We do many public events at the Friends Incubator for Public Ministry. When I recently gathered with a group of seekers for the conversation with my dear friend and fellow public minister Lynette Davis, Grief and Creativity in Public Ministr y , I could sense immediately that people were arriving with their own tender stories. We were a room full of people who knew something about sorrow and about longing. And as soon as Lynette and I began talking, it became clear that what

There are a few people in this world who can make you laugh while they are quietly rearranging the furniture in your spiritual life. Jay Marshall  is one of them. I first met Jay years ago when he was dean at the Earlham School of Religion, and I was a student who thought I had a lot to prove. I was a little afraid of him back then. He had that dry wit that made you wonder if he was joking or teaching you something you would not realize until three days later. Over the years,

Every so often we invite a Quaker public minister or elder to take over our weekly blog. This is one such week! We're so happy to be welcoming Marcelle Martin as this week's guest blogger in anticipation of her workshop for us on January 7th, Listening Together: The Role of Discernment in Ministry . Among Friends, we have always sought ways to listen together for the motion of the Spirit. Our tradition offers many names for this shared listening—clearness committees, anchor g

Joseph Hoag (1762–1846) was a remarkable Quaker minister whose life was filled with faith, courage, and a deep sense of divine calling....

An escaped cow in Adam-ondi-Ahman This season has been full of travel, conversation, and discovery. Our Wednesday evening course on...

Cover image by AccordionBruce . When Kody and I made an appointment to talk this last time, our original plan was to discuss writing as a...

Sitting with Tom Hamm to talk about Lucretia Mott feels a bit like opening a window. Fresh air rushes in—plain speech, clear-eyed...

Tall Poppies , a Zentangle by Lynne Piersol, August 2025 It's been two months since our last "Too Long; Didn't Read" update on our blog...

Last week, Friends gathered for the very first session of our new seminar series on Walter Brueggemann’s work, led by Friend Jim Webner....

From Cai Quirk's Queer Temple . In late July, Public Minister Kody Hersh joined me in a Zoom interview we had planned for a while. He's...

“It’s sort of with fear and trembling I take up John Woolman... If ever an American Quaker qualified as a saint, it would be...

What does it mean to carry a concern? In 2018, Angela Hopkins offered one set of answers in On Carrying a Concern , Episode 08 of the...

Max Goodman, left, and ross brubeck walk on a New Jersey trail, as part of a Quaker march from NYC to Washington to protest Trump's...

Lynette Davis, of Ujima Friends Meeting, led our first focus group for public ministers in May, 2025 and continues to be a vital...

The interior of the Blue River Monthly Meeting as it would have looked in Pricilla's time. Priscilla Hunt Cadwallader: The Courage to Be...

Joe Tolton, a Quaker pastor, being "recorded" as a minister at the 2025 annual session of Sierra-Cascades Yearly Meeting. What does your...

George Fox, a founder of Quakerism, experiences many openings as a public minister... George Fox Was Not Boring: Lessons in Public...

Burial grounds at historic Friends meetinghouse and adjacent wind farm , Holder, IL, 2019. Photo by Fariba...

Karla Jay looks up at Cuban Quaker pastor, Yadira Cruz Peña, on a recent Living Letters trip. When I sat down with my friend Karla Jay I...

Lynette and Windy process the experience of May's focus group on public ministry. Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with my...