From interesting and enlightening First Day School classes, to the creation of a Family Engagement Committee, to the implementation of the Woodstown Meeting Fellowship Breakfasts, to the installation of a new Peace Pole on our grounds; this has been a busy year for our Worship, Ministry, and Education Committee.
Our First Day School class topics were varied:
- A Reintroduction/ Refresher on the SPICES,
- A multi-week program on clearness and decision making,
- Familiarization with the process of discernment
- Discussion of the return of intergenerational FDS events
- Is Love indeed the answer?
- The nature of Good and Evil
Followed by
- The idea of Heaven and Hell
- The implications of current events from a Quaker viewpoint
- Recap of Salem Quarterly Summit on Outreach and Inreach plans to complement the Health of our Meetings.
- A two week extravaganza on the accuracy of the Biblical referencing of the musical “Jesus Christ, Superstar”
We created a Family Engagement subcommittee which has successfully discussed and reimplemented an Intergenerational FDS. Family attendance at each was encouraged.
Quarterly Fellowship Breakfasts provided a designated time for members, attenders and visitors to come together and have good discussions about whatever they felt was important, while enjoying some good food, and good company.
Discussions initiated the creation of new hand-outs/brochures on the history of our meeting.
We were installed a new Peace Pole over the one that was originally installed in 2003. Many people turned out for the rededication included as part of our FD Closing Meeting in June.
A photo of those in attendance was used for our Christmas mailing that includes a meeting directory and Scattergood calendar.
Once again our meetinghouse was opened to the public for the Woodstown by Candlelight House Tour in December. We provided a warm respite from the weather, as well as several musical groups playing inside. Visitors were welcomed in by our volunteers and given an impromptu history lesson on our building.
Our Music at Friends concert series has a robust following in the community.
Care of our meetinghouse, grounds, museum, and cemetery is the responsibility of the Property and Finance Committee. We are celebrating our 250th year.
The Pastoral Care Committee ministers to members in need, infirmed, and/or aging by visiting, offering transportation, and assisting with resources available through our meeting and other Quaker foundations. The committee clerked two memorial services this past year and looks forward to hosting a wedding under our care this spring. Scholarships and grants are also a responsibility of Pastoral Care. Our meeting gave 4 grants to students enrolled in public schools and 8 scholarships to those in higher education. The committee facilitated 5 students to receive Salem Quarter scholarships and 2 students received National Friends Education funding.
Benevolences are another key responsibility. Our meeting contributed to 25 meeting, regional, peace and Quaker organizations. We support a meeting sewing group that meets weekly and engages the larger community. Baby quilts are shared with Inspira and Nemours hospitals and sent to the Ukraine.
Our project to raise funds to purchase magnetic locators, used as mine detectors by the United Nations and other international agencies, had another successful year. With the cooperation of the manufacturer, Schonstedt Instruments of Kearneysvillle WV, we provided twenty-four units. The most recent deployments were in Afghanistan, Angola, Ukraine, and Kosovo. The monthly meeting donates its own funds, there are several individual donors from the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting area, and we sell traded coffees, teas, chocolate, and other items at our concert series, Music at Friends. In addition to the financial donations, the concerts raise awareness in our community of the continuing danger of explosive remnants of war across the globe.
Woodstown Monthly Meeting is strong and effective if small in numbers. Please visit.
For the meeting,
Sally Crane
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