How Does the Spirit Move Among You?
Meeting for Worship represents a safe port in the storm of these turbulent times. Many members and attenders have spoken about this feeling, including those attending for the first time, or for the first time in many years. Spoken ministry has reflected confusion, anxiety and sometimes anger about current events, as well as helpful coping strategies based on insights from the Bible, Quakers and other spiritual sources. Under these trying circumstances, we have had powerful messages that strengthen our courage and resolve.
Since our last Spiritual State of the Meeting Report, our Meeting has continued to experience steady and joyful growth. This renewed vitality reflects the faithful work of many committees—especially Outreach and Fellowship, whose care and creativity have welcomed newcomers and created meaningful opportunities for us to connect, share, and deepen our relationships. Their efforts have helped weave a stronger fabric of community, one that feels both grounded and open.
Our weekly worship continues to be hybrid (as is our Meeting for Business). This has been very important to the life of the meeting. It brings people together from near and far and makes our meeting stronger. It adds to the sense of equality among those who attend meeting. It also permits people who are not able to attend meeting in person to participate in the life of the meeting. Those attending on Zoom stay online for a social time after worship is over, strengthening their connection.
Our First Day School has also played a central and cherished role. It offers spiritual grounding for our children, support and companionship for parents, and a welcoming entry point for families who are new to Friends. The arrival of these young families has brought fresh energy, new perspectives, and a renewed sense of possibility. Their presence invites us to imagine new ways of being in community together and has strengthened our sense of shared purpose and hope for the future.
A significant number of these new members and regular attenders have come through our deepening relationship with Germantown Friends School—both faculty and families. This connection has enriched our Meeting in countless ways, bringing new voices, new gifts, and a spirit of mutual support that continues to strengthen our shared life.
Our relationship with Germantown Friends School is complex. We are working to discern what it means to have a school under our care, and to improve our relationship and communication with GFS, which is a separate legal entity. The School Committee has been enlarged to accommodate GFS’ needs, bringing in co-opted members with needed professional skills while maintaining strong Quaker representation. Conflicts within the meeting have arisen over the school/meeting relationship and we are actively working to discern how Spirit is calling us to proceed. We also have realized that the meeting struggles with how to communicate well when conflict arises. We see a need to focus on the internal work of the community. We expect to pursue this discernment through the coming year with facilitated threshing sessions, deep reflection, and ad hoc committee work, as guided by Spirit.
We seek to better understand our Meeting’s role in the surrounding community of Germantown. We currently support The Center for Returning Citizens Community Healing Center (TCRC) monthly food give-away program in front of our meetinghouse on the 3rd Sunday of each month, but we need to do more. We seek to be truly invested in the community and live out Quaker principles in the Germantown community.
With this growing vitality, the Meeting felt led to relaunch our Annual Meeting Retreat after an eight-year hiatus. The 2025 retreat, centered on the theme “Building Our Beloved Community,” marked a meaningful milestone in our shared spiritual life. The retreat was held at Camp Dark Waters, a Quaker based camp nestled in a serene, wooded setting along the Rancocas Creek near Medford, NJ. Sixty-five Friends—48 adults and 17 children—joined together for a weekend of worship, fellowship, play, and reflection. The experience reaffirmed something we know to be true: our Meeting flourishes when we gather in spirit and in community. Whether through a retreat, Meeting for Worship, Social Hour, or longstanding traditions like our Chili Lunches, Game Nights, and Christmas Potluck, we feel the Spirit most clearly when we are present with one another. Buoyed by the success of last year’s gathering, we are now joyfully planning our second retreat this coming May.
Our sense of connection has also deepened through shared work. Serving together on committees and participating in Meetinghouse Workdays strengthens our bonds and reminds us that maintaining our Meeting—physically and spiritually—is a collective responsibility. Our Racial and Social Justice Committee is active as is the monthly Anti-Racism Reading group. John Colgan-Davis and others from the reading group staff a Resistance Table with information to pick up during social hour. Many of our members have participated in protests and demonstrations over the past year — on the issues such as the War in Gaza, Immigration, No Kings, etc. Friends are active with groups such as POWER Interfaith, Fridays at Fetterman’s, We the People Wednesdays, Germantown Residents for Economic Alternatives Together (GREAT), North Star Network, and others.
Our 2024 Minute of Solidarity with the LGBTQIA community was approved by Philadelphia Quarter in the spring and endorsed by the Yearly Meeting at the Spring Continuing Sessions. Our Clerk, Karen Lightner was asked by the Yearly Meeting councils to convene a committee to compose a Minute of Support for the LGBTQIA+ Community and she did that. The minute was approved by the Joint Councils and then by Yearly Meeting at Annual Sessions in July 2025.
This is a stressful time in our country. During weekly worship, messages received tend to focus on the real world and how what is going on in the real world can be viewed through the lens of Quaker values and spiritual beliefs. Things that many individuals are involved in show people actively living out our values and looking for ways to make a difference. We seek to support those whose lives are living examples of our values by providing a nurturing spiritual community where all may gain strength and be refreshed.
Approved 8 March 2026
Karen Lightner, Clerk
Germantown Monthly Meeting
