Caring for Ministers and Ministries

How does Truth prosper among you?

Advices, Faith and Practice

What does it mean to be a Quaker minister?

Friends believe that ministry takes many forms and that anyone can be called to ministry.

Friends carrying a ministry need support, guidance, and accountability from their meeting community. Below are some resources for meetings nurturing an individual's leading or ministry including on forming a committee to nurture and care for the ministry and the minister.

Becoming a Quaker Minister

What does it feel like to be called to ministry?

For many Friends, an important way we come to recognize our own leadings, gifts, and ministry is by hearing the stories of other Friends' journeys. "On Carrying a Concern" is a Quaker podcast created by Callid and Kristina Keefe-Perry (Fresh Pond, MA, Friends Meeting) and supported by Fresh Pond, Salem Quarterly Meeting, and New England Yearly Meeting. The episodes feature interviews with New England Friends exploring "the sense that someone gets when they feel there's a piece of work that must be done and is theirs to do." For Friends seeking to better understand the experience of ministry and the way God can work through each of us, we invite you to listen to these stories.

File Downloads

Spiritual Care Committee

This thirty-two page booklet from School of the Spirit outlines the structure and purpose of clearness committees, pastoral care committees, and spiritual care committees (committees which offer support, guidance, and accountability for ministries)

Supporting Ministries in Your Meeting

This two-page handout describes how one meeting has supported its ministers

Quaker Ministry Resource List

A list of links to recommended pamphlets, books, and websites about Quaker ministry

Minute on Corporate Support of Individual Ministries

This two-page Minute from 2013, describes Fresh Pond Monthly Meeting's commitment to and practices for supporting individual leadings and ministries

Support for Leadings and Ministry (Beacon Hill)

One local meeting's 9-page handbook on how the meeting responds to individual leadings and ministry

Questions? Didn't find what you were looking for?

Contact Nia Thomas, Program Director, to begin a conversation.