Spiritual Deepening Planning Coordinator - FGC

Friends General Conference is seeking a qualified Friend to work on a contract basis with FGC committees and staff to coordinate and develop a Quaker spiritual deepening program for use by individuals and meetings. The purpose of this work is to provide a clear plan on how FGC – in collaboration with other Quaker institutions, yearly meetings, and monthly meetings – can help seekers, Friends, and meetings enter fully and deeply into the Quaker way. 

The inputs for this planning will include a careful review of existing spiritual deepening materials and activities that are currently available to meetings, seekers, and Friends, as well as extensive materials recently developed during an FGC Consultation on Spiritual Deepeningattended by sixty-five Friends from the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. The planning coordinator will work with staff, committee members, and volunteers to create a detailed spiritual deepening program plan, including sample materials, activities, and experiential exercises.

The required end products are:

• A detailed program plan as mentioned above.
• A communications plan to help maximize interest and use of the spiritual deepening materials and methods. This part of the planning will involve working with a communications consultant (funded separately).
• A detailed draft budget, including staffing recommendations, for moving forward with this work.

Vision

Make the full depth, joy, and fire of Quaker faith and practice highly available, teachable, and experiential for all those who are or would become part of our faith communities.

Summary of Duties

The FGC Spiritual Deepening Planning Coordinator will work with FGC committees and staff, especially the FGC Spiritual Deepening Working Group and Committee on Nurturing Ministries, to coordinate and document the development of a Quaker spiritual deepening plan for use by individuals and meetings. The plan needs to provide a clear roadmap on how to enter fully and deeply into the Quaker way, as well as a detailed strategy for how to promote the availability and utilization of these resources by Friends and seekers.

Detailed Responsibilities

• Review existing FGC programs, monthly and yearly meeting resources, as well as other Quaker resources, to develop a clear, simple, highly adoptable program of spiritual deepening that can scale to serve thousands of Friends and hundreds of meetings. The purpose is to address the major growth and transition phases of individuals already in, or coming into Quaker worship communities.
• Conduct a broad survey of Quakers regarding their current spiritual deepening practices and the strength of their meetings in the areas of religious education, spiritual deepening, and spiritual formation to help shape the program and to provide a baseline on which to evaluate the effectiveness of new spiritual deepening work. A survey instrument has already been developed and tested with a small group. It will need to be adapted for this broader use.
• Use the outcomes of the March 2014 FGC Consultation on Spiritual Deepening, the gathered resources from monthly and yearly meetings, the survey, and our own deliberations, to recommend a spiritual deepening plan for Friends General Conference
• As part of the plan, identify ongoing ways to work with yearly meetings in the building and administering of the programs.
• Along with a communications consultant, develop a marketing plan for promoting the program based on the constituencies to be served.
• Build into the plan resources and tools for the continuous improvement of the program over time.
• Give consideration to the kinds of tools the program might utilize such as print materials, books, downloadable PDFs, online video, interactive online education, etc.
• Explore whether strategic partnerships might be valuable in further developing and carrying out the program, such as working with Pendle Hill, School of the Spirit, Earlham School of Religion, etc.
• As part of the philosophy and the finances of the program, determine if fee for service will be part of the offerings, i.e., will we charge fees for some aspects of the program?
• Make recommendations regarding the internal structures necessary to support the program: the level of staffing necessary (volunteer and paid), the investments in internal education and training necessary, and total financial commitment required short-term and long-term.
• Develop a detailed draft budget for moving forward with this work.
• Help to develop the case statement about funding the spiritual deepening program to be tested in the governing body and a fundraising feasibility study planned for 2015.

Evaluation

Develop ways for FGC and users of the program to evaluate the program, its tools and materials, along with ways to participate in its ongoing improvement.

Reporting

The FGC Spiritual Deepening Planning Coordinator will report to Deborah Fisch, FGC Associate Secretary for Ministries, and the FGC Spiritual Deepening Working Group, which is under the care of the Committee on Nurturing Ministries.

Work Schedule and Compensation

The FGC Spiritual Deepening Planning Coordinator may work from home and come into the FGC office monthly for regular meetings with FGC staff. There will be limited other travel, such as to FGC committee and working group meetings, and trips to review spiritual deepening programs and resources offered by other Quaker organizations or meetings. All preapproved travel will be reimbursed by FGC.

Compensation for the work will be at the rate of $35.00/hour. This is a contract position. There are no benefits provided, although we will deduct social security and workers’ compensation if you wish.

The duration of the project will be limited to 1,000 hours to be completed within seven to nine months from the date of hire. We are planning to activate the position around June 1, 2014, pending funding.

The availability of this limited-term position is contingent upon approval of a grant request submitted recently for this project. We expect to be notified about the grant decision in late May or early June.  In order to start this project as quickly as possible if funding is indeed available, letters of interest are due by April 30, 2014. 

Please send your letter of interest stating clearly your experience in religious education and spiritual formation program development, your resume, and a statement of availability for what we believe is a seven to nine month full-time project beginning in June 2014.  Send inquiries to Barry Crossno, FGC General Secretary,barryc@fgcquaker.org.  Please include “Spiritual Deepening Planning Coordinator” in the subject line.