 May/Summer 2001 (XXXIX 3) |
est Chester Meeting (PA) will be among the first to participate in the new PYM program called “Deepening and Strengthening Our Meetings as Faith Communities.” PYM Clerk Arlene Kelly, one of the facilitators of the program, visited West Chester on March 9 for a potluck supper and the chance to introduce the program to the Meeting.
The program grew out of Arlene’s experience with a considerable number of Monthly Meetings. Some Meetings experience difficulties in dealing with opportunities and challenges. She explained that some Meetings function like a person with immune system difficulties: When encountering relatively small problems, they cannot find the internal resources to deal with them effectively. This lack of effective problem-solving capability often has serious consequences. A healthier Meeting, on the other hand, would encounter the same problem, resolve it, and move on to other issues.
The Deepening and Strengthening program has two objectives: First, to help the membership grow in awareness that Meetings are living, growing entities that encounter different seasons – like a garden. Each season requires a different treatment in order to stay healthy and prepare for the next season. Second, to take the “pulse” of the Meeting to help it find its internal strengths and become better aware of its needs.
Arlene explained that this program is not intended for Meetings in deep trouble, but rather for healthy Meetings wishing to pause and get a renewed sense of themselves. It is also not a program to impart the wisdom of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, but rather a time when facilitators paid by PYM can help the Monthly Meeting discover the wisdom that is already in residence.
The program looks at three areas of Meeting life: spiritual grounding, meeting for business, and the Meeting community. The program calls for each member and regular attender to fill out a questionnaire for each of these three areas. Responses to each question may be as simple as agreeing or disagreeing with a given statement, but space is provided for a more elaborate response. Names are optional on questionnaire responses.
The questionnaires are sent to the facilitator to be tallied and the results analyzed. The program facilitator will then visit the Monthly Meeting for a one-day retreat to discuss the results and plan the next steps. The program also includes a six-month follow-up visit to determine the effects of the program and discuss what might be helpful in the future.
After Arlene introduced the program to West Chester Meeting on March 9, those in attendance were divided into small groups and given a set of discussion questions to help start them thinking about the formal questionnaires to follow.
At the end of the evening, members and attenders expressed a high level of enthusiasm and heartfelt gratitude to Arlene for her visit and the opportunity to become a deeper, stronger faith community.
Randy Lyons
West Chester Meeting (PA)
Last modified: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:18 AM