Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends (Quakers)

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Out of my mind…

Last month, 25 of us gathered on the Portland campus of George Fox University for a weekend course on “Pastors and Elders Working Together.” This was a seminary version of a course we will be offering at regional gatherings and local churches in an effort to better equip our elders in their ministries and encourage positive working relationships with our Friends pastors. We are also very close to publishing a revised Elders’ Handbook that will be distributed to your local church and will be available online with updated resources.

One of the most interesting conversations during the class occurred as we discussed the subject of “leadership” among Friends. An excerpt from the Elders’ Handbook on this topic follows:                                                                                                                            

Friends have strong convictions about Jesus being the Head of the Church. He is our Present Teacher and Guide and our first work as His people is to learn to attend to, discern, and mind His leading. Therefore, we trust the Holy Spirit to speak to us individually and communally and to illuminate the Scriptures, so that we might faithfully obey the will of God. Worship after the manner of Friends most often leaves generous time for listening in silence. Out of such silence God may call on anyone in the gathering to minister words of grace and truth. In our meetings for business, we do not gather to debate or vote for our preferences, but to discern the voice of Christ together. When it comes to individuals serving as human leaders among us, they serve expecting no special treatment, higher honor or exalted status. As a people under the headship of Christ, we are careful to treat one another with respect as equals, even when our roles in community differ. Continue reading …

There are a handful of things that set Twin Rock’s high school camp, Surfside, apart from most high school summer camps. The thing most obvious to newcomers is our evening worship gathering. While many camps seek to attract young people with volume and guitar distortion (“not that there’s anything wrong with that”) Surfside has historically sought to facilitate a spacious  and participatory worship gathering where our attention is drawn to the Present Teacher.

By spacious, I mean that we intentionally weave silence into the other components of our gathering. We resist the powerful urge to fill the silence with sounds and words. We teach young people how to listen for the voice of Jesus and then we step away from the microphones and put down our instruments so that they can practice listening to the best of their abilities.

By participatory, I mean that campers are invited to be more than spectators. We regularly give counselors and campers the opportunity to respond to God by voicing or physically demonstrating their communion and commitment to God.

When I say that we attempt to draw one another’s attention to the Present Teacher, I mean that we have de-emphasized the role of the camp speaker. This is not to say that we take the role of teaching lightly. Instead the speaker is often part of a team of worship leaders that help to facilitate the entire worship experience. In addition, just as the Eucharist is the apex of Catholic worship, our worship gatherings seem to build toward open worship where we corporately listen to Jesus and allow Him to speak through any member of the gathered community. This might not be considered “cutting-edge” worship by anyone’s standards but it is interesting to note that while most high school camps are seeing a decrease in attendance, Surfside keeps setting new attendance records almost every year. Something is happening at Surfside between our youth and God that is attractive and compelling.

Questions for discussion:

• Have you participated in worship at Surfside? Share a little about your experience. It would be nice to hear your thoughts.
• Do you have questions about “spacious,” “participatory,” the “Present teacher,”  or other words used to describe worship at Surfside?
• What has helped contribute to meaningful worship in your experience… at camp, church, or…?

Update on Ministries

• Vancouver First Friends Church sponsored a “Vision 20/20″ spiritual gifts seminar with Jan Wood (North Seattle Friends) the first weekend of February. Reports were excellent. Contact them for more information. Jan is director of Good News Associates.

• Several years ago when a storage-room was emptied at Boise Friends church, they seized the opportunity to create a space reserved especially for prayer. With some donated money they purchased a sofa and loveseat and added some donated chairs, endtables, lamps and artwork. The end result is a quiet comfortable room just off the sanctuary where people go to pray on Sunday mornings before the worship service.

It is also used for those who want to meet for specific prayer needs. Some have even used it for a personal prayer retreat during the week. The most surprising use came when they had a woman in the congregation with terminal cancer who was not always able to sit through the service. The room was equipped with a baby monitor and blanket and she could lie down and hear the service just across the hall.

The room is also supplied with a collection of books on prayer, readings, and selections from devotional classics.

• Bible Quizzing within NWYM has concluded another season. This year they studied the book of Luke. Each of the four quiz meets includes worship, fellowship, and great activites, along with the quizzing. This year’s final results are in.

Top middle school Quizzers
1. Kristin Burkholder, Sherwood
2. Matthew Staples, Newberg
3. Kasia Salois, Hayden Lake
4. Christopher Reid, Sherwood
5. Ricky Juliah, Rosedale
6. Dene’ Salois, Hayden Lake
7. Josh Ice, Sherwood
8. Devon O’Donnell

Top three middle school team winners
1. Rosedale (pictured to the right)
2. Sherwood 2
3. Newberg 1

Top eight high school individual winners
1. Chris Lee, Newberg
2. Chris Radford, Greenleaf
3. Zach Baker, Boise
4. Andrew Adams, Boise
5. Joel Sheetz, Hayden Lake
6. Taylor Swan, Newberg
7. Kady Suhr, Hayden Lake
8. David Reid, Sherwood

Top three high school teams
1. Greenleaf 1 (also pictured to the right)
2. Newberg 1
3. Sherwood 1

• As of March 1, the Sowers Fund pledge total is $47,400.68. Actually received to date is $42,390.63. We praise God for the excellent response to this fund, designed to creatively grow the ministry of NWYM. In 2009, the first $50,000 will be committed to Latino ministries.

• Samuel School II is a spiritual leadership retreat for high school juniors and seniors. Each year, students of this age are selected by their local elders to attend. Discussions include different ways that God speaks, ways to be attentive to the presence of God, and how to lead from a sense of hearing God. Adults at each student’s church serve as “Elis,” following up the experience for six months. This year’s retreat will be at Meridian Friends, May 22-25.

• Northwest Yearly Meeting is commencing the search for our Associate Superintendent for Youth and Young Adults. Application guidelines can be requested from Terri Bowen at the office (503/538-9419) or are available online. The deadline is April 20.

• Yearly Meeting Sessions will be held at George Fox University, Sunday, July 26, through Thursday, July 30, 2009. The Outreach Rally will take place Sunday evening, following the Men’s and Women’s Missionary Banquets. The keynote address by Colin Saxton, NWYM superintendent will be Monday evening, and Bob Adhikary, missionary with Evangelical Friends Mission, will share Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. We will gather for worship and business under the theme: We are witnesses.

• West Chehalem Friends Church, Newberg, will be celebrating their centennial on June 28, 2009.

• Recent ministry transitions include:

Syd Wyncoop was recently hired at Talent Friends Church, in southern Oregon. He and his wife Kathy, will arrive from Southwest Yearly Meeting to begin ministry this month.

Wess Daniels has been called by Camas Friends, of southwest Washington. Wess and his wife, Emily, have a daugher, Lillian. He is coming to NWYM from studies at Fuller Theological Seminary and they hold membership at Barberton Evangelical Friends Church, part of Eastern Region.

Churches in the midst of pastoral transition are: Olympic View and Rose Valley in Washington; Homedale, Boise,  and Greenleaf in Idaho; and Silverton and South Salem in Oregon. See their ministry descriptions here.

• Youthworkers are invited to refresh, renew, and re-center at the Lighten Up Retreat, to be held Tuesday, May 5 through Friday, May 8, at Twin Rocks. Cleta Crisman will bring challenge and inspiration. Fee is $35 per individual, or $50 per couple. More information and registration is available online.
  

• Evangelical Friends Mission is sponsoring a Future Missionaries Retreat, for high school grads and older who feel called to missions. It will be held at Quaker Ridge Camp (near Woodland, CO) on May 27-30, 2009. The registration fee is $75 per person (transportation not included). For information contact Brad and Chelsea Carpenter (303) 386-2248.

• Information on the new Youth Challenged through Local Service (YCLS) summer ministry trip for high schoolers, is now available on our website. Check for more information, and application forms for leaders and high schoolers on our website. The ministry experience will team our kids up with Bridgetown Ministries in Portland, Oregon, for three weeks in June-July.

• Southern Idaho churches are partnering to host a YM-wide Volleyball Tournament for high school students and youthworkers. The tournament dates have been changed to May 1-2. The tournament will be held at Nampa Christian Middle School, Nampa, Idaho. Contact Chris Hinderliter for final information.

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Everyone prays, whether it is words spoken into the wind, like no one is there, a call for help at a time of crisis, or praise for something good that has happened. It could even be prayers to Allah five times a day on a regular basis, repeating the same words over and over again, with or without a seeking heart. It could be going to church each week or regularly praying with others.

In Jeremiah, God says that if we seek him with all our hearts he will find us. This includes everyone: good, bad, poor, rich… God loves us each just the same.  Is each one of us seeking him with all our heart?

I have been reminded this month in our women’s bible study on Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Esau, that God is always here. God is always in control no matter what the circumstances are. Is each one of us allowing God to be in control of our life, our emotions, our activities?

Through the same Bible study we looked at Psalms 77 where David calls out to God, asking him where he is and then making a choice to remember the things God already has done for David. Is each one of us choosing to praise God for what he has already done in your life, even when you are surrounded by chaos?

In North Africa we are surrounded by people who are seeking God and want to know if he is a God of love or a God of circumstance? They want to know why we believe that we can have the assurance that God is really for us, loving and forgiving us of our sins.  How does God work in a culture where honor is held in such high regard that admitting you have sinned would bring dishonor to you and your family?

We have joined a group of coworkers here in Fes, putting our faith on the line to see if our prayers can play a pivotal role in turning our city towards Christ. We have made a room available 24 hours a day for the purpose of asking God to reclaim this city for himself. Will God really move in Fes through our prayers, after decades of prayer seeming to have produced so little? We are willing to find out! Please join us in this prayer journey.

“What are we, as Friends churches and individuals, called to do among ourselves and in the community, during this economic crisis?”

What a complex query! Under guidance from the Spirit, NWYM Representatives spent a long special session brainstorming and sharing solutions about this topic at Mid-Year Board Meetings in February.

Silverton Friends Church has begun a program which highlights some of the values and concerns shared among the Representatives.

In fall of 2008, Gene Mulkey (Silverton Friends) attended a Dave Ramsey seminar. Dave Ramsey is a Christian financial advisor who writes about financial health and hosts a nationally syndicated radio talk show dealing with the issue of financial well being and how to find it. Continue reading …

“The place of prayer is a precious habitation,” said John Woolman, early American Quaker and activist for justice. It is a precious place. A safe, inward, quiet place in the face of “great stirrings and commotions in the world.” Sure, it lacks the pizzazz of book titles like Seven Snappy Steps to Power in Prayer. But in the face of stirrings and commotions, it might catch your eye, hook your heart.

“Snappy Steps” praying is about doing business with God. It’s about bargaining, badgering, pleading, selling, finding the right words in the right order to make a good case for our lists and desired outcomes. It is transactional.

Prayer as habitation is relational. It’s about dwelling, about loving to be with God. “Habitation” is a funny old word, but a lot like “habitat.” How is prayer a habitat in which we thrive, gladly at home in the One in whom we live and move and have our being?

Jesus invites us to make our home in him as he makes his home in us. (John 15:4) In this precious place we can sit quietly, soak up the joy, listen deeply for teaching and guidance. We can know that God not only listens to what we say, but also hears what we can’t figure out how to say. God interprets the “groanings of our hearts.”

We can find simple ways to make prayer our habitat, to swim in it as the life-giving current of our days. I once asked an amazing woman of prayer to teach me how to pray. She smiled at me sweetly and said, “Just pray.” The place of prayer is a precious habitation.

Queries for discussion:

• Howard describes prayer as a habitation, a safe place, a place to thrie, sit, soak and listen. What images or emotions would you use to describe your experience of prayer?

Feel free to respond below. Howard and others will help keep the conversation flowing.

Have you ever noticed how many books have been written throughout the years on the topic of prayer? It amazes me just how diverse the opinions and perspectives on prayer have become. It’s pretty easy to talk about prayer in ways that make one sound well-versed on the subject. (In a way, that is what I am doing right now!) It’s even easier to tell people, “I’ll be praying for you.” However, there’s a mystery to prayer that makes it challenging to encompass through reading, writing, or talking about it. I’m learning that it is only through practicing prayer (or the practice of prayer) that I can begin to understand it more fully.

For the longest time, I operated under the assumption that prayer was simply “talking to God.” When something was on my mind, or a certain need had arisen, I was faithful to take that to God in prayer. I talked while God listened and ultimately responded. And yet, little did I know that this type of prayer life was only a small piece of the much larger actuality of authentic prayerfulness. I’m coming to learn that prayer really should be defined as “talking with God.” In prayer we take time to listen for God’s voice, to express our praise and thanks to God, to offer who we are, and then to let our prayers become action in our lives. This process involves obedience and trust.

While scripture exhorts us to “pray continually” and, indeed an attitude of prayerfulness should occur in all that we do, I believe it is equally important to develop fixed times of prayer in our daily lives as well. Prayer is all about faithfulness, on our part and on God’s. We can experience God’s faithfulness through prayer, and at the same time prayer grows faithfulness and obedience in our lives. Taking time each day to be still and to pray will bring growth to all areas of our lives.

Prayer is the cultivation of our awareness of God’s presence in our lives. It conforms us to God’s will and aligns us with what God wants to do. Take time to practice prayer in your daily life. Pray alone. Pray with others. Pray without words. Involve your body while you pray. Explore liturgical prayer or journaling prayer. Pray the Psalms. If you miss someone, pray for them.

A deep and rich prayer life is not reserved for only the spiritually astute. Anyone can experience God through the power and humility of prayer.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

Queries:

• “Prayer is cultivation of our awareness of God’s presence.” How do you respond to this definition of prayer?
• What have been meaningful aids to your prayer life?
• What has created barriers to your prayer experience?

Please feel free to share your thoughts as comments below. It will enhance our discussion!

Learn about the high schoolers from Oregon, Washington, and Idaho who visit in Rwanda, Africa. They were part of the “Youth Challenged to Expand their Worldview” (YCEW) team from NWYM.

Download the April 2009 GO newsletter as a PDF.

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