Nurturing ministers, case studies: Invitation to contribute

Last year, I started an irregular— and open-ended — series of posts called “Nurturing ministers, case studies.”  (You can find them using the Search bar for this blog).  I  got up to #4, and then got pulled into a more urgent series, now concluded. I want to return to this series, as stories come my way.

It is very important that we build up our “library” of concrete examples of how Friends in the ministry — of whatever age or length of experience — have been guided, chastened, encouraged, or instructed. No matter what our calling is, we can all become better servants. Everyone who is in active service is a co-worker, since all gifts are from the one source, and for the expresssion of divine love.

In addition, as meetings seek to help nurture and have care of gifts in their membership, or learn their way into eldering, they may find that they are not sure what sort of thing might be helpful.  The great repository of Quaker journals, letters, and histories can provide some resources to this end — not to copy, but to reflect upon and learn from.

Now,  I am keeping my own eyes open for stories worth reflecting on, but maybe you know some that you think would be valuable to share. If so, please contact me! You could send the story, or the story and your reflections, whch Id be glad to post as a guest post on this site. I might feel free to add my own reflections to yours…
At some point, when a couple of dozen have accumulated, I’ll collect them into a single document for ease of sharing — and if the stories keep piling up, there might be new editions, perhaps with some simple “study guides” or suggestions for use.