The Meeting on Worship and Ministry of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting offers meetings support as they seek to strengthen their meetings for worship and their spiritual vitality. We encourage meetings to undertake a regular assessment of their spiritual condition and, upon request, we provide encouragement and assistance to meetings as they seek to respond to the spiritual needs of their members and attenders.

Our meetings, which take place at various locations throughout the yearly meeting, are held in expectant waiting. In all we do we strive to keep God in the center. Our primary purpose is to discern the will of God and to be obedient to those leadings. When listening to each other, when sharing our experiences of God, prayer and ministry, and when supporting the spiritual growth and calls to ministry (in all its forms) of PYM Friends, our goal is to serve God humbly. It is God who leads; we want to help each other follow.

PYM Worship and Ministry is open to all who have come under the weight of sharing their experiences of God, as well as their skills, understanding, and yearnings in Quaker ministry and spiritual nurture, with the wider community.

We are called to serve:

• Monthly and quarterly meeting committees on worship and ministry:
  • Visit, listen, share experiences, break bread, and join in meeting for worship
  • Distribute queries once every two years to monthly and quarterly meetings and compile a report on the spiritual condition of the yearly meeting
  • Provide resources, e.g., speakers, facilitators, retreat leaders, reading lists, written materials, etc. related to worship and ministry
  • Help with the process of discernment, as requested
  • Help monthly meetings share and benefit from each other’s experiences of worship and ministry
  • Strive to visit some monthly meetings in every PYM quarterly meeting within a three-year period
• Yearly Meeting:
  • Pray for the overall spiritual health of the yearly meeting
  • Have at least one member attend various bodies and committees of the yearly meeting to hold them in prayer as requested (such as Interim Meeting, the Budget Conference and others)
  • Call together an epistle committee for yearly meeting in session to write the outgoing epistle and deal with incoming epistles
  • Serve on clearness committees for matters related to the spiritual condition of PYM
  • Give prayerful support and nurture of yearly meeting sessions
  • Participate on the planning group for the yearly meeting sessions
  • Plan the opening session of yearly meeting
  • Review written materials as requested
  • Fulfill requests to facilitate dialogue regarding worship and ministry issues
  • Support special projects, such as The School of the Spirit
• Those called to ministry:
  • Support gatherings of ministers and spiritual nurturers
  • Assist with the process of discernment of ministry in its many forms, as requested
  • Help meetings support and nurture the spiritual growth of ministers
  • Assess our roles in supporting those called to travel in the ministry

We welcome your input, support, and participation. For information about our schedule of meetings, or requests for visits or other assistance, please contact Dana Kester-McCabe, clerk, at sqm@friendsmedia.org.