Traveling in the Ministry with Karla Jay: A Love Letter to the Quaker Family

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 knew I was in for a good conversation. And indeed I was moved by the stories and insights she shared about her lifelong experience with traveling in the ministry. As someone born into the Evangelical Friends Church in Guatemala and raised in Friends communities across California and Boston, Karla brings a rich and layered understanding of what it means to move across geography, culture, and spirit in the name of faith.

Karla’s is a testimony to joy, vulnerability, and the quiet power of visitation.

A Quaker Pastor's Kid

Karla’s first memories of traveling in the ministry are deeply personal and rooted in her identity as a pastor’s kid. Her father pastored a Latino Friends church in Boston, and one of her early joys was traveling with him to visit another Latino congregation in Kingston, New York. She recalls those trips with warmth and enthusiasm—they weren’t just church visits; they were vibrant, spirit-filled reunions.

At 18, fresh out of high school, she took her first independent leap into ministry travel by attending the World Gathering of Young Friends in England. “I accidentally flew into the wrong city,” she laughed. She was supposed to land in Lancaster but ended up in London, resulting in a 10-hour bus journey and an impromptu rescue by a generous Friends World Committee for Consultation staffer, Michael Eccles. “If it had been any other kind of trip,” she admitted, “I would have been stranded.” But traveling in the ministry, she said, has a way of surrounding you with grace—even logistical grace.

Traveling as a Spiritual Practice

Karla sees traveling in the ministry as both spiritual practice and community-building work. “[The biblical] Paul was constantly visiting churches,” she reminded me, drawing a connection to early Christianity. “Visitation is just such a big spiritual practice. You get to see how God is experienced by other people.”

One of the ways she supports this work today is through Friends United Meeting’s Living Letters program. It’s a beautiful vision: people traveling not because they have a specific expertise or agenda, but because they are willing to be present. “You don’t have to be a doctor. You don’t have to be a teacher. You don’t have to have any special gift,” Karla said. “You can just smile and hug people, even if you don’t speak the same language. You bring the ministry of presence.”

That image of people being "living letters" sent between communities has stuck with me. It’s simple and profound. Anyone can be sent.

Meeting the Divine in New Faces

Karla’s travels have taken her around the world, and with each trip, she’s learned something new about God. In Africa, she encountered a joyful God—present in dancing, color, and community. In Cuba, she felt the face of a serving, sacrificial God—the kind of divine love that washes feet. In Belize, she met the vulnerable God, one who shares in our suffering and remains faithful through hardship.

“Every time I travel, I see God’s face in some way,” she told me. “Sometimes it’s joyful, sometimes it’s heartbreaking. But it always reminds me—God is so big. Bigger than we can imagine. We can’t put God in a little box of just ‘goodness.’”

The Global Quaker Family

I, too, have been dramatically rescued while traveling in the ministry by Friends whom I did not know before. At one point, I jokingly called the web of international Quaker connections the “Quaker mafia,” and Karla smiled and ran with it. “It really is like an extended family,” she said. “We may not be exactly alike, but we’re all from the same tree.”

She described singing old hymns in Cuba that had been brought by missionaries long ago and talking about Quaker testimonies in Africa that resonated across language and practice. “We share the same spiritual ancestry,” she said. “And no matter where you go, you’ll find something in common—and also something new to learn.”

Preparing to Go

So what advice does Karla offer to those feeling the nudge to travel in the ministry? “Pray. Pray a lot,” she said. “Every trip is different.” And be open—not just to the places you go, but to the people you’ll meet and what they have to teach you. “Listen for what God is trying to tell you through other people’s communities.”

Talking with Karla reminded me why traveling in the ministry has been such a steady practice among Friends for centuries. It’s not just about going—it’s about showing up. It’s about carrying love and light into places that might be unfamiliar, trusting that Spirit is already there, waiting to be recognized.

Whether you're a seasoned minister or simply someone who feels called to be present in the lives of others, Karla's witness is a clear one: You are enough. You can go. You can carry the letter of love.

Let’s keep writing those letters, together.

Stay connected for more updates as the incubator project develops! We welcome your reflections and questions as we continue this work together.

About the Author: Windy Cooler (she/her), the convenor of the Friends Incubator, is a public minister and practical theologian in the unprogrammed tradition of the Religious Society of Friends. Her call focuses on public ministry, right relationship, and spiritual formation within and beyond Quaker communities. Her ministry is held under the care of Sandy Spring Friends Meeting in Maryland.

Karla Jay serves as the Global Ministries Coordinator of Friends United Meeting (FUM). She is an active member of FUM’s Global Ministries Team, coordinating schedules and communications and providing administrative support for field staff and ministry partners.

Karla is a member of the FUM community and participates in meetings in both Indiana Yearly Meeting and the New Association of Friends. Her husband, Michael Jay, is the pastor of Raysville Friends Church. She has been on the pastoral team at Iglesia Amigos de Indianapolis, where her father, Carlos Moran, is pastor.