UPDATED 12.19.2025
Different Quaker meetings, organizations, and affiliates in our region are gathering food pantry items this season.
If your meeting is collecting food or donations for a local pantry, please let PYM staff know so we can share your meeting’s work with the wider community. Friends can post this information on PYM Connect or email communications@pym.org.
November opened Philadelphia Yearly Meeting with Friends from across our region gathering for Fall Continuing Sessions activities on Zoom and at Arch Street Meeting House. Friends took part in affinity groups, worship, business sessions, and a multigenerational workshop; Fall Continuing Sessions also welcomed Chris Mohr as General Secretary.
[Read more…] about December Brings Together Our Shared Faith in PYM
Three meetings that publish regular newsletters shared how they put their updates together. One prints and mails copies. Another sends a PDF after formatting the pages. Another writes a weekly email. The formats differ. Each one gathers information from worship, business, committee work, and parts of Quaker faith in one place.
This past weekend, November 7-9, our Fall Continuing Sessions at Arch Street Meeting House, and online, gathered us into a community for worship, fellowship, and discernment as we continued our theme of Members One of Another, which will continue through all of 2026’s sessions. In the spirit of Lucretia Mott, this Mott Memo captures a reflection of our time together. The minutes from these sessions will soon be available on the PYM website under Session Minutes, so Friends can read and reflect on the work and joy we shared. [Read more…] about Fall Continuing Sessions • Mott Memo • 2025
Each part of PYM Explained provides how the yearly meeting lives as one connected body and leads into what comes next. This virtual version is shared so Friends are able to interact with it for easy research and finding.
October began for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting with the announcement that Chris Mohr will serve as the next General Secretary. Friends have come to know his work through the years, and the announcement invites tenderness across community of Friends as PYM continues through a time of transition. Christie Duncan-Tessmer’s final weeks in the role brought thoughtful messages and shared gratitude for her service; the month closed with thanks that her leadership has shaped how Friends move together in faith.
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is a voting member of the Pennsylvania Council of Churches. PYM provides a representative who participates in their ongoing work for Christian unity and social justice across Pennsylvania. PYM leadership also provided a letter of support for the PACC’s recent grant application for its Community Garden Project.
[Read more…] about Pennsylvania Council of Churches Launches Community Garden (Press Release)
After more than two decades of service to Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, including ten years as General Secretary, Christie Duncan-Tessmer has stepped down from her role. Please join us and other Friends across our community in pausing to reflect with deep gratitude for her leadership, creativity, and commitment to the health and vitality of our yearly meeting.
During the Climate Witness: Let Our Actions Speak! Thread Gathering, Friends and organizations offered resources connected to their work and experience. Those who attended may find this a helpful way to revisit what was shared. Those who could not attend can begin here to access the same materials.
PYM Friends who have materials from the gathering are welcome to share them on PYM Connect so others can find and use them. [Read more…] about Resources from the Climate Witness: Let Our Actions Speak! Thread Gathering
In West Philadelphia, on Baltimore and 48th, there’s a building where Friends gather to meet. It is not a meetinghouse, but inside those walls, a small community keeps a meeting thriving.
[Read more…] about West Philadelphia Friends: A Community Is Valued and Valuable
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