PYM Quakers seek to experience God within ourselves and in our relationships with others.
We believe that the Divine spirit continues to reveal new truths to us.
We are a community of meetings, members and seekers who support each other in faith, practice and witness.
PYM Quakers are committed to living lives that outwardly attest to our inward spiritual experience.
We express our faith in action and work for a better world through pioneering, inspiring programs and services.
Everything we do is founded in our testimonies of peace, integrity, equality, simplicity and community.
A comprehensive listing of all the collaboratives and sprints who are doing the work of our yearly meeting community.
PYM Quakers seek to create and steward resources to help individuals, communities and the world.
We provide spiritual and tangible assistance to those in need.
All our resources stem from our desire to bring light to the world and implement our testimony to the power of the Divine spirit.
PYM is undergoing a structural change.
Read about how this affects the PYM website.
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is both a Faith Community and an Organization.
PYM is one of the oldest yearly meetings of the Religious Society of Friends in the United States.
Meetings, members, seekers and staff work together to nurture Quaker faith and practice in today’s world.
PYM Quakers share experience, leadings and witness with one another and the world.
We have a long tradition of expressing our shared divinity by working to be in community with one another.
We invite you to bookmark this page and come back often to stay up to date with conversations and activities in our faith community.
"We contribute to the Annual Fund because we value the way PYM connects us to a wider Quaker fellowship and supports our beliefs and actions."
Cathy Gumlock, Lehigh Valley Meeting
Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Peace & Social Concerns”
At the 2018 Annual Sessions this year, there will be a booth during free time and dinner time on Thursday and Friday where Resource Friends will be available to talk with you about their work and what they might be able to support for you and your meeting. They will also be offering workshops on Friday and Saturday. Resource Friends …
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 Meeting; 47 W. Coulter Str. Phila. PA 19144. Contributions may …
If we are proud of our heritage of opposition to slavery, we have no choice but to take a stand on mass incarceration. Last spring Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting passed a minute in opposition to mass incarceration. As one step in bringing that minute to life, to test the role of outside observers in the effort to end cash bail, …
Green Street Meeting’s Quaker Social Change Ministry group in support of EMIR Healing Center is having a “Fill a Bookbag” drive to gather school supplies for 85 children participating in the center’s programs this year. EMIR stands for “Every Murder is Real.” The center, in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, was founded by Green Street member Victoria Greene, after her …
Over the past several years, three monthly meetings in Philadelphia–Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia (Arch Street), Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, and now Germantown Monthly Meeting–have joined a broad-based interfaith coalition founded in 2011 under the name Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower, and Rebuild, or POWER. POWER, affiliated at the national level with the PICO Network, aimed then (and still …
“This is the best week of my life.” 4th Grade Student For more than forty years, Abington Quarter has supported two summer youth programs for members and attenders of Friends Meetings within the Quarter: Junior Friends Conference (JFC) and Middle School Friends Conference (MSFC). The opportunity to join the Junior Friends Conference is open to all young …
Haddonfield Monthly Meeting welcomed some thirty people on Saturday, March 24, between 10-Noon, for a period of worship in solidarity with the 800+ March for Our Lives rallies across the globe Members of Haddonfield and Medford Meetings, as well as some nearby churches participated. Participants reported that some strong messages were shared during worship, and that it felt like a …
On Saturday, March 24, at Spring Continuing Sessions, Youth from across PYM participated in the March for Our Lives at the Capitol in Harrisburg, PA. The morning program was spent in preparation: wondering about how we let our lives speak as Friends, talking about what it is like to attend a march/rally, and processing different perspectives on the issue of …
What’s in a cartoon and why does it move people? How personal is graphic novel writing? Where do inspired editorial cartoons come from? What makes humor stick? Ramona Sharples and Signe Wilkinson drew on personal and professional truths at Friends in Fellowship, on Thursday March 8th, as they explained the origins of their very different cartoons to a group of …
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 for straw purchases. At this time when the youth of …
On Saturday, February 10th the Willistown Meeting hosted some fifty Friends and visitors for a panel discussion on the Pennsylvania Prison system. Willistown’s clerk, Will Scull, and event organizer Derek Stedman welcomed two West Chester University professors, Michael Antonio and Sami Abdel-Salaam, along with four other presenters—Chrissy Nye, an ex-offender; Laura Taylor, (Gwynedd Meeting) an expert on the Quaker-led Alternatives …
Not one, but six east coast Tribal Nations seeking Federal recognition for decades await President Trump’s signature. This legal status will allow direct relationship with the Federal government, “funding for scholarships, healthcare and other services. It will also allow for the respectful repatriation of ancestral remains.” Fellow “First Contact” initiatives, by Baltimore Yearly Meeting Friends of shared spirit, have lifted …
Last Thursday marked the launch of the new Friends in Fellowship speaker series run by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting at Arch Street Meetinghouse. After people assembled in the reception room for a light supper, the human rights lawyer, Robert Swift, briefed them on human rights restitution in the Philippines. Before heading home one visitor said, “this was a great event and …
Members of the Pottstown Worship Group, along with others from traditional Peace Churches, recently met with the executive director of the Peace Tax Fund, Malachy Kilbride at the Akron Mennonite Church. The members of the Pottstown Worship Group, under the care of Gwynedd Meeting, have been under the weight of a concern for the traditional Quaker Peace Testimony. Friends deeply …
With the help of his fellow Quakers, Jack Mahon of Elmer, New Jersey, has dedicated the last ten years to sending magnetic locators to poor and struggling communities throughout the world. The locators, a product of Schonstedt Instrument Company, can detect the presence of landmines and other unexploded weaponry left behind in a warzone. Once locals are trained to use …
by marian dalke A Sunday morning of soft light is cast through deep wooden windows. The light swifts over and picks up the soft cotton of milkweed seeds, sailing over the heads of those gathered for Quaker Meeting for Worship at Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. Meanwhile, Grace Gonglewski shares a message about “praying on seeds,” as she casts more milkweed …
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 from Christie this week during her trip, to share what …
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting will cover $150.00 per person of the cost of the registration of PYM Friends of Color and their families to attend the upcoming Retreat for Friends of Color. It will be held November 3 to 5 at the Stony Point Center in Stony Point, New York. Head to the Friends General Conference Website for more information and …
Dear PYM Friends, I am excited to announce that Meg Rose will begin serving as our Young Adult Engagement Coordinator on September 1, 2017. She has served as Interim YAF Co-Coordinator for the past few months and as Interim Children’s Religious Life Coordinator for the past year. Meg’s unique experience in supporting children, families, and young adults will help us as …
Become a Social Justice Resource Friend! In November of 2016, the PYM staff Community Engagement Team began a process of discernment with Quakers, organizers, trainers, and social justice activists.These elders provided guidance and expertise on how PYM Friends could most effectively move into social action, grounded in our powerful spiritual tradition and in our core commitment to honor that of …
