On Saturday, January 10, the three councils that support Philadelphia Yearly Meeting—Quaker Life Council, Administrative Council, and Nominating Council—held their meeting in the joint format. In this structure, all three councils meet together as one Joint Council to worship, discern, and conduct business collaboratively. Their practice is to share the minutes in a news story with the PYM community in the weeks following the meeting.
Administrative Council
December 2025 | Joint Council Update
On Saturday, December 13, the three councils that support Philadelphia Yearly Meeting—Quaker Life Council, Administrative Council, and Nominating Council—held their meeting in the joint format. In this structure, all three councils meet together as one Joint Council to worship, discern, and conduct business collaboratively. Their practice is to share the minutes in a news story with the PYM community in the weeks following the meeting.
Community Through PYM This Fall
October began for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting with the announcement that Chris Mohr will serve as the next General Secretary. Friends have come to know his work through the years, and the announcement invites tenderness across community of Friends as PYM continues through a time of transition. Christie Duncan-Tessmer’s final weeks in the role brought thoughtful messages and shared gratitude for her service; the month closed with thanks that her leadership has shaped how Friends move together in faith.
At the Home of Martha and Mary
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
- Luke 10:38-42 New International Version
October 2025 | Joint Council Update
On Saturday, October 11, the three councils that support Philadelphia Yearly Meeting—Quaker Life Council, Administrative Council, and Nominating Council—held their meeting in the joint format. In this structure, all three councils meet together as one Joint Council to worship, discern, and conduct business collaboratively. Their practice is to share the minutes in a news story with the PYM community in the week following the meeting.
Questions and Comments About Administrative, Quaker Life, and Nominating Councils Working as a Joint Council
Friends who attended Annual Sessions in person or via zoom know that the council Tri-clerks asked for questions about how council functions. We received many more than we were able to answer in the brief period available, so we are sharing the full list of questions here and will be writing responses to share in the next several weeks.
If you have further questions you would like the tri-clerks to respond to, please send them to us to add to the list below.
What questions or comments do you have about the experiment currently underway with Administrative, Quaker Life and Nominating councils working as a joint council?
Please email any question or comment to CFilauro@pym.org. [Read more…] about Questions and Comments About Administrative, Quaker Life, and Nominating Councils Working as a Joint Council
July 2025 | Joint Council Update
On Saturday, July 12, the three councils that support Philadelphia Yearly Meeting—the Quaker Life Council, Administrative Council, and Nominating Council—held their meeting in the joint format. In this structure, all three councils meet together as one Joint Council to worship, discern, and conduct business collaboratively. This allows the Joint Council to share the minutes in a news story with the PYM community following the meeting.
Minutes from the Joint Council meeting this past Saturday are forthcoming. However the council wanted to share the following key updates prior to sessions.
As Philadelphia Yearly Meeting prepares to gather for Annual Sessions, the yearly meeting councils want to particularly highlight two items of their work that will be advancing to the Sessions agenda: the Future of Sessions survey results and an update on evaluating the yearly meeting’s carbon footprint.
June 2025 | Joint Council Update
On Saturday, June 14, the three councils that support Philadelphia Yearly Meeting—Quaker Life Council, Administrative Council, and Nominating Council—held their meeting in the joint format. In this structure, all three councils meet together as one Joint Council to worship, discern, and conduct business collaboratively. This allows the Joint Council to share the minutes in a news story with the PYM community in the week following the meeting.
May 2025 | Joint Council Update
On Saturday, May 10, the three councils that support Philadelphia Yearly Meeting—Quaker Life Council, Administrative Council, and Nominating Council—held their meeting in the joint format. In this structure, all three councils meet together as one Joint Council to worship, discern, and conduct business collaboratively. This allows the Joint Council to share the minutes in a news story with the PYM community in the week following the meeting.
April 2025 | Joint Council Update
On Saturday, April 12, the three councils that support Philadelphia Yearly Meeting—Quaker Life Council, Administrative Council, and Nominating Council—held their meeting in the joint format. In this structure, all three councils meet together as one Joint Council to worship, discern, and conduct business collaboratively. This allows the Joint Council to share the minutes in a news story with the PYM community in the week following the meeting.
