Exeter Friends gather together in our beautiful meeting house in the Berks County countryside. We value and respect each other and have an encouraging and nurturing community. Exeter Friends Meeting is growing and changing, a gift as well as a challenge.
We address the proposed queries below.
- How has your meeting been changing?
- Attendance at our pre-meeting discussions and Meetings for Worship has increased over last year. In addition, involvement in book discussions, committees, buildings and grounds maintenance, community events, and activism has increased. This increase includes a younger demographic, a rich resource in addition to our practiced members and attenders – younger meaning involvement from Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X (age range of 20’s to 50’s).
- More Friends contributed to the life and care of the meeting community this past year. This includes: leading pre-meeting discussions that enrich our Quaker practice and the spiritual health of the community; sharing our talents – one Friend ministers through his guitar playing and singing once a month and another Friend provides sound healing with gong immersion (both events held Saturday evenings followed by pot-luck); we have a skilled woodworker who has repaired benches and helped replace porch joists; a Friend now handles building maintenance, some snow removal, and recruits other Friends in the care of the building and grounds; and have a skilled mason who has made repairs where needed. Damage trees were
- The ongoing meeting house and grounds care efforts from spring through fall offer a way for Friends to experience and contribute to our Meeting community every Thursday. There is a shared camaraderie in working together outside of committee work.
- We added three new members to our membership rolls, one being a transfer from another meeting.
- The Worship and Ministry Committee meets quarterly to plan discussions. Some of these discussions are led by outside speakers and are valuable in providing community outreach. Friends are encouraged to provide feedback, to lead discussions, and to request topics which deepen our faith and shared spiritual
- The meeting house is open twice a month for the Sacred Harp singers, a tradition of many years. We also provided memorial services this past year and had one green burial.
- Weare in our second year of Thursday evening book discussions. Friends feel these books discussions provide a way to deepen our own Quaker practice as well as help remove obstacles that may hinder one from fully engaging in Meeting for Worship. Each book discussion meets weekly and attendance varies. Our largest group was held outside last summer, approximately 13-14 people.
- The women’s monthly book club continues for over 4 The book discussions foster a sense of community and sisterhood, provide intellectual and spiritual stimulation, and provide a space for shared experiences and emotional support.
- Exeter Friends Meeting is in the process of planning for our 300th anniversary. We are doing this in partnership with Daniel Boone Homestead, which is also celebrating their 300th anniversary. We are planning pre-meeting discussions of a historical nature in conjunction with this event. Our bigger celebration will be in October. Planning includes outreach to the public in the form of social media and
- Anew member has volunteered to lead coordination of our monthly meal preparation for Opportunity House, a homeless shelter, and also to help coordinate meals for Camp Swatara.
- Our former Clerk, who retired his position about three years ago, and his wife, who provided childcare and was Recording Clerk, have requested to be released from membership from Exeter Friends Monthly Meeting and also the Society of Friends. They sold their home and will be establishing residency in another country. We are feeling a great loss given their leadership and steadfastness in friendship and guidance. They have been released from Meeting.
- The current political climate, with the many changes happening in the United
States and the conflicts in other countries, have created some angst in our community of Friends. We offer a Wednesday evening zoom and also had some pre-meeting discussions around these issues in order to release some of the tensions that interfere with the ability to settle into silent worship. There has been an increase in activism, with more people attending the Peace Vigil and other activities which address political and social justice issues.
- One member, who spiritually leads through his music, was given a traveling minute to take his music ministry to other meetings. This intervisitation strengthens our community as well as other communities.
- After COVID, the young adults and younger children have returned on occasion for planned First Day School or pre-meetings designed with young adults in mind.
- Our donations from members, attenders, and other guests over the past year, as well as good financial management, allowed our Meeting to increase our benevolence giving.
- Where are you headed in the next few years?
- Growth is anticipated. We have put into place our new child protection policy and we are updating clearances for members and attenders to help with First Day School. We will also be instituting training. We will also be reviewing our First Day School curriculum and processes to be prepared for more children. We currently serve two young children and three young adults.
- The current Clerk of meeting wishes to retire from his position no later than year end. The nominating committee has not been successful in finding a member who feels called to assume the We have had some ideas on an interim solution, but the solution has not been solidified.
- We will continue to have pre-meeting discussions, some particularly aimed at new attenders and new members. By attending regularly, members and attenders will able to reflect on Quaker principles and actively participate to understand and contribute to the community.
- One of our goals is to work on the upkeep of the building and focus on some areas of the building, such as our small bathroom, which is in need of being refurbished. Some of the wooden pews and shutters are also in need of repair, and some of the masonry needs mending.
- Exeter has been approached by a teacher interested in opening a microschool. She is finalizing a plan and will present at Exeter. Although Exeter may not have suitable space and facilities, we may be able to help her in some way. This is another opportunity to provide community
- Weare improving our social networks in order to have a stronger community presence. In addition, we are strengthening community presence by attending community events and opening our discussions and events to the public through our Saturday events.
- We continue to offer Zoom every First Day. This allows distant Friends to continue participation in Meeting.
- Share any triumphs or troubles you have had regarding the climate
- Exeter, at present, does not have a climate
- We have had some discussion on the climate witness. A member of EQAT, also a Quaker, led one of our pre-meeting discussions.
- Two Friends at Exeter Friends Meeting are active in a local group that is working to eliminate single use plastics in Berks County. Two founding members of this group, now named What’SUP, gave a presentation at one of our pre-meeting A Friend from Exeter is also a council member in her township.
She did a presentation at her council meeting and has written and submitted a grant to fund this start-up organization.
- It is difficult, given the size and limited space of our meeting house, to find some solutions to waste, although we are making more headway in slowly eliminating
- We use 100% green energy suppliers for the meeting house and have reduced our electricity use.
- We have made an effort to plant native plants and trees on our meeting house grounds,
- We have added a composter to our gardening efforts in order to reduce the amount of organic material entering the trash stream.
- Our meeting made a proposal for adding solar panels to our meeting house property including cost analysis and location. Meeting could not come to unity on this project.
We are a small Meeting. Despite our size, we are growing. Interest and participation in all aspects of the meeting have increased. We are close knit and supportive and some of us are in communication through texts and emails throughout the week.
We also get together for meals, outings, and other activities. The strengthening and growth of our community, our involvement in living our testimonies, and our collective experience deepens our Quaker spiritual journey.
At this time, we do not have a need for resources from the Ministry and Care Committee of PYM. One of the books we spent several weeks of discussion on was “Walking in the World as a Friend, Essential Quaker Practices” written by Nadine Claire Hoover. We did worship sharing and learning as a group, including group activities. This was led by our Clerk and Recording Clerk. It is a resource we will use in the future in our own spiritual formation. We also presented Quakerism 101 over a series of 6 weeks, which was well attended and well received. Quakerism 201 is being discussed for future presentation.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of Exeter Meeting,
Nancy Sellers
Clerk, Worship and Ministry Committee
