We have been in the Minneapolis area for about a year. My major connection with NFF is that for 3 years we attended Manasquan MM with Lewis Benson. My father was a pastor in Indiana YM (FUM) and a missionary in Jamaica and Kenya. He was a student of Friends history and tried to convey the living Christ 24/7. We moved to NJ after my PhD in Science Ed and became "convinced" "unprogrammed" Friends especially with Lewis and other members there. I have been a member or "active attender" in FGC, FUM, Independent(Beanite), EFCI, and Conservative Meetings.

We are now "retired" near our daughter and her family.

Hello Ellis,

I haven't yet met or known about Tom Smith, but am looking forward to perhaps meeting with him.

Thanks for the information!

Peter

Dear Ellis,

Thank you for your welcome. Just read your piece on the Lord's Prayer. Appreciated it!

Blessings,

Stuart.

Hello Ellis,

b.t.w I emailed Tom Smith, but haven't received a reply yet. I'll track him down somehow, as he sounds like an interesting contact.

Regards,

Peter

I'll put it to the other members of the site committee to see what they think?

Paul and Mike, any comments to this suggestion?

Hi Ellis,

No, it's not my work. It's the abalone inlay on the peghead of my mountain dulcimer. The luthier is Janita Baker.

Stephanie

hi Ellis

yes you are right.  There is even a debate over here as to whether BYM should still use the title "Religious" Society of Friends.  Aparently that may put some people off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am sorry to have left it so long before thanking you for your welcome comment. I have had technical difficulties, but am now up and running and customizing my page etc. I have supported the work of NFF for some time, and have decided to work within my own Area Meeting. Interest in our work is developing.  I will be at Friend's House and at Woodbrooke. Simon Watson and Joseph Pickvance's son Richard are members of my meeting. Being on the Library Committee gives me an opportunity to

to introduce appropriate books, and I want to ensure that the Meeting has a complete set of the New Foundation Papers.

Ellis,

We seem to be developing our Polish connection. Our Friend Tomasz has been in England again. He visited Allistair, and joined our Meeting Group in London.

We now have a translation by Henry Kobylski of work by Lewis Benson and it is hoped, by me at least, that we will be able to put some Polish material on this website. There is an impression of a real need among Polish Quakers, and some other Christians, to hear what we have to say. So maybe we are being led to look East.

Thy Friend in Christ,

Malcolm

Ellis,

Great news concerning South Colorado. I pray that it comes about. I cannot match it I'm afraid, but I have been approached to give a talk to our local Womens' Church Fellowship. Seriously though, we have to make ourselves known, not only to other Friends, but also to other Christians. It is particularly difficult on this side of the Pond,  where the number of liberal Quakers is falling. Many of the younger members do not seem to have heard of us. If they seek a particularly Christian experience they are often drawn to the Pentecostal Churches. New Foundation needs a more dynamic approach to outreach, and we must try to engage younger people in what we are doing and what we stand for.

Thy Friend,

Malcolm

Ellis,

Firstly, have you received a report on the last Worker's Gathering? If you have not I will deal with it. Secondly, Allistair sent me details concerning "Velvet", who had contacted him via Ripley Friends' website. It seems that she wishes to discuss New Foundation and had made contact with you. Alistair has asked me to meet with her as she is in the UK. Unfortunately I don't have an EMA or telephone number for her. Do you?

Thy Friend,

Malcolm

Ellis,

I have sent a mail to Velvet requesting a Meeting. I would appreciate a copy of any correspondence on this matter. There should not be a problem with this as we we are both members of the same organisation.

I will file a report tomorrow on the recent Workers' Gathering.

Many thanks for your help.

Thy Friend in Christ,

Malcolm

Hi Ellis,  I look forward to reconnecting to F/friends from my past as well as  making new F/friends.  Although I have not been active recently, I have remained interested in the work.  Here is a brief update on what has kept me busy. I finished grad school in 2002 and had a job change which required both teaching and research.  All of this has more than filled my time.  Blayne is now retired and I will follow into retirement in a few years.  We still raise sheep but at a much reduced level.  So, I should have more time for reaching out to others beyond my meeting and YM.  We are now members of Davidson Meeting - a member of North Carolina Yearly Meeting Conservative.

Thank you Ellis for your  note.  We decided to take a trip after our daughter strongly suggested that 50 years was worthy of celebration.  At our age the earlier the better.

Hello Ellis,

Thanks for the words of welcome. As among other things I did a lot of wood turning once. I liked your comments about sharp and blunt tools.

Kindest regards,

James

Hello Ellis,

Nice to see your turning site and many congratulations. Afraid I daren't turn any more because my wrists wont take it  I don't have a blog but will send some photos of things I have made, but perhaps not to this web site and when one of my computer wizz children comes to stay.

Greetings, Ellis, it's good to be here!  I am sure we will have some good times of cyber-fellowship!  Allan

Speaking of "technological fossils," Ellis, where is the "simple photo uploader"?

You asked me about opportunities for the early Quaker message in the HK meeting.   There are two Quaker groups in HK - one is an outreach of EFI amongst Filipino people. The other, my meeting, is an unprogrammed 'liberal' meeting.  However, I am happy to state that there is a good mix of people in our meeting, and the early Quaker message is already in existence, as a strand of thought amongst others.  The meeting is broadly Christocentric, without being necessarily exclusively so.

No problem. I am British, yes.  

 Hello Ellis. Thank you for adding me to the site. I may have been confused in my thinking that NFF was a Conservative Friend's site, but I do see some Conservative contributions by certain members. So, hopefully, I will be able to learn from them, as well as others, as the Spirit leads.

 I am strongly convinced of the historical reality of Christ and the teachings of Holy Scripture, but, as the saying goes: "Live and let live."

 I have been a believer since 1963, after discharge from the Army. Before that, I was a nominal Episcopalian growing up, and after that , not much of anything at all. However , certain traumatic events while stationed in Okinawa and Korea, started me on a search for meaning after discharge in 1962.

 I won't go into details, but I did find some kind of spiritual Light in a Baptist group of the fundamentalist variety. As time went on I found much of Fundamentalism to be shallow and self-centered. The preaching and teaching became more pedantic; historical rather than experiential.  I did attend different "churches" but usually left feeling empty.

 Most of my worship has been by myself, reading Scripture and other spiritually edifying books. Eventually, I started reading George Fox, Robert Barclay, as well as other early Friends, all of whom stayed close to the major Christian doctrines of the early Church.

 However, my understanding of Quaker spirituality has to be nourished and deepened by those , who have the Spirit and not just the letter .

 By God's grace and leading thus far,

 Richard 

Hello Ellis, As I just commented to Bill, the teaching of the Spirit of Christ still presently speaking to believers beyond the Scriptures is what drew me with joy to the teachings of Fox, Barclay, et al.

Thank you for your further clarification of the subject. I am an eager pupil desiring to learn more.

Richard 

Hello Ellis

Thank`s for message. I answered but accidentally send it to your inbox. So as i was saying, about two years ago i get this strong interest in Quakerism. It has allways interest me somehow but this time it was a "burden" that does not leave me. So i start to explore Quakerism and looking for a Christian Quakers. It takes some time to find Christan Quakers at one point i thought that all Quakers are liberal nowadays.

I have participated in Skype trough the Bunhill Quaker meeting now for about five months. My aim is to translate early Quakers text`s to finnish and find a like minded people from Finland so that we can organize a group for meeting

Thank`s for answer Ellis.

So you live in Wyoming are you? Are you a member of some yerly meeting. Did you mean that you gathered a group for a meeting in 1983? Is it still workin and do you have a group meeting to go?

Hi Ellis,

thanks for the welcome. After a really great Christ-centred meeting last night at Moseley Quaker meeting [we meet 1st and 3rd Thursday in a United Reform Church hall], I came home to find My NFF membership had been accepted! What an amazing day!

Thank you for the welcome. After some difficulty setting up my page, I did write something from my amazing experience in Meeting yesterday. 

Thank you for the introduction, Ellis.

I have been drawn to the Society of Friends for a few months now, in particular the Gospel as preached by the early Quakers. I currently frequent evangelical gatherings if and when circumstances permit. There are no Quaker conservative, evangelical and or Gurneyite meetings in my area.

I became interested in the work of the New Foundation Fellowship after listening to messages delivered by Lewis Benson @ http://www.foundationpublicationsnffusa.org/downloads/

I hope to learn more of the Quakers as espoused by the early Friends and via this website.

Toni

Many thanks, Ellis!

Toni

Hello, Ellis.

Henry

Hello Friend Ellis, -

It feels good to be back again, and I explicitly thank thee for accepting my request.

Thee already knows part of my jourmey, so I don't have to repeat that here in order that I would not bore thee. In 2012 I unhappily lost my job, and I found both shelter and job in a Dutch Trappist abbey. It seemed to be the will of providence that the local abbot was astonishingly interested and open-minded as regards my Quaker Faith. Imagine, Ellis, he not only invited me to regularly organise Waiting Worships for interested parties of the convent, he even allowed me to visit the local Meeting in Deventer time and again. As a matter of principle, however, the fundamental limits of a Trappist monastery are sort of detrimental to a Quaker vocation, and though I am an anxious kind of person I could no longer ignore the clear leadings of the Lord, -- and this meant in effect I left the abbey. I had just one bag, a ticket to Berlin, 200 Euros, a vision where to go, and my heart full of trust in God. In advance, I called Major P Walz, the chief of the Northern Division of the German Salvation Army, asking him to tell me where I should go. He told me the Meißen Corps had prayed to God to send them a co-worker. "Go there - and see what will happen", the Major said. So I did. That was two years ago. Very soon I became the Corps Sergeant Major of that Meißen Corps (in Saxonia, East Germany, near the City of Dresden), where I deputise for our Corps Officers who most of the time work in Dresden. So, outwardly a so-called "local officer" of the Salvation Army caring for the unhappy fellows here in Meißen, I more than ever try to do my best to lead a life in obedience to the leadings of the Light, defining me as a Friend - without formally belonging to any Monthly Meeting of the RSoF. I consciously do not apply for membership in the German RSoF as I don't feel at home among these wonderful Friends the majority of which, nevertheless, would consider me (a professing Christian, and an enthusiast as regards the theology(s) and testimonies of Early Friends) just a poor freak. For that reason, I was led to establish a formal alternative to the official Religious Society of Friends in my country. For one thing, this would create a frame for a couple of people I found so far being very moved by the (traditional) Quaker way, and then, creating kind of a "biotope" for non-wealthy and no-highly educated middle class people who, as a rule, don't feel at home among official Meetings. - The process of constituting has not yet begun. I realise God's promptings. At the same time I am a bit chicken-hearted...

In Fellowship, Heinz

 O Ellis. I can’t find them. Where do I look?

No Ellis!

The photo is from the Canary Islands on our honeymoon.  We love hiking!  Thank you for pointing us to the resources.  We will certainly check out Benson.

Sarah and Steve 

Thank you, Ellis. I look forward to learning more about the group and members.

Hi Ellis and thank you for the welcome:

I live in the Yarra Valley in the State of Victoria Australia

am a nurse working in education and training

born into a Church of Christ family and have journeyed from  there to Presbyterian,Lutheran, Baptist ,attended Quakers for 4 years -Australian Yearly Meeting  affiliate but Christ was a shadow for them ,and after a few years became a Catholic. It is in the last 6 months that I have  begun to walk away from ritualism,clericalism "hireling priests,Mariolatory etc - and back to basing my life upon Christ and the Scriptures.The Radical Reformation such as the Historic Peace Churches-Quakers,AnaBaptists  -is where I now situate myself-i.e almost full circle.

The week-long visit from David and Trish Johnson to our home was heavenly, Ellis. It was like getting a visit from a beloved older, wiser brother and sister that I'd forgotten I'd ever had. After months in the Northern Hemisphere, I think they were both missing a house they could call their own, and I was happy to benefit from their cooking and house-cleaning as well as their wisdom! NFF readers will be most interested, I think, in the talk David gave at West Richmond Friends Meeting on 6/23. I took notes on his talk, "Might We Become as Obedient as Jesus?" and, with David's approval, posted them on Facebook. I'll re-post them here.

Thank you so much for accepting me! I'm so glad to be here, able to learn more about George Fox, Lewis Benson, and Christ teaching me Himself.

deepest apologies for not responding.I have not been over this "way "for a while

Thank you Ellis. It is gratifying to have this connection. I want to be open to Christ’s presence and leading, to be still - to stand still until I am clear, and to do what I can to open others to this Way. 

Hi Ellis, I didn't finish the translation yet. But Henry is helping me with the text by translating it into Modern English to make it easier for me to translate it. I will continue translating after my exam next week. Please pray for me!

There were things in that presentation that trouble me deeply. I will mention a couple here. First is what seems to me to be a distortion of the Jeremiah 15:16 passage. In looking at the Hebrew, I would say that he or the translators were bent on something the text does not support. James' statement that Jeremiah ate the words and the words became the word does not hold water. The word used in Hebrew is the same in both instances. Now, he makes the assumption "Thy Words were found, and I ate them," is equivalent to reading scripture. Contrast that view with Fox's statement in the Journal: "My desires after the Lord grew stronger, and zeal in the pure knowledge of God, and of Christ alone, without the help of any man, book, or writing. For though I read the scriptures that spake of Christ and of God, yet I knew him not but by revelation, as: he who hath the key did open, and as the Father of life drew me to his son by his spirit. " (Vol. 1, p.74) The words of God that, when eaten, bring joy and gladness of heart are those inward whisperings that draw us to the son. "The words I have/am speaking to you, these are spirit, these are life," Jesus told/tells his disciples. The joy and gladness have their rise in this life.

The second thing is James' use of the term "The Word" to refer to scripture. The significance of those words is that they are the name of the source of life. "In the beginning was the Word...in him was life and the life was the light of men." This is not scripture. They are a testimony to the one who is life, but they have no life in themselves.

I would like to suggest that you compare Edward Burrough's introduction to Vol. 3 of Fox's works with what was presented on this video.

This, perhaps, is enough for the moment. I would still like to hear from you what you found beneficial.

Thanks Ellis for the warm welcome, comment on my photo, and some initial suggestions on maximizing the use of the website. I look forward to perusing what is available. I plan to sign into the Fox Reading Zoom tonight. I may be a bit quiet for the first few times as I get to know and feel comfortable with the members of the Fellowship. As time goes on I expect questions and comments will be forth coming. I'm an introvert, but not shy (no, that's not an oxymoron) :) Larry

Thank you Ellis.