On Saturday, October 12th, the three councils that support Philadelphia Yearly Meeting—Quaker Life Council, Administrative Council, and Nominating Council—held their first meeting in a new joint format. In this structure, all three councils meet together as one Joint Council to worship, discern, and conduct business collaboratively. A key feature in the joint format is the approval of minutes during the meeting. This allows the Joint Council to share the minutes in a news story with the PYM community in the week following the meeting.
Activism
Exploring PYM Connect: Features for Connection and Community
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is launching a new online community platform, PYM Connect, in Fall of 2025. PYM Connect is a secure and supportive virtual space to discuss, engage, and grow with PYM Friends. It allows participants to share updates and meaningful news, while also providing a virtual space to connect with other Friends within PYM who share similar ministries and leadings.
[Read more…] about Exploring PYM Connect: Features for Connection and Community
Ways to Connect Before Sessions
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting has multiple October events that will provide ways to engage within our community before Fall Continuing Sessions. Three opportunities include fellowship of the thread gathering, a family-centered peace-building event, or the collective discernment over climate during a virtual threshing session. Each of these events offers a unique opportunity to engage with the PYM community and prepare ourselves spiritually for the work ahead. Whether you are seeking fellowship, family engagement, or discernment on critical issues, these events will help ground us as we come together as a faith community:
Providence Friends Meeting 340th Anniversary
There will be a short program from 11:00–11:30 a.m., followed by a Treasure Map Tour and a garden lunch. Rain means the inside garden! Everyone will receive a “treasure map” to use to visit different displays throughout the meetinghouse and grounds. Highlights include our Underground Railroad “station,” the work we are doing to mitigate the effects of climate change, and our ongoing efforts to promote peace and racial justice.
Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting on “Going Veggie” and Using “Creating a Playbook for Climate Action”
Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting has embraced a new initiative to support climate action by “going veggie” on the third Sunday of each month. This meeting-wide project is the result of collaboration between the Climate Action and Hospitality Committees, reflecting a shared commitment to addressing climate change.
Sarah Whitman, a member of both committees at Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting, shared her perspective and the behind-the-scenes on this new initiative. “Last spring, we started a Climate Action Committee to help the meeting address climate change,” Sarah shared. “There have been individual leadings and practices related to climate change, but not a project that the whole meeting does together. I happen to be a member of both Hospitality and the Climate Action Committee, so I felt like this was an opportunity for synergy between those two committees.”
Update From the Listening and Lobbying Sprint of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting
Authorship of this update is attributed to the Jeanne Elberfield and the Listening and Lobbying Sprint of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
Friends, I am writing this update with much optimism in my heart and mind. The Listening and Lobbying Sprint is working diligently towards a draft policy and guidance addressing political lobbying for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Over the past few months, we have learned from a nonprofit expert and PYM’s lawyer about the IRS definitions and limitations on lobbying for a 501(c)(3). We have had regular conversations about how this information helps us to find a solution that mutually satisfies Friends who are led to political advocacy, the PYM Quaker community with diverse leadings and ministries, and the PYM as a 501(c)(3). We continue to ask Spirit to guide our hearts and minds as we navigate our way forward. [Read more…] about Update From the Listening and Lobbying Sprint of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting
Answer the Call: Share How Your Meeting is Engaging for Election Day
As Election Day, November 5th, approaches, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is asking members and monthly meetings to share how they are preparing and engaging Friends and their communities. From participating in the election efforts to spirit-led discussions. Friends are called to act, and PYM wants to hear how your meeting is living out that call. Whether your meeting is doing voter registration drives, holding discussions on community responsibility, or engaging in prayerful reflection, let us know what Friends are doing near you to inspire and mobilize your region for the upcoming election!
[Read more…] about Answer the Call: Share How Your Meeting is Engaging for Election Day
Film & Speaker: THE BERRIGANS: Devout & Dangerous; Speaker: Brad Wolfe, author of “Ministry of Risk, the Definitive Writings on Peace & Nonviolence by Philip Berrigan”.
Film: Devout & Dangerous, a documentary about Philip and Daniel Berrigan, and Liz McAlister and their legacy of peacemaking and nonviolent resistance, such as the Plowshare 8 action at the GE nuclear weapons plant in King of Prussia, PA, in 1980.
Speaker: Brad Wolf on his recent book Ministry of Risk, the Definitive Writings on Peace & Nonviolence by Philip Berrigan.
Friends Committee on National Legislation | Lobbying for the World We Seek
The Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia (Arch Street Friends) welcomes fellow PYM F/friends to participate in its virtual Adult Education Series on Zoom.
About the Lecture & Speaker
The Friends Committee on National Legislation has a long history of social advocacy on Capitol Hill, but how are Friends called to influence our government today?
Just over 80 years ago, Friends started FCNL and became the first registered religious lobbying organization in the country. Today, with a team of expert lobbyists and coalition partners, grassroots networks from across the country, and the input of hundreds of Quaker communities at the start of every new congress, FCNL faithfully works to create the World We Seek. Grounded in a vision to bring about a more peaceful, equitable, and sustainable world, that legacy continues to guide our prophetic work within the federal government.
Join us to hear from Micah MacColl Nicholson, Program Associate for Quaker Engagement on the past and present of FCNL’s advocacy.
Micah MacColl Nicolson is the Program Associate for Quaker Engagement at the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL). An attender of Friends Meeting of Washington and alumna of Earlham College, she joined FCNL in 2023 as part of the Young Adult Program Assistant fellowship through a calling to help welcome more F/friends into the work being done in Washington, DC. She works to advocate for Quaker voices within our nation’s legislative processes and strengthen relationship with established and new Quaker communities across the country.
All are welcome! No prior registration required. Please note that the Zoom link for the event will go live on archstreetfriends.org/calendar the day of the event.
About MMFP’s Adult Education Series
The Adult Education Committee at Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia (Arch Street Friends) hosts a monthly series of Zoom talks on Quaker topics of particular relevance to meeting members and attenders. For a full slate of upcoming lectures, visit archstreetfriends.org/calendar.
Rise up for Reparations Juneteenth Revival
Rise up for Reparations: a Multi-Faith Revival
Join us in proclaiming the urgent call for reparations in Philadelphia!
On Sunday, June 30th from 2 to 4 p.m. ET
At: Friends Center, 1501 Cherry Street, downtown Philadelphia
Hosted by Rev. Jackie Newsome, newly seated to the Philadelphia Reparations Task Force
Speakers will include:
Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart, Rise up for Reparations Campaign steering committee
Rabbi Ari Lev Fornari, Kol Tzedek Synagogue, West Philadelphia
Rev. Michael Nabors from Evanston Illinois 2nd Baptist Church
…and many more.
With song offerings by Pax Ressler, founder of the Rise Choir
Hosted by the Rise up for Reparations Campaign Steering Committee,
reparationWorks, Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, and
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
Go to this form to register to attend.