Who is a Quaker?

This week, my friend Maggie Harrison published a bold post entitled "YOU ARE NOT A QUAKER (so please stop calling yourself one)," in which she challenges us to examine the basis of our faith. With breath-taking hyperbole, Maggie declares that we need to get serious about the process of spiritual transformation - or get out. She writes, "Stop diluting our movement and muddying the waters with your wishy-washy comfort-driven engagement with this group that you think is cool or enjoy 'meditating' with. ... PLEASE LEAVE."

As one would expect, this blog post by a twenty-something Quaker minister telling us all to get the hell out of her denomination went viral. In the comments section, Maggie has been getting alternating hot/cold showers of praise and indignation from Friends across the world. Some Quakers are excited that she is preaching a more serious faith, one that goes beyond rote tradition and feel-good religion, instead embracing the call to radical transformation by the Refining Fire, the Search Light - Christ in us, the hope of glory.

Many others had a viscerally negative reaction to Maggie's post. Clearly, hyperbole does not translate well over the internet, and many individuals seemed to feel personally threatened, believing that Maggie was seriously calling for them to be thrown out of their Meetings. They accused Maggie of being "holier-than-thou," and of totally violating the norms of Liberal Quakerism by judging the spiritual condition of her fellows. To be frank, this blog post really pissed some folks off.

In a way, this is too bad. I know that Maggie was just being silly. Maggie loaded up her rhetorical shotgun and hit us with both barrels. She was looking to get a reaction out of us, and by God (yes!) she did. God made Maggie silly for a purpose, and God is using her to wake us up. Because while her delivery is extreme, profane and off-putting, her message is holiness itself. I give glory to God for the witness that the Spirit has raised up in Maggie. I am thankful for her faithfulness in walking the path of spiritual purification and growth in the Lord.

Maggie's essay cries out for a sanctification of Quakerism, calling the Religious Society of Friends back to its roots in spiritual transformation by Christ's light. The Quaker church began as a radical movement of prophetic faithfulness to God's living Word (the Risen Lord Jesus), and was far more concerned with embodying and proclaiming that message than it was with buildings and endowments; history and Nobel prizes. Maggie wants to see Quakerism live up to its full potential, to be holy.

I feel exactly the same way. We are called to so much more than secure lives in the lap of Empire. We are called to be more than nice, good people. We are called to be holy. The Seed of God is oppressed by the weight of our lives, the way that we have allowed a myriad of other concerns to take precedence over basic faithfulness. We shame the name "Quaker." We have nothing to do with it.

While some are astonished at Maggie's boldness, I think that she has not gone far enough. You are not a Quaker. Neither is Maggie. Nor am I. We are nothing like Quakers. We are pale shadows of those charismatic extremists of the early Quaker movement, who shook the earth for ten miles around when they preached. It is a mockery for us to claim to be one of them.

We have been coasting on the accomplishment of real Quakers for far too long. We love to brag about Quakers' involvement in the Underground Railroad and the abolition of slavery. We adore letting people know about the good works of Friends in reforming the prison system, intervening in war-torn countries, and supporting the Civil Rights movement. We are so proud of "our" Nobel peace prize.

But we are frauds. Quakers do not exist anymore. Three hundred and fifty years was a good run, but it is over now; and the longer we pretend to be something we are not, the more we disgrace a once-proud people.

What if we were to confess that none of us are really Quakers anymore? What would happen if we had the courage to stop laying claim to the past glories of George Fox, Margaret Fell, William Penn and Bayard Rustin? What if, instead of basking in the fiction of our status as "Quakers," we humbled ourselves and started putting our energy into actually nurturing the communities that depend on us?

Because, while Quakerism does not exist anymore, our Meetings do. Our local churches, fellowships and Yearly Meetings are more real than any imagined "Quakerism" could ever be. Are we being faithful in caring for our brothers and sisters, humbling ourselves in service to others? Are we courageous in standing up for truth and mercy, and inviting our local congregations to join us in serving the "least of these" in our society? Do we have the patience to wait on God, allowing Christ's living presence to transform us and remake us from the inside out - not just as individuals, but as whole communities?

What if we stopped trying to be Quakers? What if, instead, we put our energy into being communities that truly reflect the love, joy and peace of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? What if, instead of trying to preserve an heirloom faith, we cast aside everything except our determination to be God's holy, chosen and beloved people, here and now?

States and Conditions

I first became a Quaker because of my own personal experience of God. I knew many people who talked about God, but I was always a doubting Thomas - I needed to see and touch for myself before I could believe. And God, with great mercy, granted me this. God showed up in my life, demonstrating love and power in ways that I could no longer deny.

Early on in my journey as a Friend, I had several opportunities to witness God's life and power in the midst of Quaker gatherings, especially gatherings of young adults. In several intense episodes over the course of a few years, I experienced the explosive power of God. Tent revival stuff: Ecstatic states, visions, and times when there was no doubt that the Spirit was speaking directly to us as a community. The Book of Acts came to seem familiar.

Young Adult Friends Gathering at Burlington, NJ - 2007

With such experiences, it would be easy to become a "God-addict." In truth, one major dynamic of my early development as a Quaker was a search for "peak experiences." I wanted to feel up. I wanted to experience God's presence and power; the ecstasy of communion and the assurance of salvation. My faith in God rested primarily on the euphoria of the Spirit's presence.

The truth is, my faith was weak. Rather than being based in a profound trust of my Creator, my faith was built on the shaky foundation of psychological and emotional states. When I felt connected, when the movement of the Holy Spirit was readily apparent to me, it was easy to believe. But things felt very different when the euphoria faded. In the face of the humdrum of everyday life - not to mention the times of darkness, when God seemed distant from me - it was easy to question all of my previous experience of God. Was that all God was? A fleeting rush of hormones?

A major area of growth for my life as a Christian is realizing that God is present in all my states. Just as the Word is alive and active in those moments of ecstatic communion with Christ, the Word abides within us in times of darkness and suffering. God's shepherding presence is not limited to the times when we feel good. The Holy Spirit transcends human emotional states.

In the Quaker tradition, the role of gospel ministers is to speak to the "states and conditions" of our fellow women and men. God is not dependent upon our psychological or emotional states; rather, the Spirit speaks to us in our states and conditions. Whether through the Spirit-led ministry of our brothers and sisters, or through the inward voice of God in our hearts, Christ stands at the door and knocks in whatever condition we are found.

It is definitely easier for me to recognize the voice of God when I am in a positive state of being. Nevertheless, as I seek to grow in faith, I feel called to rely more on Christ and less on my own personal states. Rather than insisting that God provide me with euphoric experiences, I feel that God is inviting me into a deeper, healthier relationship.

I believe that a truly mature relationship with Christ is one in which we can sense God's Word in all of our states and conditions. I am learning to simply be present with reality as it is, allowing Christ to reveal himself not only in the bread and wine, but also in the cross and crown of thorns. If God was present with Jesus in his greatest suffering, surely the Spirit will remain with me in my daily cycles of joy and sadness, depth and shallowness.

Planning Committee - Young Adult Friends Gathering - 2008

Clothe Yourself in Righteousness (A Review)

Jon Watts is a Quaker musician and spoken word poet, born and raised in Richmond, Virginia as part of Baltimore Yearly Meeting. In the coming days, he is releasing his fourth album, Clothe Yourself in Righteousness. I was blessed to have Jon ask me to review his album.

But first, a little bit of background...

As a youth, Jon says he was a cultural Quaker. He participated in Quaker camps and activities, but he was not convicted in his heart of the Truth that Friends proclaim. After high school, Jon studied at Guilford College as a part of the Quaker Leadership Scholars Program. It was there that he began to personally wrestle with the Friends tradition.

Jon's time at Guilford was also the beginning of his musical career. He released two albums: Self in his sophmore year, and A Few Songs Occasioned in his senior year. Self, as the name might imply, was focused primarily on personal exploration. It was Jon's first foray into recording, and it bore the marks of a young man in the process of finding himself in the world.

Jon's second album was different. Composed as his senior project at Guilford, A Few Songs Occasioned rooted Jon's exploration deeply in the world of the first generation of Friends. Jon would later say that the process of composing and producing this album was what began to convict him of the message and witness of the early Quakers. Jon became a convinced Friend.

Following college, Jon spent a year at Pendle Hill - a Quaker study center near Philadelphia - during which time he released a third album, The Art of Fully Being. This album was a more mature version of Self. It was a self-exploration for sure, but one rooted in Jon's deepening walk with God. In The Art of Fully Being, Jon's spiritually grounded concern for the human and natural world comes across clearly. We see the way that God has been tendering Jon's heart, healing him of past wounds, and calling him into greater faithfulness.

Clothe Yourself in Righteousness

Jon's fourth full album (he came out with an EP in 2009) returns again to an explicit focus on the witness of the early Quaker movement. Two of the ten songs are retellings of early Quaker ministry, and all of the tracks are infused with a raw Quaker spirituality that draws directly on the explosive witness of the earliest generation of Friends.

In Clothe Yourself in Righteousness, Jon finds a dynamic balance between past and present, self and community, spirit and flesh. This is the work of a mature artist who has received the courage to look deep inside himself and bear the Truth. Guided by the witness of Christ in his heart, Jon's music reveals the intimacy and tenderness of God's love.

It also reveals the radical challenge of faithfulness. While Clothe Yourself in Righteousness basks in the tender love of God, it is also unflinching in its call to risky relationship with both God and our fellow humans. This album is sometimes comforting, but it does not leave us feeling comfortable. On the contrary, Jon calls on us to sacrifice selfish comfort as we pursue the Truth. Clothe Yourself in Righteousness invites us to "get naked" - making ourselves vulnerable for the sake of love, letting the power and protection of God become our only defense.

Clothe Yourself in Righteousness is a testament of courage. God has done enormous work in Jon's heart over the past several years, and it shows in this album. CYiR offers us an opportunity to join Jon on this journey, discovering the revealing, healing power of Christ's light.

This is a content-rich piece of art. There are lots of words in this album, and CYiR bears listening to again and again, just to catch the nuances of his poetry. Yet, this album would not be whole without the instrumental accompaniment of guitar, violin and cello. The violin and cello in particular give CYiR an epic, soaring feel that emotionally moves and lifts the spirit.

This is not pop music; it is not meant to be background. When you buy this album, I encourage you to resist the urge to multitask. Instead, before you hit play, sit down without any distractions, and open yourself to the roughly forty minutes of ministry that this album has in store for you. I trust that the Spirit will be present.

A Mighty Fortress Is Our Meeting

I was speaking with a friend recently about the spiritual state of his Meeting. The Meeting in question probably has an average attendance of seventy five, and benefits from an excellent meetinghouse, moderately populated children's program, and a fairly solid level of engagement - both practical and financial - from the congregation. As a community, the Meeting is doing pretty well. Yet, my friend was concerned: Community is good and worth developing, but how do we move beyond mere human community and into a shared relationship with God?

In many congregations, human community often becomes the focus rather than shared commitment to discipleship and mission. Rather than challenging one another, we often focus primarily on giving one another warm fuzzies and a place to fit in. Rather than reaching out to the world, it is tempting to place our emphasis on fulfilling the desires of the already-established community. If we succumb to this temptation, the Meeting can become primarily a place of refuge from the world, and even from the challenging face of God.

In examining the spiritual state of his Meeting, my friend observed interesting parallels between the youth programs in his Yearly Meeting and the state of the adult community. He remembered the way in which his children began to distance themselves from their Quaker youth group - and from Quakerism - as they grew more secure and comfortable in their schools and social lives. The kids who remained part of the Meeting's youth group tended to be ones who struggled to find their place in other areas of their lives. They felt like outsiders at school, and the Quaker youth programs and camps were the place where they felt most accepted and cared for. As the children of the Meeting grew older, the youth group became increasingly a collection of young people who did not fit in anywhere else.

What this meant was that the youth group became the primary community and social bond for these young people. They might not fit in at school or at home, but they could feel sure that at least their fellow Quaker youth would be on their side. This environment of affirmation and nurture is clearly very important, and those who participate in it surely benefit in a variety of ways. However, there may be unintended consequences that arise from youth programs that focus primarily on social circles and belonging. Through a set of shared rituals - jazz hands, cuddle puddles, and wink - and shared cultural assumptions and behaviors, the primary purpose of the Quaker youth community becomes about supporting "people like us." In the extreme, Quakerism boils down to being "a place for good people like us."

In my friend's experience, this in-group dynamic is not limited to the youth. On the contrary, he saw the way that adult religious communities can be formed primarily around human needs for social and emotional security, rather than out of a corporate commitment to discipleship and mission in the world. My friend saw that there could be a pervasive "tribal" ethos in the adult Meeting. Just like the youth group, the adult Meeting saw itself as being made up of "good people" who provide a refuge for others who do not fit into the surrounding culture. Politically liberal folks with a transcendentalist spiritual bent; folks with a focus on eco-justice; pacifists; and individuals that, for whatever reason, do not fit in anywhere else. They can find a place in the Meeting Tribe.

None of this is bad, per se. People need a community where they feel accepted and loved for who they are, and the Church has always been such a place for those who are the most marginalized in the cultures where we have found ourselves. And yet, having a community that is primarily predicated on acceptance of others based on tribal values - shared rituals, assumptions and life experience - can pose a great spiritual danger: The community can become more about providing comfort and security than about growing in holiness and service to Christ; it can become more focused on nurturing our peculiar habits and assumptions than it is on risking the safety of the status quo in order to lead lives of service to our neighbors who do not share our tribal affinities.

How can we strike an appropriate balance between our comforting affinity groups and the challenging fellowship that God calls us into with our dissimilar neighbors? How can we tell the difference between the universally relevant Tradition, which we have received from God, and those habits and customs that are based more in the peculiarity of our tribe than in Christ's continuing revelation? What would it take for us to become a people who, rather than treating our communities as retreats from the world, instead treated them as centers for mutual support and renewal, training and equipping us to do the work of God together in our broken world? What would it be like if we threw wide the doors of our Meetings to anyone, regardless of their ideological and political views, socio-economic status, reading ability, fashion habits and food preferences?
What would it take for us to live our lives in the vibrant fellowship that God offers, rather than being content with our broken cisterns? Come, taste and see that the Lord is good! We are blessed when we take refuge in the shadow of God's wings.(1)
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1. see Psalm 34:8

Nurturing a Movement at Home and Abroad - Micah's Ministry Newsletter #25

Dear Friends of Jesus,

Greetings from Capitol Hill, where we are still enjoying relatively high temperatures despite being at the end of November. My father, who was here with us for the Thanksgiving break, commented many times on how mild our weather was, and I feel grateful that we have not yet begun to get the wintry conditions that I hear are now developing in much of the country.

This past month has been one of many blessings in our work here on Capitol Hill, as well as in the wider world. Early this month, Faith and I were able to attend the Young Adult Friends Intervisitation Consultation, held at Quaker Hill in Richmond, Indiana. The event was jointly sponsored by Friends General Conference and Friends United Meeting. I felt blessed to be able to connect with a number of fellow gospel laborers who were also in attendance. I continue to benefit from the wider community of Friends, which helps me to understand my place in our tradition. I hope that my service is of some benefit to the wider Religious Society of Friends.

Following the consultation, I was able to meet with the planning committee for the 2010 YAF Gathering, which took place this past May. This was our last meeting, six months after the end of the conference, and it was good to debrief as a committee and finish the last bits of business that we had before us. Overall, we felt that we had been faithful in our service as organizers for the 2010 YAF Gathering, and we were grateful for the leading and opportunity to serve in this way.

We were grateful for the ways that we as a planning committee were able to connect, and the ways in which we experienced Christ's presence in our midst, both in our planning and during the conference itself. We were saddened by the fact that some participants did not feel welcome at the gathering. As we invited Friends to attend, we found that Liberals often felt that they were being invited to an Evangelical gathering, and Evangelicals often felt they were being invited to a Liberal gathering. It is indeed a hard thing to stand in the middle in the diverse and heterodox tapestry of communities that make up North American Quakerism.

The following weekend, we on Capitol Hill were blessed by the arrival of Tyler Hampton of New City Friends in Detroit. Tyler visited among us under a minute from his worship group, and participated in a called meeting for worship of Capitol Hill Friends. We traveled with him to visit Rockingham Friends Meeting in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and later to Old Town Friends in Baltimore. Our sense was that Tyler was of great service in his ministry among us, and in our region, and we are thankful to New City Friends for sending him to us.

Tyler is among a growing number of Friends who are feeling a call to take part in a movement of engaged, missional Quaker faith. With his and others' encouragement, I have recently written a series of essays on my blog that give a rough sketch of what such a movement might look like among Friends and beyond. The response to this series has been great, and I am pleased to see how much enthusiasm exists for a more vital, Christ-centered, justice-seeking Quaker witness. I hope to continue to encourage Friends to join me and others in listening for how Christ is leading us today, and to live into the mission that he is calling us to.

There is no doubt that we are being called. In recent months, I have been contacted by Friends across the United States and Europe who are hearing Christ's call to lead transformed lives that embody the Gospel and serve the "least of these" in our society. I am astonished by the work of the Spirit, and am constantly reminded of how little this has to do with me; God is doing a new thing, and I pray that I may be faithful in playing my own small part in this fresh movement of the Holy Spirit. And I hope that you will join me, finding your part in Christ's work in this generation.

Locally, I have been encouraged by my recent interactions with two Christian communities in the DC area. To begin with, I have become increasingly involved with the community of one of the attenders of Capitol Hill Friends. This attender lives with three other twenty-somethings in the Congress Heights neighborhood, which is predominantly low income and African-American. The folks at her house have some Quaker background, but do not have a shared spiritual practice as a community; their main goal is to be good neighbors in their area and to be involved in the wider community. I have begun attending Bible study there, which includes the residents of the house, as well as some other folks from the neighborhood. In addition, I am getting involved with the organizing of a new Food Not Bombs group, which seeks to serve the Congress Heights neighborhood.

I have also been blessed to come into relationship with some Friends in Frederick, Maryland who are eager to go deeper in a missional expression of their faith as Quaker Christians. These Friends also hold a Bible study, and I am hopeful that we might be able to eventually attend at least some of their meetings, though Frederick is about an hour and a half away from us with heavy traffic, which renders the journey a bit difficult. In any case, I hope that we can continue to encourage each other as we seek to walk in Christ's Way.

It feels good to be getting more deeply involved in the wider community here in DC. For much of my first year here, my attention was mostly focused outward, on my work organizing among Young Adult Friends nationally. Now, however, I feel that God is calling me to focus more of my attention on developing relationships locally. I hope that, as I become more integrated into the city's communal life, I might become a more effective witness to the grace and peace of Christ that has so transformed my own life.

Paradoxically, while I am seeing such amazing growth and opportunity in my life and work, I also struggle at times spiritually. I am often challenged to see the willfulness that still exists in my heart; I want things to happen after my own fashion, and it often takes me a long time to come around to accepting God's will when it runs counter to my own assumptions and desires. As Christ calls me deeper into his Kingdom-life, I face the prospect of ongoing spiritual baptism. Just like the crucifixion that leads to resurrection, these inward baptisms can be truly confusing and agonizing, especially when I insist on resisting to the work of the Holy Spirit in my heart.

I am deeply grateful for my wife, Faith. God uses her so beautifully to keep me on track and to strengthen me when I pass through the inward darkness. I am also grateful for the support and counsel of my Meeting, and of my fellow workers and elders scattered across the distances, who help keep me balanced and give me an outside perspective. I am who I am, and am released to do the work that I do, because of the faithful example and care of many good friends in Christ.

I pray that God establish in your life the relationships of support and guidance that you need as Christ calls you deeper into his challenging way of engagement with the world and his mission to share the Gospel with all people. I look forward to laboring alongside you in his name.

Your friend in Truth,

Micah

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Missional Quaker Faith Series:

• Introduction
• Following Jesus
• Deep Listening
• Discipleship
• Letting Our Lives Preach
• Visionary Leadership
• Organic Growth
• A Heart for Service
• Conclusion

Emerging Leaders in FUM and New Life In DC - Micah's Ministry Newsletter #23

Dear Children of Light,
This past month has been one of transition. As summer fades into fall, I have begun to shift my lifestyle to focus my energies on the ministry that God has called me to here in Washington, DC. This past year, I was primarily focused on the world beyond Washington, DC; I travelled almost constantly, visiting Friends across the United States. This has been a fertile time, and I feel that I have grown as a minister, as well as having some positive impact on the Religious Society of Friends. In recent months, however, I have been increasingly under the weight of a concern to reorient myself to place more emphasis on mission in the city of Washington.

Capitol Hill Friends is beginning to show signs of putting down roots and gelling as a group. We have been encouraged by the loving presence of Noah Baker-Merrill, who is sojourning with us from Putney Friends Meeting in New England Yearly Meeting. We have also been blessed by many visitors from area Friends Meetings to our Wednesday night meetings. At a recent meeting for worship, we were pleased to have visitors from Rockingham Friends Meeting, and we had a much larger attendance than we had experienced up until then. Our worship life feels like it is getting deeper, and overall we sense a remarkable up-tick in energy and group cohesion. The Spirit is moving in our little fellowship on Capitol Hill.

This moment feels ripe for growth, and I feel an increasing concern to be out in the Lord's harvest field. Consequently, I anticipate that much of my energy in the coming months will go into nurturing Capitol Hill Friends as it grows and develops into the  community that God intends it to be.  Faith and I will continue to host regular meetings for worship, and we will also be undertaking increasing pastoral care and outreach. Most critically, we will be empowering new leaders to share in the work of the church. Please pray for us as we seek to foster an environment of mutual love, service and accountability at Capitol Hill Friends.

As the gospel labor intensifies in DC, my professional work is shifting and finding new definition, as well. I will continue to be employed by Earlham School of  Religion this coming year, and I have been in discernment with my colleagues as to how we can best collaborate to share ESR's vision for the Religious Society of Friends. ESR's ministry of teaching and discipleship of emerging Christian leaders is at the core of our mission as a Friends seminary, but ESR also has a passion to reach out beyond our current student body and to engage in shared conversations about the future of our tradition and community as Friends. We hope to make the wealth of wisdom, creativity and vision that is present at ESR more readily available and visible online, so that Friends around the world can engage in a conversation with us about what faithful leadership looks like in this young century.

In order to implement this new phase in my employment with Earlham School of Religion, I have been traveling regularly to Richmond, Indiana to be present with the residential ESR community. Being with my colleagues in the Richmond office is helpful in building working relationships; and being present in Richmond presents the opportunity to take part in a rich intersection of Quaker life and thought available in few other places. A good example of this is my latest trip to Richmond, when I was able to attend the Friends United Meeting Emerging Leaders Conference.

The Emerging Leaders Conference was outstanding. Colin Saxton of Northwest Yearly Meeting was our main speaker,  and his gentle, weighty presence provided a substantial core for our time together. He invited us to rest in Christ and to exercise leadership in our communities by being a non-anxious presence. Colin spent much of his time speaking on responsibility and the difference between the personal responsibility we bear for our own lives before God and the responsibility that we bear to one another in community. He encouraged us to remember that only God has the power to effect deep change in the lives of others, and that as we accept this, our own personal responsibility and limits become clear. This ability to distinguish between our own responsibility before God and the responsibility that others must bear, he argued, is one of the marks of a gifted leader.

It is this clarity about personal responsibility to God that allows us to see how to exercise effective and responsible leadership in community. When we acknowledge the limits of our own responsibility we are freed to empower new leadership in our communities; when we see that we are incapable of carrying the burden alone, we can invite others into the challenges and blessings of leadership.

Jay Marshall, dean of Earlham School of Religion, presented about the realities of leadership among Friends, and the potential for a workable model for Quaker leadership going forward. Jay pointed out that among Friends there are two sources of authority that remain in tension: A sense of divine leading felt by the individual, and the discernment of individual leadings by the community. This tension is healthy, helping us to hold both individuals and Meetings accountable to new motions of the Spirit. However, Jay explained that Friends sometimes risk suffocating the Spirit-led leadership of the individual, elevating community habits and inertia over fresh leadings of God. While leadings must be tested, it is crucial that genuine leadership be recognized and empowered by the community. We as Friends must learn to grant authority to individuals who have been called into leadership among us, taking care not to undercut the work of our leaders with passive-aggressive demands that they be "more servant-like."

Our presenters brought great depth and substance to the conference, but at least equally important was the quality of those emerging leaders who attended. We had Friends in attendance from most of the North American Yearly Meetings of Friends United Meeting, including a very hefty contingent from North Carolina.  There were many Friends whom I already knew, but there were also quite a few that I had never met before. I felt very blessed by the opportunity to gather with other "FUMers," other Friends from both pastoral and unprogrammed Meetings whose lives and ministries are rooted in Jesus Christ.

This event felt like a realization - at least in some small degree - of my dream for Friends United Meeting: That we be a fellowship  that can proclaim the Christian faith of Friends to a world that is so desperately in need of the love of Jesus Christ. This conference was a time of unity, where Friends from a wide variety of backgrounds gathered in the name of Christ to explore how we can develop as leaders in our local fellowships and Yearly Meetings. For many of us, this was a precious time of finding that there is indeed a place for us to stand as Christians in the Quaker tradition. We found unity in Christ that overcame our outward differences: There was neither programmed nor unprogrammed, male nor female, Liberal nor Evangelical - we were all one in Christ Jesus. Praise God for that!

I hope that Friends United Meeting continues to organize these conferences in the years to come. It is so important that FUM be more than simply an abstract affiliation; we need to know one another, becoming co-laborers with one another in the Way of Jesus. It is my hope that we will work with one another, pray for one another, and seek to strengthen each one in his or her ministry. As we come to know one another more deeply in Christ, the bonds between our local churches and Yearly Meetings will deepen, and we may truly become Friends United Meeting.

Thank you for your ongoing prayers for me, for Capitol Hill Friends, and for the Body of Christ as a whole. Faith and I rely on your love and prayer support to continue the work that we are doing among Friends, particularly our ministry in Washington, DC. Please continue to hold us in prayer! The spiritual battle is only just beginning, and we need your faithful intercession now more than ever. Please let me know how I can best be praying for you, as well. We each have a particular ministry to which we are called, and through our prayers we can help one another live into that call, protected from all powers of darkness by the mercy of Jesus Christ.

Your friend in Jesus, the living Word of God,

Micah Bales

Bridging the Generational Divide in Ministry

I recently had a conversation with an experienced pastor about his struggles in ministry. He lamented that he did not feel clear to retire, though he would soon be old enough. As much as he might like to relinquish his duties as pastor, he did not see many young men and women being called to the pastorate. If he were to retire now, he explained, it did not seem likely that there would be anyone to take over. What was going wrong in the Church, he wondered, that new leadership was not emerging?

My initial reaction to this pastor's woes was to suggest that he get out of the way. I know for a fact that there are many young women and men today who are being called into ministry, and if they are not coming forth as leaders in his congregation, perhaps he should step down as pastor to make room for new leadership to emerge.

As I reflected more deeply on this pastor's predicament, however, I realized that nurturing new leadership in his church would take a lot more than him simply standing aside and making way for the next generation. In fact, if he were to do that, it would probably devastate his congregation, which certainly relies on him for guidance, pastoral care, and spiritual support. The more I considered it, the more convinced I became that this pastor - and the thousands of church leaders across North America who face similar situations - did well to continue on in his service. The church needs him. That being said, there is still a lot of thinking to do about what it might look like for him and others to serve in such a way that nurtures and makes space for the next wave of leadership in the local church.

We as the Church are dealing with issues that can only be reckoned with when we recognize that we are living in a unique, transitional time; we must also realize the importance of honoring generational differences as we pass through this transition. Based on my own experience, I would venture to say that most of the men and women serving in leadership today in mainline Protestant and Quaker congregations are Boomers, as well as some from the World War II generation. When this pastor expressed his discouragement that the "next generation" was not emerging to take up service to the Church, I assumed he was referring to Generation X (born 1965-1979), and Millenials (born 1980-1995[?]).

While there are many in my generation who are being called to dedicate their lives to God's service, many Millenials who are called to the ministry are called to forms of ministry that the older generations do not easily recognize. Our ministry often takes place in diverse networks, rather than in a strictly congregational context; we tend to see the Church as being a web of relationships in Christ, rather than fixed membership in a particular congregation. This makes things complicated when the generations seek to collaborate in ministry.
For their part, Boomers and World War II generation Christians have largely seen ministry as being by definition in the model of the traditional pastorate, and many of them are distressed that so few young people are emerging to carry on the model of full-time, released pastoral ministry in this new generation. And their distress is based in reality; while I know a number of excellent Generation-X and Millenial pastors in traditional settings, there simply aren't enough to serve all of our churches.

Within my own tradition, the Religious Society of Friends, churches are laying themselves down left and right; with low numbers, elderly membership and little appetite for questioning the status quo, there is not much hope for these traditional congregations. Most younger Christians aren't attending those dying churches, much less providing leadership. For many Xer and Millenial Christians, the older model does not compute with our way of life and experience of how God works in our culture.

Despite the desire on the part of many in the older generations to see a robust pastoral system along the lines of the traditional Protestant model, the nature of ministry is in flux in our context of early 21st century post-Christendom. The old-school pastoral model feels increasingly irrelevant for many in the post-modern generations. Many of us are not only not attracted to the pastorate - we are repelled by the labyrinthine committee structures and institutional jargon of our denominations. We feel a disconnect with the 20th-century structures of the modern Church because we intuitively sense that it fails to speak to the needs of many in the post-modern generations, no matter how much it still speaks to folks of the WWII-era and Boomer generations.

In my generation there seems to be a marked shift toward placing an emphasis on what Protestants would call "lay ministry" - that is, the model that the early Quakers advocated. While most of the history of Christianity has been dominated by the hierarchical structures of Christendom (the Church's marriage to Empire from Constantine until present), both the early Friends and many Gen-X and Millenial Christians today are experimenting with ways of "being church" that don't involve top-down institutionalism - whether in the form of priestly hierarchies or life-draining committee structures.

These emerging models are characterized by networks, local empowerment and free gospel ministry, without the need for a formal hierarchy among members of the Church. Everyone is called to share freely the gifts that God has given them to build up the Church. While different ones of us have different callings and gifts, we share together what we have, so that the Body of Christ might be strengthened and the Gospel proclaimed through our lives.

Many emerging (or converging) churches today are experimenting with a way of life together that does not require a paid pastor. For instance, I have visited a church in Indiana where the worship service consists of a shared meal followed by praise music and a period of waiting on the Risen Lord in silence, out of which spoken ministry is often given under the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit. Until recently, various members of the church - including children - had given prepared sermons, as well, but in the last few months they have not felt led to prepare messages ahead of time. They simply gather together, share a meal, sing songs of praise, and wait on the Lord himself to lead them. This is quite different from the traditional Protestant pastoral model, but well within the norms of what we know of from the early Church.

There are more and more churches springing up across North America that are being led to operate in these new, yet ancient, ways. They are emerging in rural areas and in dense population centers, among the privileged middle class and among the poor. These churches are drawing some who have long been involved with institutional church structures, as well as others who are coming to Christ for the first time in this new format. The Holy Spirit is at work, drawing an unlikely assortment of people together to follow after Jesus and become his disciples.

This is not to say that these new churches have completely broken with the older model - or with the older generations. In the cases that I am familiar with, the leaders of these churches tend to have strong relationships with the more traditional congregations where they came to be Christians, often still serving in leadership roles in WWII and Boomer generation churches while at the same time tending the flames of a new movement among Gen-Xers and Millennials. The overall pattern that I have observed is one of organic transition, not hasty revolution.

It has become clear to me in my experience of this emerging movement of post-modern churches that the younger generations of ministers are quite willing to work side-by-side with their older colleagues. The defiant rebellion for which the Boomers were so famous does not seem to be present among most Gen-Xers or Millenials. The fact that the rising generations have different worldviews and needs than their predecessors should not prevent us from collaborating and supporting one another; it should not even mean we need to split organizationally. However, in order to walk together faithfully as the Church, all living generations will need to learn how to encourage one another in our strengths and be intentional about bearing one another up where we are weak.

What might this look like, practically speaking? To begin with, Boomers in particular will have to humble themselves. I cannot imagine anything more humbling than to recognize that my own model of ministry - the way that God has worked in my life- is not eternal or universal. God provides each generation with the tools and forms that it needs to preach the Gospel to the people in that social and cultural context. Whatever God called us to in the 20th century, the 21st century is going to look a lot different.

That being said, if the Boomers are willing to humble themselves before the Lord, he will lift them up and use them to counsel and equip a new generation of leaders. Many of these new ministers will bear little outward resemblance to their predecessors. Many of them will never be pastors, in the traditional sense. But, if Boomer pastors and other Boomer church leaders are able to accept the shift in ministry style and church structure that is taking place in this new century, they will be in a position to support the transmission of the Gospel message to a new generation of Christians.

To accomplish this, there is no reason for most Boomer pastors to stop being pastors. It is merely a question of shifting the priorities of the pastorate. While before, perhaps, the emphasis had been on maintaining old institutions, the focus needs to shift to nurturing, discipling, and empowering emerging leaders. And here is the greatest challenge and the most exciting promise: These daring Boomer leaders will be creating space for a totally new thing to spring forth in their churches and denominations.

These new leaders won't look like the old ones - won't think like them, won't operate like them. But they will serve the same Lord, and they will be united in bonds of mutual love and affection with the older leaders who have mentored them and released them for ministry. As these new ministers adapt to meet the needs of the younger generations, they will maintain the unity of the Church, because their organic, spiritual and relational unity with the previous generations in the Church will never be in question.

Similar humility and intergenerational cooperation will be required of older Christians who presently dominate most local church and denominational institutions. Time and again, I hear the lament come up from the extensive committee structures of the Quaker world: "We don't have any young people!" And they don't. Xers are practically invisible, and Millenials are generally token participants in institutional affairs.

It is time that the WWII and Boomer generations in church leadership seriously consider whether their committees and institutions are truly relevant to those who have come after them. In many cases, they are not. In some cases, this will probably mean that committees, structures and organizations need to be laid down entirely. But this will not be the case across the board. Certainly, many of our committees and institutions have not entirely outlived their usefulness; but their focus may need to shift.

Just as in the case of pastoral ministers, the committees and institutional leaders of our churches and denominations will need to change their priorities from maintaining the status quo to nurturing and creating space for the growth of the new thing that God is doing in the emerging generations. This will mean big changes, and it will mean releasing control of cherished programs and institutions, giving younger Christians a real, adult share in leadership. It will be hard, and even painful; times of transition always are. But it will result in the empowerment of muted voices in the Church and allow Christ to work through us to share his love with all generations.

So far, it sounds like folks in the WWII and Boomer generations are being asked to make all the sacrifices. And it's true: Greater responsibility does fall on those who have decades more experience and grounding in the faith, and in the institutions of the Church. But we must also ask hard things of our rising Gen-X and Millenial leaders. As tempting as it might be for inexperienced young Christians to leave behind all of the drama of the Church, we as emerging leaders must accept our role as agents of transformation within the existing Church. We cannot claim to love our older brothers and sisters in Christ if we refuse to labor patiently alongside them, even when we are frustrated by the painfully slow pace of change in our churches and denominations.

This does not mean that we should not push for change. It certainly does not mean that we should avoid innovative and unexpected ministry that God calls us to. On the contrary, the road we are to walk will be filled with challenges. The fact is, God very often calls us into conflict with our brothers and sisters in the Church. This is how God breaks us open and humbles us so that we are ready to do Christ's work. Because it is scary when God does a new thing, we should expect resistence, even from other Christians. But we as Gen-X and Millenial leaders in the Church have a responsibility to submit ourselves to the Church. This means waiting and demonstrating patience as we struggle through the hard places. This means not running away when issues arise that frighten or anger us. Submission to the Church means embracing conflict, seeing it as an opportunity for growth rather than a danger to be fled from.

While WWII-era and Boomer Christians will often feel stretched by how much we Xers and Millenials want to change the Church's way of doing things, we younger folk are bound to feel stifled by the inertia and reluctance to shift gears on the part of our older brothers and sisters. To be frank: We need to suck it up. The Church of Jesus Christ has been in existence for two thousand years, and the Church is by necessity quite conservative. We as the Body of Christ have a responsibility to hold on to what we know is true and weigh innovation carefully. As younger Christians, we need to get used to the idea that change takes time; and we should repay the mentoring, support and nurture that we receive from older Church leaders with a certain amount of forbearance in the face of resistance to change.

While WWII and Boomer generation church leaders and pastors nurture emerging leaders and make space for new and innovative forms of ministry and church life, rising leaders of the Gen-X and Millenial generations must take care to honor the experience and tradition that is held by the older generations. This will mean holding tension and dealing with outright conflict. We do well to thank God when conflict comes to the surface, because it is through the healthy expression of conflict that we as the Church are given opportunity to confess our sins to one another and be brought together in Christ as we recognize our desperate need for him as a people. When we realize that we do not have all the answers ourselves, we are given the chance to humble ourselves at Jesus' feet, receiving his guidance together.

To be able to move forward in unity, we need to find how Christ is leading us to walk together, caring for all generations of Christians in our fellowships, and to reach out to those who have not yet found the joy and peace that is in Christ Jesus. There is a great people to be gathered in this generation, and God wants to use us to bring in the harvest. But we must first be transformed as a Church. Neither rigid adherence to the church folkways of the past century, nor a complete break with tradition will prepare us for the work that God has in store for us. Only by listening together for how God wants to use the gifts of the whole Church, and by being faithful in upholding one another in those gifts, can we faithfully proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ across the generations.

Micah's Ministry Newsletter #20 - YAF Gathering 2010; Service Days; Great Plains Yearly Meeting; and Illinois Yearly Meeting

Dear Friends,

More than usual has happened this past month. The YAF gathering came off without any major hitches, followed by volunteer service in the city of Wichita; I attended Great Plains Yearly Meeting; and, not long after that, I was able to join Friends in Illinois Yearly Meeting for their annual sessions. In the meantime, I have also stayed engaged with Friends in the DC area and in Virginia. This has been a full and fruitful time for Christ's work in my life, and I hope that you will forgive me if I run a little long in my report.

To begin with, the 2010 Young Adult Friends Gathering was held, with divine assistance, over Memorial Day weekend in Wichita, Kansas. Young adults from across the United States and Canada - as well as a few Latin American Friends - came together,  representing twenty three Yearly Meetings. All branches of Quakerism were represented, and Liberal-Unprogrammed, orthodox and Evangelical Friends were present in roughly equal numbers, along with a few Conservative and independent Friends.

Our time together was richly blessed with the sustained and gentle presence of the Holy Spirit who kept us grounded in unity and peace, despite the difficulties we faced as we came together from our different backgrounds, cultures and perspectives. We sought God's face together in periods of extended unprogrammed worship; we also celebrated God's presence among us with hymns and praise music; and we received teaching from from Dave Williams of Barclay College in two of our evening sessions.

Our different beliefs and practices stretched all of us to seek that which is truly central in our life together as Friends. Some of us were exposed to far more unprogrammed worship than we were used to, while others of us were astonished to see some Friends raise their hands in adoration as we sang songs of praise to the Lord. It is safe to say that each one of us was uncomfortable some of the time, and I know for a fact that some Friends came away from the event feeling that it was a "mostly Liberal" gathering, while others came away feeling that it was an "Evangelical-oriented" conference. I think this speaks to the prophetic power of Christ's work among us. None of us came away unchallenged.

This gathering was a wake-up call for many of us as to the reality  of the divisions within the Religious Society of Friends. The splits, while they may have begun as disputes over seemingly minor points, have grown to a breadth and depth that we are forced to acknowledge that we are incapable of mending the wounds ourselves. It is in this surrender, this recognition of our own inability to save ourselves, that I pray that we will become receptive to the reconciling power of Christ in our hearts and in our midst as a people gathered in His Name.

The weekend gathering was followed by a few days of service. Between a half dozen and a dozen of us who had stayed on after the gathering worked with Mennonite Housing in Wichita. We did landscaping at two different sites, and we were surprised at how happy folks were to see us at Mennonite Housing and in the communities where we were working. We did not expect any gratitude for our brief time of community service, and we were humbled by the appreciation we received.

We were surprised at how simple it was to set up a work-camp for YAFs. Tyler Hampton, the main organizer for the service days, said that setting up the service project was, "the easiest thing [he] had done in [his] life." We would like to encourage young adults to organize their own work camps through established organizations like Mennonite Housing. It can be done - and quite easily.
We concluded our service by helping Friends at Heartland Meeting to prepare their meetinghouse to host the annual sessions of Great Plains Yearly Meeting. About half a dozen of the YAFs from the Memorial Day gathering stuck around for GPYM, and it was a blessing to have their prayerful presence with us as we conducted our business as a Yearly Meeting.

This year's sessions of Great Plains were probably the best that I had ever experienced. We enjoyed new leadership from Laura Dungan, who has taken over as presiding clerk.  Her energy and vision has been indispensable in the past year in mobilizing Friends to  take on the ministry of intervisitation in the Great  Plains region, and it was a joy to see her presiding over her first Yearly Meeting business sessions. I appreciated the discipline I saw her bring to our proceedings, and I felt blessed by both her warmth and her seriousness in the role.

We were grateful to have many guests - YAFs from the recent gathering; visitors from other Yearly Meetings, FGC and FUM; and visitors from neighboring Meetings in the Great Plains region. It was gratifying to see Great Plains Yearly Meeting serving as a bridge across the branches, both nationally and regionally.

We also faced great sadness together as a Yearly Meeting. We were shocked and deeply grieved to learn that our friend John Damon, an active member of Great Plains Yearly Meeting, was dying of a post-op infection following an otherwise-successful liver transplant. We were not prepared for this news, and many tears were shed over our dear friend. John was a valued member of our fellowship, and his loss is a great blow to us.

This year's sessions were a time of letting go for me, personally. As I am now living at a considerable distance from the Great Plains and have no plans to return, it felt right to lay down my leadership roles in the Yearly Meeting. I had served as co-clerk of Ministry and Counsel, as well as serving on Continuing Committee; I stepped down from both of these positions. I feel  much gratitude to Friends in GPYM who have upheld my ministry and have allowed me to serve among them. While I am saddened that I am no longer in a position to take an active role in Yearly Meeting leadership, I am confident in the work that Christ is doing in the Yearly Meeting. The spiritual gifts that Friends need to do the work they are called to are present in the body; I pray for Friends in Great Plains Yearly Meeting the wisdom to be used in God's service.

After a brief trip back to DC, I was once again on the road, this time out to Illinois Yearly Meeting. ILYM has its sessions near McNabb, Illinois, at the beautiful Clear Creek Meeting House. Near the meetinghouse, there is space for camping, six cabins with room to sleep almost fifty, as well as another building (used by the teenagers) that can house many more. In addition to these facilities, Friends were excited last year to acquire neighboring land, including a farmhouse that they have been busily renovating since then. All in all, these Friends have a wonderful facility to host their Yearly Meeting, as well as other events as they see fit.

Having spent such a long time in cities, it was a relief to be in the countryside and out of doors for long periods of time. For me, the site was almost magical; I was mesmerized by the sound of frogs, insects and the wind rushing through the trees, accompanied by the blinking lights of the fireflies that hung in the air throughout the camp site and across the cornfields.

This was a good environment for the ministry that I was called to do. Friends in ILYM asked me to speak to them during their first evening sessions; they asked me to share about my spiritual journey. No further instructions. I spent a lot of time in prayer about what I was to say, and as I arrived early at the Yearly Meeting site, I was beginning to feel around the edges of it. On the morning of the day I was to speak, I felt clear that I had been given a word from the Lord to deliver to Friends.

And so it was. That evening, I shared with Friends about my trials and stumblings as a youth; my existential despair and confusion; my eventual convincement as a Friend; and my long journey, which continues, to grow closer in my walk with Christ. My message ended up being centered around listening, and I asked Friends in ILYM to consider how they taught their young people  to listen for the voice of God in their hearts. Based on the worship that followed and the comments that I received afterwards, I believe that I was faithful.

Except for a workshop which I presented the following day about the North American Young Adult Friends movement, I was mostly free to spend the rest of the sessions in prayer and conversation with Friends. I spent much of my time with the Young Adult Friends (in ILYM called "Adult Young Friends"), and I was grateful to be available to them as they did some discernment around what they are called to as a community within ILYM. I was pleased to hear a vision emerge among them: That their  community was to be a place of transition, aiding young Quakers in the transition to full adult membership and participation in the Yearly Meeting.

It was truly a gift to be with Friends at ILYM's sessions. I felt very warmly welcomed among them, and I look forward to how I might be of service in the future. I have seen that the Lord has blessed them with competent and Spirit-led leadership, and I am confident that God is working out God's purposes in their midst.

The next couple of months are going to be just as intense as the last month has been. I am leaving today for Barnesville, Ohio, to attend the Wider Gathering of Conservative Friends. Following that, I will continue on in Barnesville for QuakerSpring - a unique, completely "unprogrammed" time to gather together in Christ. Finally, after a few days back in DC, I will make my way out to the Pacific Northwest for the Quaker Youth Pilgrimage, where I will serve as one of four adult leaders, serving with almost thirty high-school-aged Young Friends as we discover together our rich heritage as Quakers. I will not be back home until mid-August.
I appreciate your prayers for me as I continue to travel and minister as God leads. I hope that you will continue to hold me in the Light, and that you will let me know if you have prayer concerns that you would like me to take into my prayer life.

Your brother in the family that is Christ's Reign,

Micah Bales