IN EARLY JUNE, GOOD NEWS ASSOCIATES AND BOARD MEMBERS gathered on retreat to celebrate Associates’ efforts in ministry. Our smiling faces in the photo above reflect some of the joy. We were full of gratitude for two new board members and a smooth leadership transition; we enjoyed each other’s company in prayer, delicious meals, and evenings full of conversation, music, and laughter. But the heart of our annual board retreat is Associates’ time to Show and Tell about their year. Some highlights are at the bottom of this reflection.

What a delightfully strange little organization GNA is! Associates’ reports weren’t focused on numbers served (though there were many in many places), hours clocked, or how much people donated to make it possible (holding steady in unsteady times). The point wasn’t about how many retreats we facilitated, the impact of our spiritual direction sessions, a new book, or big speaking events. We give thanks for these achievements, yet there’s more.

GNA measures success by our faithfulness. In the wider world, that’s just odd. Yet it’s glorious too.

I’m using faithfulness to mean we’re dedicated to doing what we’re called to do. In GNA, the Associates, Board and Director are all committed to listening to every small inner nudge of the Spirit, doing the next right thing, and remaining centered in trust in God for the outcomes. Results of our efforts may or may not appear successful by most measures. In fact, we also know that our impact may be delayed, hidden, or completely unknowable. We do what God prompts us to do anyway.

Honeybee Faithful

GNA doesn’t fit regular business models. What if an Associate’s faithfulness is like a humble honeybee who labors from flower to flower in a two-mile radius? The bee fulfills one goal when it brings food home for the bee-babies. Maybe it even dances its success at the hive entrance. Meanwhile it’s also pollinating thousands of plants every day, unwittingly contributing to food for innumerable other species, including humans. It’s crazy good. A honeybee is not a flashy mascot. It won’t sell headlines, but its far-reaching influence inspires me.

Unlike honeybees, humans can reflect on our efforts in a wider context. We could imagine faithful ministry more like a relay race through time: The early disciples started along Jesus’ Way of love without limits, forgiveness without conditions, and peace beyond understanding in the face of imperial violence. Our ancestors in faith through the centuries caught the baton and carried it as faithfully as they knew how. What they counted as success, we can see was partial and sometimes even harmful. So, a great cloud of witnesses has passed the baton of faithfulness to us. We will pass something incomplete along to our descendants. It’s a humbling storyline.

Both these metaphors offer spaciousness for unpredictable outcomes. With spaciousness, Associates can minister with a sense of freedom to try new things. It’s a kind of spiritual agility that’s less attached to results than other approaches. We aren’t in bondage to a fear of failure, or analysis paralysis. Over the years, it’s true that some GNA ministry projects didn’t work out. They were still worth trying! They enlarged our sense of possibilities, or Holy imagination. And since we don’t spend what we don’t have, we aren’t in financial jeopardy if something doesn’t fly.

It’s been said that God’s vision for Good spreads like yeast, or grows from a speck of a seed into an unruly shrub that takes over the yard (Mathhew 13: 32-33). Sometimes I wonder if we even know what to desire, beyond Divine purposes fulfilled. Those purposes are always more than we can ask or imagine.

So how do you measure success? Were you faithful?

What GNA Faithfulness Looks Like

With gratitude for your prayers and donations, we share these examples of faithfulness this past year with GOOD NEWS Associates:

• Rosemary’s free mobile clinic for those without health care near Albany, NY, is nearing capacity! She’s stretching to engage her local faith community in her efforts.
• Jan’s prayers for others join God desire for mercy and peace in our times. Her discernment continues to be a great gift to GNA.
• Emily’s book was published: Before the Resurrection: Transition and Endings in Quaker Meetings and Churches, and she presented the Swarthmore Lecture (UK) on the Testimony of Community.
• I’m serving as a spiritual Companion/Coach to faith communities in the renewal program, Quaker Connect through Friends World Committee for Consultation, and applications open soon for a Midwest Way of the Spirit cohort for 2026-2027.
• Faithfulness for me as new Executive Director has looked like learning Excel, managing finances, and connecting gratefully with donors.

Thank you for being part of GOOD NEWS Associates story of faithfulness.

Photos by Jim Hall

• GOOD NEWS Associates Board and Associates: Front l-r: Becky Wood, Marge Abbott, Jan Wood; Back l-r: Noah Merrill, Emily Provance, Julie Peyton, Rosemary Zimmerman, Christine Hall, Lorraine Watson, Katie Buckley, Lynn Mills.
• Honeybee in the garden