On Saturday, May 9, 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.
Each month, the council selects one item from its agenda or conversation to lift up. This the highlight was provided by Chris Mohr, General Secretary of PYM on how Joint Council affirms relationship of monthly and quarterly meetings with yearly meeting
“Joint Council Affirms Relationship of Monthly and Quarterly Meetings with Yearly Meeting”
Report from May Joint Council meeting 5/9/2026
At the Joint Council meeting on Saturday 5/9/2026, Friends held a concern both for right process and for right structure in relation to monthly meetings, quarterly meetings, and the body of the yearly meeting.
Regarding process, Joint Council reaffirmed how to address concerns rising from the body to the yearly meeting. It received four minutes of concern related to current events and our peace testimony. These minutes had first been approved by a monthly meeting, and then forwarded to their quarterly meeting, which came to unity to forward them to PYM. Members of the Joint Council found unity in turn to recommend our Presiding Clerk bring these minutes to the body at Annual Sessions. Further discernment by the body could result accepting a minute, adapting it, or approving a new minute.
Regarding structure, Joint Council received a draft proposal from Governance Advisory Council to move from experimenting with the Quaker Life, Administrative, and Nominating councils meeting jointly to potentially merging into one council. Friends provided feedback on details of the draft, and a revised draft will be brought in June. They were also mindful of the need to inform the body of where PYM has been, where we are now, and where we hope to go. Joint Council intends to share of its experience and learnings from the experiment. Listening sessions will also be scheduled, so that Joint Council can listen deeply to feedback before any discernment on a proposal at Annual or Continuing Sessions.
The Sprint on the role of monthly and quarterly meetings in PYM decision-making delivered its final report. It includes queries on the right relationship among monthly, quarterly, and yearly meetings. Meetings may wish to reflect on and respond to those queries. The report can be found here.
During the meeting, a Friend reflected that the Joint Council’s discernment illustrated the covenant relationship between and among monthly, quarterly, and yearly meetings—one of the distinctive features of PYM named by the sprint as needing attention.
(Meanwhile, a second sprint, stood up by the Finance Committee, is currently exploring these same relationships with the specific lens of covenant giving by monthly meetings to PYM. Its final report will be ready in a month or two.)
Finally, Council members reflected that doing relevant, meaningful work attracts new volunteers to PYM’s governance roles. Furthermore, Joint Council discerns better and more fully when it includes diverse voices from many geographic locations, points of view, and social locations. To be clear, the Joint Council is a collection of Friends appointed to seek the Spirit’s guidance for PYM in between sessions. At its best, participants “dwell in that which is eternal,” seek God’s will, and are clear on what is Joint Council’s work to do and what is the body’s. Friends, we invite you to consider if you may be called to serve in a volunteer governance role for our yearly meeting.
To be continued!
