Friends Center

Friends Center Mission Statement

Friends Center at Guilford College is a collaborative endeavor of the College and the Religious Society of Friends to strengthen Friends and their institutions.

As a Quaker resource center for the Southeast and beyond, Friends Center provides programs that nurture servant-leaders both at Guilford College and in the wider community. These activities are grounded in prayer, informed by Friends' faith and practice, nourished by worship and spiritual formation, and brought to fullness in Quaker community.

Friends Center is under the care of the Quaker Life Committee of the Guilford College Board of Trustees. Funding for Friends Center is supported by the College and the wider community.

Adopted by the Friends Center steering committee, First Month, 20, 2003

Quaker Leadership Scholars Program

Since Friends Center developed QLSP in 1992, more than 150 students have been a part of the program. Through systematic spiritual formation, academic study, mentoring, and exposure to frequent campus visitors from the worldwide family of Friends, QLSPers prepare to be of significant service to the Religious Society of Friends.

A sampling of where QLSP graduates have served:

  • Pendle Hill, Earlham College, Guilford College, Arthur Morgan School, Friends School of Tazmania, Olney Friends School, Carolina Friends School, Abington Friends School, Moorestown Friends School, New Garden Friends School, public schools
  • Pastoral and youth ministry in North Carolina Yearly Meeting (F), Western Yearly Meeting, Indiana Yearly Meeting, Wilmington Yearly; camping programs in New England Yearly Meeting, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, and North Carolina Yearly Meeting (F); service in North Carolina Yearly Meeting (C)
  • William Penn House, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Quaker UN Office, Friends World Committee for Consultation, AFSC
  • Hispanic ministries, farm worker projects, business, law enforcement, graduate school, Fulbright in Germany

In 2002, primary funding of QLSP was assumed by the Guilford Initiative on Faith and Practice, a Lilly Endowment supported program. Friends Center maintains an active involvement in QLSP and works closely with QLSP director Scott Pierce Coleman (336) 316-2331. At the conclusion of the Lilly grant in 2007, Friends Center will resume full oversight and funding of the program.

Campus Ministry

Friends Center began Guilford's first Office of Campus Ministry in 1990. Since then weekday morning worship, midweek meeting for worship, and Sunday worship have been instituted. The College's historic "Hut" has been transformed into an inviting campus ministry center where frequent forums, teas, small group discussions, and other gatherings are held.

Thirteen student religious organizations flourish on campus with Friends Center's assistance. An annual Religious Emphasis Week brings internationally known religious leaders to campus. Throughout the year a campus ministry newsletter, "Seekers Sessions," and many visiting speakers keep spiritual life lively and vital.

Each year Friends Center sponsors numerous fall, spring, and summer break work trips. Destinations have included disaster relief in Florida, Texas, Alabama, and North Carolina; inner city work in Atlanta, Greensboro, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore; and international projects in Belize, Cuba, Kenya, and Palestine. A close association is kept with North Carolina Friends Disaster Service.

Quaker Renewal Program

Beginning in 1995, Friends Center has offered comprehensive adult continuing education programs in Bible, Christian thought, and Quaker history. After successfully completing a three-year experiment with an intensive, year-long program, Friends Center now offers three six-week courses in Quaker studies annually. Topics have included North Carolina Quaker history, Friends in healing, Quaker women, Quaker diversity, the spirituality of Thomas Kelly, spirituality and peacemaking, ethics in public life, Quakers and culture, Quakers and Christ, and numerous book studies. View proceedings from the recent QRP program "A New Kind of Quakerism? Emerging and Converging with Young Adult Friends," here.

Information Services

Friends Center serves as a collaborative endeavor of Guilford College and the Religious Society of Friends to promote the strengthening of Friends and their institutions. As a major Quaker resource center for the South, Friends Center fields numerous inquiries about Friends and provides frequent speakers for schools, churches, meetings, civic organizations, and the media.

Friends Center provides the orientation to Quaker faith and practice for Guilford College faculty, administration, staff, students, and parents and was instrumental in assuring that Friends testimonies are creatively addressed in the College's new curriculum.

Those interested in learning more about Quaker history, Quaker genealogy, and links to other Quaker sites should visit the Friends Historical Collection page for more information.

Friends Center Staff

Max Carter, director of Friends Center and campus ministry coordinator, is a recorded Friends minister with interests in the Middle East, the Amish, conscientious objection, and Quaker history. His graduate studies at the Earlham School of Religion and Temple University were in campus ministry and American religious history. Tel.:  336-316-2445; mcarter@guilford.edu

Deborah Shaw assists in the work of Friends Center and serves on the staff of the Guilford Initiative on Faith and Practice. She is a recorded Friends minister with interests in the life of the Spirit and expressions of spirituality through the arts. A graduate of Guilford College with further study at the Earlham School of Religion and the School of the Spirit, Deborah is active in the traveling ministries program of FGC. Tel.:  336-316-2326; dshaw@guilford.edu 

Help the Center Hold!

Friends Center programs are made possible by the generous financial support of many individuals, Friends meetings, USFW circles, grants, and Guilford College. Contributions to Friends Center are an important investment in the future of the Religious Society of Friends and the spiritual vitality of Guilford College.