🌱 Friends Incubator Fellowship for Public Ministry (2026–2028)

       
       A two-year journey for emerging ministers, their elders, and their meetings

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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.

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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.

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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. Please be in touch for an interview even if you don't worship in the region we are prioritizing this year. Given more resources, we have plans to expand next year and you can be a part of that expansion!

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✨ 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. 

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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?

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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.

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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.

 

✨ Who Should Apply?

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      This fellowship is for:

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• Meetings ready to explore how to better nurture and be shaped by ministry
   

• Emerging public ministers with a sense of call, seeking clarity, support, and structure
   

• Elders or spiritual companions who walk with ministers in accountability and care
   

Applicants ultimately apply as a team, but in the first round of informational-discernment interviews (to be completed by September 1, 2025), individuals or partial teams are welcome to begin. You do not need to have it all figured out. This early conversation is about listening together for the shape of your leading and your readiness for the fellowship journey.

 

🧭 What to Expect in the Informational-Discernment Interview

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This conversation is the first step in a mutual process of discernment—not a test, but an invitation to reflect more deeply on your ministry and context. You’ll meet with Windy Cooler, convener of the Friends Incubator, and a member of our advisory board. Together, we’ll explore whether this fellowship feels like a faithful next step.

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To help you prepare, here are some of the queries we may ask you to reflect on before or during our conversation:

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🌿 Discernment & Leadings

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• What sense of leading or call has brought you (or your meeting) to consider participating in this fellowship?
   

• How do you know when something is truly a spiritual leading? Has your meeting helped to test or support it?
   

• Are there specific ministries, concerns, or experiments already unfolding that you hope to deepen through this fellowship?
   

🌿 Support & Accountability

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• How is public ministry currently supported—or not—in your meeting?
   

• Who has offered you eldering or accompaniment in recent years? What has that looked like?
   

• What kinds of support do you hope this fellowship could help build or strengthen?
   

🌿 Readiness & Openness

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• What excites you about participating in a cohort with others engaged in public ministry?
   

• What feels risky or vulnerable about this kind of engagement—for you or for your meeting?
   

• How does the idea that you will be shaped by others in the cohort—and that they will be shaped by you—feel to you? Is that something you welcome or feel ready for?
   

🌿 Context & Capacity

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• What is the spiritual and relational climate in your meeting right now?
   

• How do dynamics like conflict, trauma, or trust (or lack of it) shape your ability to move forward in ministry—personally or communally?
   

• Are there any material or logistical needs we should know about (e.g. travel, internet access, accessibility, childcare)?
   

🌿 Vision & Hopes

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• What do you hope your participation might offer to others in the cohort—or to the wider Religious Society of Friends?
   

• If this fellowship were successful, what would be different in your life or your meeting two years from now?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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🛠️ What Will Fellows Do and Explore?

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• Participate in in-meeting retreats, building spiritual depth, trust, and clarity
   

• Attend in-person and virtual residencies tailored to their contexts
   

  • The first residency will be held at Pendle Hill, April 6–12, 2026
     

• Engage in cohort-based learning, with space for peer wisdom, shared discernment, and storytelling
   

• Contribute to case studies, helping us learn and teach with integrity
   

• Receive stipends to cover travel, hospitality, childcare, and accessibility needs
   

Topics of exploration include:

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• Discernment of leadings
   

• Faithful eldering and spiritual accountability
   

• Conflict, trauma, and relational integrity
   

• Economic justice and material support in ministry
   

• The changing shape of public ministry today
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is not a certification or a leadership course. It is a journey of collective formation—a way of building spiritual muscle not only in ministers, but in entire meetings.

 

🤝 A New Model of Education and Support

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Unlike most leadership programs, which focus on the individual, the Incubator centers context—ministry as something relational, grounded, and communal. Our goal is to build up local Quaker meetings so they can take shared responsibility for recognizing, nurturing, and sustaining ministry of all kinds. This includes making space for those who do not have institutional backing or personal wealth to engage in Spirit-led ministry with confidence and care.

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This fellowship is a collaborative effort—bringing together local meetings, individual ministers, and Quaker institutions in mutual accompaniment. We believe that when public ministry is nurtured, all ministry is strengthened, and Quaker meetings become more courageous, connected, and faithful in the face of today’s challenges.

 

📍 Timeline

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• Summer–Fall 2025: Applications open; interviews conducted
   

• Early 2026: Fellowship begins with in-meeting retreats
   

• April 2026: First cohort residency at Pendle Hill
   

• Late 2026: Midpoint evaluation and discernment across all teams
   

• 2027–2028: Continued fellowships, residencies, and community engagement
   

• Fall 2028: Final storytelling and discernment for future cohorts
   

 

🌍 A Vision for Renewal

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The Friends Incubator envisions a future where public ministry is not a heroic exception, but a shared spiritual responsibility. Where meetings are equipped to nurture leadings. Where ministers are not left to burn out in isolation. Where the Religious Society of Friends is awake and responsive to the needs of the world.

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A vibrant, modern Quakerism is possible.

It begins with those who are led—and those who are ready to walk beside them.
 

All photos of Friends in ministry, taken from our blog. Photos from top: Karla Jay (Indiana) and Yadira Cruz Peña (Cuba), Gwen Erickson (North Carolina), Joe Tolton and Friends in Sierra-Cascades Yearly Meeting (Washington & Oregon), Lynette Davis (Massachusetts)

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