How has your meeting been changing?
In the past year, Birmingham Monthly Meeting (BMM) has been changing. Sadly, we had five members pass away in 2024, a couple of whom were well knownamongst us, a part of the fabric of our community. To counterbalance these losses, we had a long-time attender approved for membership; a mother and her twochildren approved for membership, and another individual who transferred his membership to BMM in 2024. And in the beginning of 2025, we had another couplerequest to have their membership transferred to BMM which was approved. Another individual who has been attending for awhile has also requested approval formembership and is currently undergoing the clearness process.
Two new families with children and several adults have become regular attenders. Across our committees we are giving attention to the ways families with children can participate in worship and all ages can enjoy fellowship together.
There is a spirit of hope and community alive at Birmingham Meeting. An outreach working group convened in response to a desire from members to grow ourmeeting. Among the ideas proposed were: having an active social media presence; holding public events at the Meetinghouse; having outside groups utilize the Meeting house; holding children’s events; making people feel welcome including good follow up after visiting; and regular refreshments after meeting.
Our meeting also began a book discussion group which has been well attended. We have a Bible study group that meets via Zoom. We have also engagedmembers/attenders with several “second hour” spiritual enrichment programs which have occurred after worship on selected Sundays including topics on Christiannationalism and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Newcomers are bringing energy and ideas for activities and new perspectives for our discussions. For those who are new toQuaker worship, there is an Exploring Quakerism class where people can learn about our faith and have their questions answered.
Integral to our recent growth has been the ongoing functioning of our Program for Children and Youth committee. The members of that committee have dedicatedthemselves to ensuring that a weekly program is provided for all children who attend on Sundays, and childcare is always available during meeting for worship. Thecommittee members have recruited numerous meeting volunteers to contribute to this endeavor. We have seen the number of children attenders growing becauseof this group effort.
For those who are committed to social causes, we have members who have been involved in refugee resettlement, prison reform including the Alternatives toViolence Project (AVP), and other local and national issues. Also, our members initiated a “Right Relationship with Lenape Peoples” working group which hasdeveloped a land acknowledgement statement which was approved by our meeting.
And finally, we have continued a tradition of holding fellowship luncheons after worship on the second Sunday of most months. These meals bring our community together and provide an opportunity for individuals to talk with and form bonds with individuals whom they may not know well. Overall, there is a feeling that something good is happening at Birmingham.
Where are you headed in the next few years?
It is difficult to say where we are headed. We are optimistic that we are in a good space with our new members and attenders, but dynamics can change and offer unexpected changes or challenges. You never know. As of now, it seems that the best path forward is to remain open to change and to the thoughts and input of our new members.
One issue that we have been dealing with is how to get the work of the meeting completed without being a burden on a few individuals. There is much to do, but there is a reluctance by some to join committees. As a result of another working group, each committee is looking at the work that it does and is deciding what duties are essential to the functioning of the community and which are not necessary and can be let go. This is currently an ongoing process.
Please share any triumphs or troubles you have had regarding the climate witness.
BMM has a Peace Garden and is currently redesigning the plantings in this garden.
The children and youth have been planting trees elsewhere on the property that they have grown from seeds and seedlings and have had specific trees dedicated to them.
The Meeting has also installed two beehives to enhance pollination in the area. The meeting does not take honey from the hives as this helps the survivability of the bees.
Birmingham recently had a discussion about our source of electric energy. Some members were interested in having solar panels installed on our property to insure abundant green energy for our energy needs. Others responded that we have been purchasing green energy for years by a provider whose energy comes from wind and solar sources so there is no need to use additional resources necessary for the installation of the solar panels. The group evaluating solar power has laid itself down due to the potential high cost of the project because of the uncertainty of the Federal subsidy that was previously available and concerns about design incompatibility with our property, but it is an issue which could be resurrected in the future.
