Meeting Relations Program

The Meeting Relations Program is a path toward building relationships between meetings and the Yearly Meeting.  It is hoped that this program will energize and strengthen members, meetings and the Yearly Meeting in community with one another.

Background

The program was approved by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in Annual Session, July 2010 out of our desire to reconnect meetings and members with the Yearly Meeting, thereby strengthing our community and relationships with each other.  The program is under the care of the Support & Outreach Standing Committee.  The Director of Meeting Relations was recruited and hired in late January 2011 and the program formally began in late March.

Meetings are invited individually to participate in the Meeting Relations Program by the Director of Meeting Relations.  Meetings may elect to particpate, or not, as they are led.  Those who wish to participate are assigned a Staff Liaison, who initially visits the meeting for worship on a First Day for the purpose of sharing our faith with one another and getting to know one another.  After the initial visit, it is up to the Meeting to appoint one or two people as Meeting Liaisons who then work with their Staff Liaison to schedule and organize ongoing visits.

This page provides information about the Meeting Relations Program, news, events and other information and media to enliven our understanding of what it means to be in community and relationship with one another.

Simply stated, the purposes of the Meeting Relations Program are:

• To strengthen relationships and communication among meetings and the Yearly Meeting.
• To create a reciprocal pathway for connecting and enhancing the combined talents, resources, programs, events and opportunities of meetings and the Yearly Meeting.

Structure

• A staff member of the Yearly Meeting will be assigned as the Staff Liaison to the meeting.  S/he will be the contact person for the meeting.
• Two members of the meeting, to be known as Meeting Liaisons, will be identified as the meeting’s contacts for the program. 
• The Staff Liaison will visit the meeting 3 or 4 times per year.  Visits will be coordinated with the Meeting Liaisons to best meet the needs of the meeting.  Suggested visits may include meeting for worship, meeting for business, committee meetings, forums, discussions, social gatherings, meals and other opportunities to develop relationships with the meeting.

 Other Information

• At present, the Meeting Relations Program is focused on engaging meetings that are in quarters that do not have a full-time quarter coordinator.  Discussions are underway with quarters that have coordinators in order to determine the best way to support the goals of the Meeting Relations Program in their quarters.