Public Friends is a new program to develop and support Quaker public ministers in North America and around the world. Ashley M. Wilcox, who has recently served as interim pastor at New Garden Meeting in Greensboro, N.C., created the initiative to address ministers’ needs for recognition and connection. Public ministers struggle with isolation and discouragement; many find the work too draining to continue.
“Our ministers are burning out and they’re leaving,” Wilcox said.
People in public ministry are often not recognized and recorded, according to Wilcox. She noted that public ministers such as author C. Wess Daniels, who serves as the William R. Rogers Director of Friends Center and Quaker Studies at Guilford College, and Gretchen Castle, dean of Earlham School of Religion, have been serving for decades but were only recorded this summer.
Public Friends offers a recording process to recognize public ministers. The recording process is intended to endorse not only pastors but Friends who serve as ministers in other capacities, Wilcox explained. Examples of such versions of ministry include, but are not limited to, music ministries and workshop leading.
Public Friends is funded by a $15,000 Louisville Institute Pastoral Study Project Grant. The Institute, based at the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., is supported by the Lilly Endowment. The grant allows Christian leaders to focus on particular ministry-related questions. Wilcox’s study question is, “What do we need to record Quaker ministers?”
Wilcox defines a public minister as someone who has answered a call to sustained public ministry and whose gifts are recognized by others. Wilcox noted that public ministers often do not receive the support that they need because Quakers believe that every Friend is a minister and that they should not offer particular help to those who have experienced a call.
The initiative offers public ministers free information about ethics, boundaries, and pastoral care. A Friend has offered to translate the resources into Spanish so public ministers from Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries can use them, Wilcox noted.
Public Friends currently offers a monthly Zoom meeting for a group of ten public ministers and will soon start to meet with a second group of ten, according to Wilcox. The meetings aim to foster mutual support. Public ministers often have to educate Friends at their home meetings about the value of ministry while they are serving. Wilcox likened this to constructing a boat while rowing it.
Wilcox is a recorded minister, previously of Freedom Friends Church in Salem, Ore.
Public ministers with proposed projects—for example leading a clerking workshop—and places to do them can apply for matching funds from Public Friends. The organization also plans to offer mentoring by Friends who have experience with public ministry and can share practical suggestions. Wilcox noted that many public ministers need help with the logistical aspects of their service.
Through the initiative, Wilcox intends to respond to longstanding emotional and practical needs.
“I feel like this is something people have been waiting for,” said Wilcox.
Comments on Friendsjournal.org may be used in the Forum of the print magazine and may be edited for length and clarity.