Last summer, Caj Matheson, pastor of the NWYM mission point Living Water Ministries, applied for a Coeur d’Alene tribal moose tag. For both Native and non-Native hunters in North Idaho, moose tags are awarded through a drawing. Caj thought that having a freezer full of moose meat would be a great resource for ministry opportunities throughout the year, so he put his name in for the drawing. He won a tag on his first draw! That is unusual in North Idaho–Caj’s brother, Buck, has been in the drawing for about six years and hasn’t won a tag yet.
Buck is an avid hunter, so he offered to help Caj with his moose hunt. For several weeks during the Native-only moose season in August, they hunted likely areas in the southern part of the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation. Continue reading …
Prayer and honesty are closely linked together. I feel that the starting point for me is to admit that my prayer life is not all that I would like it to be. Just like conversation can help a relationship grow stronger with a friend, conversation with God deepens that relationship as well. However, when I am honest about it, I realize that I let my prayers slip into pretty predictable patterns: “Lord, bless this day,” “protect me and my family,” “meet our needs,” “take care of the missionaries,” etc. These aren’t bad, but they can easily fall into the flippant “how’s it going?” or “have a nice day” category.
Being honest with God is simply telling myself the truth that God is already aware of everything about me. I don’t have to hide behind flowery language or simply say things the way I think God might like me to if I actually met Him in person. I don’t have to carefully choose dignified language. It’s important that I am respectful, but it’s not like God tunes out all the other stuff, like my foolish, angry or insensitive words uttered to others.
To be honest in prayer means that I recognize God’s knowledge of my short-comings, debts, hurts and fears and that He loves me anyway. That is tremendously comforting! Sometimes we think that if God really knew what was going on in our lives, He would be severely disappointed in us. News flash – God already knows and loves us in spite of those things. But, He also loves us enough that He doesn’t want to leave us wallowing in our poor choices and short-sightedness. What a gift prayer is for us!
One of the privileges we have as believers is to pray for other believers as well as “yet-to-become” believers. Some people use prayer guides, missionary lists, or even a church directory to pray. Whatever tool you find helpful, please pray for the work and ministry of Christ’s church in NWYM and around the world.
UPDATES ON MINISTRIES:
The Sowers Fund pledge total as of January is $43,321. We have already received $13,537. This fund was launched at Yearly Meeting 2008, for the purpose of furthering our ability to minister as Christ is calling us. Resources from the Sower’s Fund will be applied to those ministries that are a catalyst for growth and transformation. Since the primary ministry of NWYM happens through groups of Friends who meet and minister together in local communities, it is our desire in 2009 to focus on church planting. The first $50,000 from the Sower’s Fund will be used to support our church planting efforts. For more information about the Sower’s Fund, please contact Colin Saxton at the yearly meeting office or check out the NWYM website.
Dennis Russell, executive director of Friendsview Retirement Community, announced the grand opening of its newest neighborhood, Springbrook Meadows, on Friday, February 20, 2009. Springbrook Meadows is located at 4061 Hayes Street, Newberg, Oregon, behind Providence Newberg Medical Center and next to Providence Drive. “This newest Friendsview neighborhood,” says Russell, “was birthed out of a request from many on our wait list to add more duplex units to our inventory designed for younger active retirees. Proximity to the Chehalem Glenn golf course, shopping, and the Providence Newberg Medical Center is a plus for all the new residents at Springbrook Meadows.” For more information about Friendsview, contact Frank Engle at 503-538-3144 or fengle@friendsview.org.
The Friends Youth Executive Committee, a group of college-aged students who plan high school events for NWYM, have created a new “Youth Challenge” summer program for spiritual growth and development. Youth Challenged through Local Service (YCLS), will send groups of youth to participate in Bridgetown Ministries in Portland, Oregon. Bridgetown Ministries runs a program called “Week of Passion,” taking small groups tino inner-city Portland for several days, guiding them through an intense spiritual and emotional experience. Current plans have NWYM sending a group June 22-28, 2009. This is an amazing opportunity for growth and service, in a way that will greatly benefit everyone involved. Watch for application information.
Local church representatives to NWYM met during mid-year boards. They discussed: “How can we as local churches and individual believers respond to the national and global economic crisis which is affecting many of our people?” People shared what their churches are doing, which includes: Round table discussions between churches and service organizations in the community; teaching people to garden, raise chickens and preserve food; planting a garden at the church; implementing a church community savings fund; weekly meals at the church for the homeless; and encouraging gleaning. Churches have also worked through financial planning resources such as Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace and the Good $ense Budgeting Course by Dick Towner.
NWYM queries 4, 7, 13, 14, and 15 were discussed as pertinent to the topic. Two new queries were written for the meeting:
1. Do you exercise faith in your finances by being grateful, content and trusting of God’s level of provision in your life? Do you seek first the Kingdom of God, keeping your life free from worry while trusting God to meet your needs?
2. Do you humbly ask for and accept the discernment and help of others with your finances when needed? Do you work to create a community that recognizes and carries each other’s burdens?
Representatives are prepared to share with their home churches about these resources and discussions. A webpage has also been developed to share these resources and others.
The Quaker Leadership award, a new scholarship at George Fox University, is designed to recognize students who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and participation within a Yearly Meeting church. Each year, ten awards in the amount of $2,500 each will be given to new incoming students. The award will stack on top of any academic merit award for which the student may have qualified. The Quaker Leadership Award is renewable each year as long as the recipient is in good academic standing, continues to participate with a local Yearly Meeting congregation, and is involved with the Friends Leadership Center activities on campus (includes mentoring, involvement in a ministry effort and seminars). Although the February 15 deadline has passed, some scholarship money may still be available. Please contact Dale Seipp in the Enrollment Services office for more information dseipp@georgefox.edu.
The following are
additional scholarship programs available to all Quaker students who apply for admission at GFU.
Any student with financial need (as determined by the FAFSA) from a Friends or Evangelical Church of North America church with a high school GPA of 3.0 or a combined SAT (reading and math) score above 1000 may receive a grant of $1,400
Earhart match: GFU will double a donation of $500 or less from any Friends church.
Rice match: GFU will triple a donation of $500 or less from an Idaho Friends church.
Multicultural Friends
Student match: GFU will quadruple a donation of $500 or less from any Friends church.
Current pastoral transitions include:
Doug Balzer has been called by Vancouver First Friends. Doug, and his wife Jan will begin immediately.
Gil George is retiring from Boise Friends.
Jim Leonard is resigning from South Salem.
Joe Gerick and Jeff Dumke will be leaving Rose Valley Friends in June.
Churches in the midst of pastoral searches are:
Talent, Camas, Homedale, Rose Valley, South Salem, and Boise. Greenleaf is searching for a full-time associate pastor. Click their name to view the ministry description available on our website.
West Chehalem Friends, outside of Newberg, will be celebrating their centennial on June 28, 2009.
Mennonite Central Committee is sponsoring a regional gathering on immigration issues, to be held Thursday-Saturday, March 12 to 14. Workshops are designed to assist any of us who want to be a force for positive movement forward. Please contact Shawn McConaughey for more information
smcconaughey@nwfriends.org.
The Journey, a NWYM retreat that creates a spiritual environment where God can bring healing to our souls, is scheduled for April 24-26 at Twin Rocks Friends Camp. Call the YM office for information. 503/538-9419.
NWYM women share with Friends from divergent traditions, as they strive to articulate what has been meaningful in the expression and development of their faith. Consider joining them June 16-20, 2010.
The Board of Christian Education offers $250 grants to support local churches in their Christian Education endeavors. View the description and grant form.
In the latest NWYM Connection read about creation as a gift and our lives as a way to honor the Giver.
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