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.
Annual Sessions
Community Led Workshops at Annual Sessions
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM) is bringing back community-led workshops at Annual Sessions. Friends can submit a proposal to lead a workshop that connects with this year’s theme, Members One of Another, or that supports Friends’ faith and commitment in the life of the yearly meeting.
[Read more…] about Community Led Workshops at Annual Sessions
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.
PYM Explained • A Resource on How Meetings, Friends, Ministries, and Structures Link
Each part of PYM Explained provides how the yearly meeting lives as one connected body and leads into what comes next. This virtual version is shared so Friends are able to interact with it for easy research and finding.
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.
PYM Epistle – 2025 | 345th Annual Sessions of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting
The 345th Annual Sessions of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting happened this past July online and at Cheyney University. This epistle records the work and witness of those sessions and is not meant to serve as minutes. Fall Continuing Sessions will be held in hybrid format at Arch Street Meeting House on Saturday, November 8, with All Together Worship on Sunday, November 9.
[Read more…] about PYM Epistle – 2025 | 345th Annual Sessions of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting
Mott Memo: Wednesday, July 23 – Thursday, July 24
Annual Sessions has begun. Friends are joining from home. Yesterday was the first day. Everything took place online. Today will carry on the same. Some will come to Cheyney University tomorrow. Others will stay connected online or in other ways. [Read more…] about Mott Memo: Wednesday, July 23 – Thursday, July 24
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.
Communities of Practice and Threads | Connecting Through the Work We Share
A Community of Practice is a group of Friends who focus on the same part of meeting life and are seeking to learn through shared experience. This may include care for worship, peace work, religious education, outreach, or the responsibilities that steward the life of the meeting. Each of these is its own practice. Many Friends are already engaged in this work, whether they have been doing it for years or are just beginning. Naming it as a Community of Practice helps our community recognize the learning, the questions, and the care that move through it.
Within Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, we also use the word Thread. It reminds us that this kind of work runs through all our meetings and ties us together. Whether someone says Thread or Community of Practice, they may be naming the same thing. It is a way to describe how Friends connect through shared attention and shared responsibility. [Read more…] about Communities of Practice and Threads | Connecting Through the Work We Share
A Weekend Together for Youth and Families
Children and youth will have space to be with one another during Annual Sessions. Some moments will be simple, and others will be full of creativity and play. The Youth Programs team is putting care into planning a weekend that feels welcoming and joyful. [Read more…] about A Weekend Together for Youth and Families
