Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “General Secretary”
Mid-January Through Mid-February 2019 Business and Finances: The FY 2018 audited financial statements were posted on the website. See them at www.pym.org/finance/audits. We are finishing the annual report, an attractive, user-friendly summary of PYMs 2018 fiscal year which will be sent to donors next month. PYM’s insurance policies renew in January. The 2019 PYM Master Policy, under the Friends …
Mid-December 2018 Through Mid-January 2019 Business and Finances: Received donations in response to the December appeal. An informal analysis indicates most gifts that came in are similar or increased a bit from last year and lapsed donors from as long ago as the year 2000 have made gifts. Overall, though …
General Secretary Report on Staff Activity to Councils Mid November – Mid December 2018 Business and Finances: Your Part Time Controller has PYM’s accounting work in hand. Check writing and payroll have run smoothly, as have all Aging grants which are sent out at the beginning of each month. We …
General Secretary Report on Staff Activity to Councils Mid-October Through Mid-November 2018 Business and Finance: As shared in the written GenSec report to Continuing Sessions, PYM operations ended FY18 in a solid, positive position. Lower covenant and annual fund contributions year-over-year were mitigated by higher investment income and by expense …
General Secretary Report on Staff Activity to Councils Mid-September Through Mid-October 2018 Business and Finance: Our fiscal year ended September 30th! The year-end prompted a variety of tasks including communications with monthly meetings and quarters about their final covenant payments, getting out last minute grants and payments and closing the …
Date for Memorial–Saturday, July 21 at 10:00 A memorial service for Penny will be held Saturday, July 21 at Germantown Monthly Meeting, 47 W. Coulter Street, Philadelphia, PA 19144. The service will begin at 10 AM. Contributions in her name can be made to the Kelly School Library Fund; c/o Germantown Monthly …
“Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.” — Dr. Martin Luther King, Letter from Birmingham Washington, DC – …
Quakers in our region have a long history of concern about gun violence. Individual monthly meetings and the yearly meeting have approved minutes and spoken with lawmakers about it. A campaign that grew out of PYM peace work successfully closed a Philadelphia gun shop with a tremendous reputation and record …
In January for the first time, the three governing councils held their meetings concurrently and in the same space. This allowed them to begin their separate meetings with shared worship. Additionally, I gave the monthly General Secretary’s report to the combined group rather than first to one council and then …
Business & Finances Worked with the executive committee of the Arch Street Meetinghouse Preservation Trust to confirm the steps needed to transition authority for the direction and goals of the Arch Street Meeting House staff from the PYM office to the Trust. This includes approving the job description for Executive …
Business & Finances Mapped out the December appeal Reviewed and edited minutes from Annual Sessions and forwarded them for the next step on their journey. Corresponded with Friends Fiduciary regarding administrative fees on funds for which they are both the trustee and have the beneficial interest. Continued exploration of the …
Each month I present a report that shares highlights of the work of staff to the PYM Councils. It includes a written report with highlights organized by focus area (Finance, Program, etc) and an oral report going into a little more detail on one or two areas. Beginning this year, …
Dear Friends! I want to make sure you are aware that we are nearing completion of the process to hire our first Youth Engagement Coordinator. We aim to complete the process by the middle of November, 2017. Another announcement will follow at that time. When the new Youth Engagement Coordinator …
Tonight is our last night in the Middle East. Every day so far I’ve felt like the day couldn’t be any longer or more emotional. Each day I learn that it can be. This was absolutely the longest day filled with more experience than I can process.
I’m writing this letter at the end of two very full days in and around Jerusalem. We are staying in a place right across the street from the New Gate to the Old City. It is mesmerizing to be walking in Jerusalem on the same streets that Jesus did.
Today was another very full day. Our first stop was a meeting with the leaders of Evangelical churches in Egypt. In the Middle East “evangelical” typically means what we might call protestant. There were about 30 people in the room including ten of us from the NCC delegation. Their ministries varied widely, from social services to pastoring churches, including a university professor and the first protestant in the Egyptian parliament.
We started today with very early worship at St. Peter’s Church at St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo. This church is the same one that was the target of an ISIS bombing last December.
It is 1:25 a.m. I just got back to the hotel from visiting with a member of the Quaker meeting here in Lebanon. The daytime, from 8-6 was entirely devoted to a series of conversations with people from the Middle East Council of Churches, including the General Secretary, the staff for Ecumenical Relief and the president of the board.
Sometimes, following multigenerational connecting activities at annual sessions we have “report-back worship.” In this style of worship, we settle into the love of God together and share out of the stillness our reflections on how the activity moved within us. As I sit in my room in Beirut and reflect back on this day so I can share it with you, I feel some of that same kind of deepening of experience in community.
Starting today, PYM General Secretary Christie Duncan-Tessmer is currently traveling as a member of a delegation of the National Council of Churches to the Middle East. This ten-day trip includes visits with diplomats, politicians, church leaders, and activists in Lebanon, Egypt, Israel, and Palestine. PYM will be posting periodic updates …