The following updates have been published to share further information about staffing changes: MAY 2, 2017 Staffing Update: Administrative Support in the Office APRIL 22, 2017 Communication from Leadership to PYM APRIL 14, 2017 Financial Impact: Staff Changes Follow Up Information MARCH 23, 2017 Advancement: Staff Changes Follow Up Information ...
Thread Gatherings, New and Improved
Thread Gatherings began in January of 2013 to draw meetings into closer fellowship, to nurture our collective wisdom and corporate ministry, and to share resources so work can be joined and strengthened. The image of the “thread” was and remains a useful metaphor, representing aspects of Quaker Faith and Practice …
Salem Quarterly Meeting Launches Podcast
Salem Quarterly Meeting, an association of seven South Jersey Quaker meetings, has launched a new podcast called Clearly Quaker. This occasionally released podcast will feature audio recordings from various lectures on topics of interest to both Quakers and non-Quakers alike. Clearly Quaker expands Salem Quarterly Meeting’s recent efforts to explore …
Learning and Doing Anti-Racism at Annual Sessions
Towards Transformation We strive as Quakers to live our daily lives grounded in the center of our beings. In this striving, we gather as a community away from everyday challenges to strengthen our spiritual practice. As we strengthen our practice, ever deeper insights emerge, and we ready ourselves to embrace …
Farewell to Benjamin Camp
It is with sadness that I announce Benjamin Camp’s departure from service on Philadelphia Yearly Meeting staff as Children’s Religious Life Program Coordinator. Until recently, Ben also served as our Youth & Young Adult Programs Team Leader. He will be working through the 2016 Annual Sessions, and his last day will be …
Celebrating Matt Sanderson
It is with a joyful sort of sadness that I announce the coming departure of Matt Sanderson from PYM staff, effective April 6, 2016. He started as Middle School Friends Assistant in 2009, and since 2012 he has served as Middle School Friends Coordinator. Yet, actually, Matt has served our ...
Announcing the Quaker Religious Education Collaborative!
Quaker Religious Education Collaborative Forms August 17 and 18, 2014, thirty-three Friends gathered at Pendle Hill in Wallingford, PA to envision the future of religious education among Friends. We left feeling exhilarated, believing that way had opened for a collective effort in Quaker religious education that reaches across the current …
The Quaker RE Collaborative’s First Meeting: August 17-18, 2014
Four Friends with deep ties to Quaker Religious Education from four Yearly Meetings (including PYM) are feeling moved to invite others to join them in a Quaker religious education community of practice. We are calling it a Quaker RE Collaborative (QREC). We invite Friends who hold a sense of stewardship …
Host a Religious Education Listening Circle
We invite Friends who hold a sense of stewardship for the faith formation of Quaker children to join with us. We are Friends with deep ties to Quaker Religious Education from four Yearly Meetings (including PYM) who are feeling moved to invite others to join them in a Quaker religious …
First Day School Convergence!
This story is from Zac Dutton, the Coordinator for Western Quarterly Meeting I was curious. Some kind of mental bifurcation formed in the minds of those for whom I began to work about two years ago as Coordinator for Western Quarterly Meeting. Somehow our Monthly Meetings were so separate from …
The 2013-14 FDS Thread Gathering: Success!
The first Thread Gathering we ever held was in September of 2012 on the ministry of First Day School. There were 12 people in attendance at that first effort. This year’s First Day School Thread Gathering was held on Saturday, November 16th at Princeton Meeting in Burlington Quarter. It was …
The Family Neighborhood at Annual Sessions
If you look up the word “neighborhood” in the dictionary, among the definitions is “Distinctive area: a district with characteristics that distinguish it from the areas around it.” Each year at Summer Sessions, just such a neighborhood is born — a place where families whose children are in Children’s Sessions …
Supporting Parents—A Boon for Their Children and Their Meetings
Twenty years ago I set out on a journey to attempt to parent our children in a Quaker manner, based on the beliefs and values as I understood them. While in theory it seemed to be an achievable goal, in practice it was much less clear. My strong desire to …
Paths to Quaker Parenting
Paths to Quaker Parenting Using Quaker Beliefs, Testimonies and Practices Edited by Harriet Heath This book is the sharing of a group of parents who have struggled with concerns common to most parents. We asked ourselves questions such as: How should I respond to my three-year-old’s whining for a cookie …
Nurturing the Mind, Body, Spirit and Silliness
Stephen Dotson has served Philadelphia Yearly Meeting as the Middle School Friends Coordinator for the last three years. During this time his spirit-led enthusiasm has inspired, challenged and engaged Quaker middle schoolers. The gatherings have been intentionally crafted to exercise the mind, body and spirit as well as to foster …
Christmas Resources for First Day Schools
At Christmastime, as at other times of the year, Friends look for programs that reflect values of inclusivity and simplicity values of Friends at Christmastime. Many meetings make up their own programs and curricula and others use books that tell stories of the meaning of Christmas. Below is an annotated …
“Lord, help me be the kind of person my dog thinks I am.” Honoring Cookie Caldwell
Cookie Caldwell is exactly the kind of person his dog Lucy thinks he is. Fun. Kind. Gentle. Full of happy energy. A wonderful baker. The best friend. Always up for a good walk. The alpha male. These are qualities that Cookie brought to every one of his 34 years with …
Celebrating the holidays with joy and simplicity
As we approach the winter holidays, many of us struggle with the balance between celebrating joyfully and maintaining a simple household. In her article Hope, Tears and the Holidays, Pamela Haines (Central Philadelphia Meeting) shares some reflections about what we can gain from perceiving gift-giving and abundance from our children’s …
Keeping Christmas at Meeting
From my first experience of the holiday season at London Grove Monthly Meeting, some 25 years ago before I had children through the decades to this year, I find myself experiencing the beauty of holding both the silent worship that is upheld by our Worship and Ministry Committee and the …
Renewal for the Journey: practical suggestions for beginning a new First Day School year
Melinda Wenner Bradley serves as the clerk of the Children’s Spiritual Life Committee and the Faith and Play Working Group. She is an accredited trainer for Godly Play ®, has taught First Day School at her meeting as well as history at a Quaker middle school for many years. In …