Friends Incubator Fellowship for Public Ministry (2026–2028)
A two-year journey for emerging ministers, their elders, and their meetings
The Friends Incubator Fellowship for Public Ministry is a bold, Spirit-led initiative to reweave the fabric of public ministry in the Religious Society of Friends. Rooted in the core Quaker conviction that all are ministers, this fellowship invites us to live more fully into what we say we believe. Too often, we name the ministry of all believers without truly supporting the spiritual gifts present in our communities.
Some Friends are called—whether for a month, a decade, or a lifetime—into focused, public ministry: Spirit-led labor offered on behalf of the meeting and the world. This ministry might rise in response to injustice, climate breakdown, war, spiritual crisis, economic inequality, or concerns for the health and integrity of our own meetings. This fellowship is for those called into that visible, accountable, and courageous form of ministry—and for the communities willing to walk with them. We welcome all Friends, across affiliation, theological and cultural diversity.
This first cohort prioritizes applicants from the East Coast of the United States. We are diligently working to raise funds to meet the real educational needs of meetings and ministers in other regions while patiently learning the lessons of this first fellowship experiment.
✨ What Is Public Ministry?
In the Quaker tradition, public ministry refers to Spirit-led service that is offered outwardly: speaking, traveling, writing, witnessing, caregiving, healing, organizing, or teaching. It has deep roots in our history—from early Friends who preached in marketplaces to modern Friends who labor for abolition, peace, environmental justice, right relationship, and healing.
Today, public ministry continues to call individuals into bold forms of love, listening and truth-telling. But the communal structures that once held this ministry—eldership, discernment, recording, support—have often eroded. The fellowship is part of a wider effort to reclaim and reimagine those structures in the context of our time.
🔍 What Is the Fellowship?
The Friends Incubator Fellowship for Public Ministry is a two-year, cohort-based experiment that supports five Quaker teams—each made up of a public minister, an elder, and their meeting community. Through retreats, residencies, spiritual formation, storytelling, and mutual support, fellows will deepen their ministries and walk with their meetings in partnership, growing stronger in spiritual care, discernment, and shared leadership.
At the midpoint of the fellowship, all participants will pause for prayerful reflection and discernment to assess what is emerging, what support is needed, and whether and how to proceed faithfully into the second year. This built-in moment of collective discernment allows the fellowship to remain responsive, not rigid—attuned to Spirit and context.
