If young George Fox hadn’t been so picky about principles, we might never have enjoyed Quaker Oats. The oats folks, who weren’t Friends, stole the Quaker name because it stood for integrity. (And we all want honest mush.) But it was Fox who made it possible by insisting that Christians should “possess what they profess.” It drove his own spiritual search, and it shaped Friends as people of integrity, people of principle. Following Jesus, they intended their yes to mean yes, their no to mean no, and their lives to match their words.

They did well, even though, then as now, there were plenty of chances and reasons to fudge integrity. Principled living is a sturdy, daily choice that brings congruence between inner conviction and outward witness. Knowing this, Friends began to call the lived pattern of their principles “testimonies.” People can see whether you possess what you profess.

Principled living can be pretty ordinary or, sometimes, very dramatic. For example, people were surprised at first when Quaker merchants charged everyone the same price, an honest price for honest goods. Eventually they trusted the Quakers so much they made them their bankers – so, in England, the banks of the Barclays and Lloyds. John Woolman as a successful shopkeeper tells us that, with the poor in mind, he didn’t stock frivolous goods or offer easy credit so that he wouldn’t sucker the poor into hopeless debt. His caring, honest choice was routine for him, but clearly out of step with common practice, then and now.

Simple and dramatic at once was the day young Woolman told his boss that he could no longer write bills of sale for slaves. For him the courage of that day’s integrity opened a lifetime of service opposing slavery, for which we remember him more than two hundred years later.

Similarly, before there ever was a “peace testimony,” young George Fox was offered release from prison if he would accept a leadership role in Parliament’s army. He refused this temptation, he said, because it was inconsistent with his life in Christ that “took away the occasion of war.” Over the years, and even now, many Friends have joined in this choice though they have risked and suffered imprisonment, beatings, economic reprisal, even death.

Because they know God cherishes and pursues every person with love, Friends have acted in practical ways to hold everyone in high regard. William Penn made just agreements with native Americans, unusual then and now. Two hundred years ago, William Tuke founded The Retreat in York, England, to care for the mentally ill rather than accept the custom of sending them to prison. The Retreat, an innovation then, is still operating. Elizabeth Fry boldly began to teach and care for the women imprisoned with their children in London’s awful Newgate Prison, and her efforts led to great prison reforms. Friends in many times and places have offered education to those others shut out of learning – women, slaves, and freed slaves, for example. During and after wars they have acted in compassion toward victims, providing food, clothing, shelter, and medical care.

All of these examples show principled and practical ways of living our convictions, of possessing what we profess. Most of them come from people who responded with integrity to what was right under their noses in their ordinary lives. And they remind us that for our sake and for the sake of Christ’s kingdom, it’s still worth being picky.

Questions to discuss:

1. From what you know about the principles and testimonies of Early Friends, what stands out to you? What questions or comments do you have about their testimonies, actions, attitudes, or words?
2. In your own experience, how have you seen Friends responding to issues in today’s world from a principled standpoint?
3. Are there Godly principles that you personally feel Friends can express powerfully to today’s world? Try to be specific and give us some examples.

By Tim Engle, 2008 Youth Yearly Meeting Recording Clerk

Working with the senior high Youth Yearly Meeting was a privilege; we certainly heard from God this summer in our collective worship. However, the process of discernment was something I admit I underestimated, and something that proved to carry much more gravity than I ever would have expected.

Before participating in active discernment, I thought of it as a mysterious wave that would spread over an assembly of bowed heads. It seemed very planned and orderly, as if God had a radio wave of discernment that would send out just the right signals if we were all on the same station. It would be a matter of simply finding the right frequency.

But the moment I stepped into the shoes of recording clerk, my perspective began to shift. What at first seemed like simply taking notes of a meeting became straining to hear God’s voice over several long hours in unprogrammed waiting with the other clerks. We took extraordinary time to struggle with whether what we were hearing was personal preference or the Holy Spirit, and we often wrestled with consensus on important issues. It was more difficult than I had ever expected, and more satisfying in its outcome.

I discovered that the benefits of the discernment process were unbelievably rewarding! I know that I listened carefully and intently to God, and that I sought God’s will in my decisions. I realized the value of collective listening, and I learned to trust what God was telling me individually. Although the discernment process was difficult, it was worth the effort.

Tim Engle

View the minute sent from the youth to the Congregational Care Board regarding their roles in our churches.

Questions

1. What is your experience as a youth in one of the Friends Churches?
2. What would you like to see happen at your church to allow you to contribute as youth?
3. Or, as an adult, how would you like to connect with or involve your youth?
4. How is discernment practiced in your church or youth group?

By Shawn McConaughey ~ NWYM Superintendent of Global Outreach and Pastoral Care

“The way we understand the nature of poverty and what causes poverty is very important, because it tends to determine how we respond to poverty” (Bryant L. Myers, Walking with the Poor, p. 12)

One of the fundamental shifts I’ve been experiencing the past six months or so has been regarding my worldview, especially my view of the poor. In March I came into this new role with NWYM hoping to help encourage and equip Friends in NWYM to reach out to our world. The “poor” were one of those groups I had in mind.

Bryant Myers (Fuller Seminary) and others have challenged my way of thinking about “the poor.” I am discovering that caring for the poor is the primary calling for the church. It is not a program but the central mission of the body of Christ. I have all too often defined the poor as those who don’t have enough resources, money, or assets. That perspective, I’m learning, is feeble and narrow and not very biblical.

My reading has challenged me to seriously consider how each of us experiences poverty. No one is free from poverty. Sin creates rifts in our lives. Those rifts impoverish us in our relationships with God, each other, the community, and creation. Injustice, greed, pollution, fear, lack of joy, oppression, war, no access to clean water, and hunger, are all signs of poverty.

It is unhelpful to think of poverty as a financial situation that could be solved with more money. To begin to tackle poverty we first have to come to grips with the complexity of poverty, our own experience of being impoverished, and begin to view the poor as people just like us. What would that mean for the ministry to the poor at your local meeting?

I have great hope that, as God’s Spirit guides us, NWYM will continue to reach out to our world in powerful ways. I long for us to more fully embrace the very difficult call to reconciliation (2 Cor 5:18-20) by pointing and speaking to God’s healing, redeeming work. But also proclaiming God by submitting and serving, acting justly, being a friend of life, so that we might be the avenues through which God heals and redeems.

In the coming months, you will read about those who are working to help an impoverished world both abroad and in your community.

Questions for Discussion:

Comment below and let me know what you see happening around you or how God is calling you. ~Shawn

“To some people I would be a throw away,” Debra says. “But you do need me.”

Among her repertoire of drugs were meth and ecstasy. Four years in juvenile detention for assault. Gangs. Trafficking women in prostitution.

But don’t mistake Debra’s comment as arrogance.

It is, instead, proof that she believes in forgiveness and restoration. She believes that even now—especially now—she has purpose.

“I am worth something and so is every one of these people we are reaching out to,” she says. “We are the faces of hope.”

Debra is part of New Life Friends’ Mission: Possible. Developed in Vancouver’s Rose Village, it is a church of souls and bodies in recovery.

With 250+ in attendance each Sunday, an estimated 90 percent are in recovery. They come off the streets, from a nearby state-run addiction treatment facility, and from jail. They often come with only the clothes on their backs.

“Our recovery programs director jokes, ‘It’s a requirement to have either a felony or a tattoo to come here,’” says Vicky Smith, marketing and development director for New Life Mission: Possible.

“For whatever reason, these people made wrong choices – like we all have. They were sucked into a cesspool. They’re hungry for our love and support because they are so broken.”

The seven-days-a-week operation is more than Sunday worship. Monday through Saturday the building, called The Lord’s Gym, is a community center with workout facilities, a recording studio, life-skill classes, and a clothes closet. New Life also runs resident recovery houses, providing for and mentoring men and women coming out of addictions.

“Once God gets ahold of people caught in addiction, they can help others and give them hope,” Vicky says. “…even someone they used to use with, or sold drugs to.”

Debra graduated from Samaritan House, New Life’s women’s recovery house, and now mentors women in the same home. She regained custody of her son, and Child Protective Services is using her as a parent partner and cofacilitator for parenting classes.
“We want to raise the Lord’s banner for the radical transformation that is taking place in the lives of those around us,” Vicky says. “People see what God is doing and ask, ‘How can I help?’”

“We need volunteers to create a strong mentoring program. It’s an ‘all hands on deck’ type of thing. We need to unite. And it will affect us all if we don’t.”

Mission:Possible, and each of the ministries described here, are supported by New Life Friends Church in Vancouver.
You can help:
• Meet specific needs. Visit www.newlifemissionpossible.com for a current list.
• Volunteer or mentor in the program.
• Support the program financially. NWYM gave the 2007 Thanksgiving Offering to New Life for additional bathrooms in the men’s and women’s homes.
• Invite New Life to present Faces of Hope in your church and civic groups. This multi-media presentation shows, through the stories of Debra and others, that sustainable change can happen.
Contact Vicky Smith at 360.771.9188 or  vicky AT newlifemissionpossible.com

Check HERE for other transitional housing or mentoring programs sponsored by NWYM.

A goal of the NWYM Global Outreach Board is to highlight NWYM folks who serve with other mission or relief agencies.

Life = surprises. I grew up in Greenleaf, Idaho, explaining to everyone outside of town that Quakers do in fact believe in electricity. And now I live in a culture where anything not part of the Orthodox Church is considered a soul-stealing sect. I never pictured myself as the church -planting type, and yet I love the unpredictability of it all. My exposure to missions through NWYM whetted my appetite for living abroad.

So here I am, serving with Operation Mobilization in Montenegro. I am part of a team of three, working in a town of 20,000, trying to open a youth center with church planting as the long-term goal. We are learning that it all boils down to relationships. It is a long road, and seems to grow longer as our plans get side-tracked and often times derailed. But we know we are exactly where God has led us and will continue, no matter the surprises. For more info about Operation Mobilization check out their site www.om.org or contact me with any questions!
Micah Lehman

micah_lehman AT hotmail.com
micahlehman.blogspot.com

by Vivian Thornburg, NWYM Elder

Behold,I stand at the door and knock: if anyone hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to them, and will sup with them, and they with me. (Revelation 3:20)

“My prayer is the result of Jesus knocking at my heart’s door. Prayer is letting Jesus into my heart. He initiates prayer. It is not my prayer that moves the Lord Jesus, it is Jesus who moves us to pray.” (Prayer, by Ole Hallesby)

Jesus knocks at my heart’s door in order to move me to pray. Prayer is more than asking for help with whatever my need may be. Prayer is letting my heart be filled with the joy and gladness of forgiveness and my redemption. It is finding in the depths of my soul an “at-oneness” with Jesus. Rejoicing that he is the keeper of my soul–it is the place where just Jesus and I live as one–where I allow him to enter my soul and share all the intimate desires that my soul holds. Prayer allows Jesus to know me so intimately that my will is His will, my life his life in me. Prayer brings me to worship. To worship him for who he is, for his purity, for his holiness and his love. Worship causes me to bow my knee to Jesus Christ. To know he loves me so much that he gave his life to have my soul. To be able to communicate with a God so powerful, the creator of the universe, brings me to “nothingness.” This is prayer to me.

The Board of Elders desires to promote both personal and corporate prayer throughout NWYM. Quarterly articles in this new publication are intended to encourage you in prayer. ~ Paul Almquist, Board of Elders clerk

Discussion:

1. Share with us a practice of prayer that is meaningful to you.

~ After many years of fruitful service in the central Oregon area, the River ministry was officially laid down at the 2008 Yearly Meeting sessions by the Board of Local Outreach. For eight years The River was a valuable ministry tool for ministering to folks in Metolius, Madras, Bend, Redmond, and other smaller communities in Central Oregon.

~ Since establishing the Sower’s Fund at our recent Yearly Meeting sessions, Friends have given or pledged $16,135 already. Thank you for this generous support! For more information about the Sower’s Fund, please contact Colin Saxton at the yearly meeting office 503/538-9419.

~ The Young Adult Friends Bring Your Own Tent event in Molalla, Oregon, occurred October 3-5. This camping trip, open to all young adults and their families, provided a great time of fellowship and connection.

~ Pat and Mandy Schmidt, who originally moved from Newberg  eight years ago to join The River ministry, have interviewed with the Board of Local Outreach, and are considering starting a new “ministry point” based in the area of Redmond, Oregon. (Visit Mandy’s blog creatinggoodsoil.com to get the full scoop). If the Lord continues to move them in this direction, then their ministry will be the first new ministry point raised up after the reorganization of NWYM. Many are excited about this new opportunity! Please be praying for Pat and Mandy and their three children as they continue to pray and discern the Lord’s leading in their lives. Further information is available in Gar’s “Tidbits“. Encouragements of any kind can be sent to
schmidtmandy  AT hotmail.com.

~ Want to make new friends? Sign up for Friends House-to-House. Friends House-to-House is a new directory service created to help connect travelling Friends from around the Northwest with folks willing to extend hospitality in their homes free of charge. What a great way to met new friends, either as a traveler or as a host! To get more information or to sign up for the network, click here.

~ Twice a year we come together to support a local church with its building project. These “Share Calls” collect donations from individuals across NWYM. In 2008 we have encouraged the people of Entiat and Meridian Friends. Most recently, River of Life Friends, in Post Falls, Idaho, received $8,225. View guidelines or download an application for a Share Call.

Recent Pastoral Changes:

• Luke Ankeny is now settled in at Entiat, to begin serving as their new pastor. Luke replaces Gary Thomas and Fred Ness.
• Mark Kelley has resigned as pastor at Vancouver First Friends. Becky Ankeny is providing interim pastoral ministry while the church continues a search for a permanent replacement.
• Jon Kershner has resigned at Olympic View Friends, in Tacoma, Washington. He and Jessica have moved to Seattle while Jon pursues a Ph.D.
• Caryl Menkhus will be leaving Camas Friends by the end of the year to take on a full-time position with Godly Play.
• Bill and Faye Pruitt are the new ministers of worship and music at Marion Friends, working alongside Don and Nancy Lamm.
• Paul Cammack and his wife, Ruth, have moved from Post Falls, Idaho to Scotts Mills, where Paul is now pastoring.
• Ken Maben has left his position as youth and children’s pastor at Sherwood Friends.
• Lecia Retter has resigned as children’s pastor at Newberg Friends.

Samuel School I, a leadership retreat for selected 7th and 8th graders, will be at Twin Rocks, October 10-12. This year’s teachers will include Joseph Thouvenal (Netarts), Bruce Bishop (North Valley), and Rachelle Staley (Newberg).

Youthworkers, save November 7-9. Our annual Youthworkers’ Training Conference will be in Hood River, Oregon. More information and registration is available on our website under the “Connection” tab. Our speaker is Marshall Snider, of Bridgetown Ministries in Portland, Oregon. This is a ministry that has mobilized people in the church to serve the homeless of Portland through friendship and compassion.

Area Gatherings are happening between October 4 and November 22. Each regional grouping of Friends churches are meeting together for a day of workshops and worship… sort of like a mini-preview of Yearly Meeting sessions! The boards of Congregational Care, Local Outreach, and Global Outreach are providing instruction and challenge, investing in the vitality of your local meeting. Check out the schedule for the Gatherings.

This year’s NWYM Thanksgiving Offering will be used to support current and new Latino church plants throughout the Northwest. Alongside the seven existing Friends congregations, the Latino Ministries sub-committee has just launched a new ministry point in Salem, Oregon. Three other potential plants are also being considered. Please join in supporting these exciting outreach ministries through your generous support of the Thanksgiving Offering collected through your local church on Sunday, November 23.

Bible Quizzing is right around the corner. It is not too late to get a team together for our first quiz meet at Boise Friends Church on October 18. Information on quiz meets, guidelines, and materials can be found on our website .

TRANSITIONAL HOUSING PROGRAMS IN THE NORTHWEST

Kelso, Washington ~ Rose Valley Friends Church  

• Mountain  Ministries 
  • Mountain Ministries was started in 1985 by Gary and Fay Miller as an outreach to people on drugs.Our goal is to restore lives that are being destroyed by alcohol and drug addictions. This transformation will begin with the establishment of a healthy relationship with Jesus Christ and then with society at large. We believe that only as a person is set free of their destructive addictions can they break negative habits and relationships. This work is accomplished in cooperation with the power of God and is an ongoing process. We expect that after a year at the Mountain Ministries Ranch, residents will be able to return to society as productive, healthy citizens.
  • Mentoring and Discipleship
  • Live-in program
  • Contact Joe Gerick

Vancouver, Washington ~ New Life Friends Church   

• New Life Mission Possible/Faces of Hope   
  • Recovery Ministry
  • Transitional Housing for men and women  (Capacity 7 men; 5 women)
  • Mentoring and Discipleship
  • Workout facility
  • Kids programs
  • Adult midnight basketball
• Contact Vicky Smith

Boise, Idaho ~ Whitney Friends Church   (no website)

• House of Ruth  (no website)
  • Transitional housing for women (Capacity 5 women)
  • Mentoring and Discipleship
  • Food Bank/Food distribution
• Contact Vern Barnett 

Hayden, Idaho ~ Hayden Lake Friends Church   

• Twentyfour- Seven    
  • Transitional Housing for men and women (Capacity 7 men; 7 women)
  • Mentoring and Discipleship
• Contact Maurice Roberts

“God is in Rwanda!” From June 21 to July 13, seven youth and two leaders discovered this truth in an up close and personal way. Their purpose for traveling to Rwanda is clearly defined in the program’s name: to expand their worldview.

Also in this issue:

• Roberts Reflections - Learning from Joseph in Egypt
• One More Thought - Sherry Macy

Download the August 2008 Connection here in the PDF format.

The Connection is also available in Spanish! Get it here.