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Combined Report on Five Standing Committees, presented at Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Summer Sessions 2009
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Combined Report of Five Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Standing Committees
Residential Sessions July 31, 2009
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Education
General Services
Peace & Concerns
Support & Outreach
Worship & Care
Standing Committees (in alphabetical order)
Garden at 4th and Arch Street Meeting House
Standing Committees 101Standing Committees are called to nurture
and support the membership, work, and
mission, of the groups under our care.
Within the guidelines established by the
priorities of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting,
the Standing Committees have the
authority to create, oversee, and lay
down services and projects of the
Yearly Meeting, subject to budgeting and
programmatic direction from Interim
Meeting or Yearly Meeting in session. 3
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Each Standing Committee:• Must approve, any proposed change of mission for working or
granting groups
• Approves policies and/or procedures of the various working groups under its care, in consultation with those affected.
• Approves use of the Yearly Meeting name in endorsing events or projects sponsored by other organizations.
• Has the authority to approve and renew members for groups that have granting and policy making roles.
• Oversee and evaluate external alliances formed by Working and Granting Groups.
• Oversee the work of representatives to affiliated and external organizations.
Each Standing Committee (continued):• Serves as a channel for bringing Friends with
similar concerns together. The Standing Committee will assist in the development of services and projects and may or may not recognize new working groups to further the work of Yearly Meeting.
• Determines the financial resources available
to individual working groups, based on program priorities, income available, and planning by that working group.
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Queries from the Standing Committees:
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George Fox
• Are we doing God's work most effectively under our current structures?
• What is your vision for our work? How can we remain in touch with that vision?
• Is it possible to have systems and structures and remain faithful to the spirit or "way opening?"
• Should Standing Committees be involved with connecting Monthly Meetings to each other?
• How shall we pass on our traditions and processes to each other and to our children?
Education Standing Committee
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The Education Standing Committee provides guidance, and support to the PYM services and projects, which directly concern the religious and academic education of young people and adults and those who serve them.
Friends Schools and Friends Religious Education
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Education Standing CommitteeGroups & Projects
Religious Education
• Children’s Religious Education
Programs
• Children’s Sessions at Yearly
Meeting
• Children’ Spiritual Life
Committee Including the Faith
and Play Working Group.
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Education Standing CommitteeGroups & Projects
• Committee on Friends Education
• Public Education Working Group
• Quaker College Fair Project Group
Scholastic Education
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Education Standing Committee Groups & Projects
• Middle School Friends
• Young Adult Friends (age 18 to 35 +/-)
• Young Friends
Youth and Young Adults
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Education Standing Committee Groups & Projects
• Nonviolence & Children WG
• Quaker Parenting Initiative
• Quaker Pilgrimage to England PG
Adult Programs
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Education Standing Committee Groups & Projects
• George School
• Westtown
• Friends Education Fund Inc.
Affiliated Organizations
General Services Standing Committee has a MINISTRY OF ADMINISTRATION
that supports the work of the other
standing committees including:
accounting and audit,
fund development and stewardship of
funds,
grant coordination and financial
assistance,
computer services,
records and archives,
personnel services and staff benefits,
conference management (including
planning for and managing Yearly
Meeting in session), and
property management. 13
General Services Standing Committeeis still:
• Weaning• Cleaning• Greening
Weaning ourselves off of old designations on unrestricted bequests. De-designation is beginning now with 50% of Chace funds this year and will continue over five years with other funds. Chace & Bequests WGs have merged into Legacy WG which is managing a mix of unrestricted but still designated funds and restricted funds.
Cleaning of Arch St., Burlington & FOWG:a) Arch St. is being handed over to a new standing
committee with less squeaks & squirrels inside, improved handicap access, & renovated parking lot.
b) There is a big improvement in the appearance and utilization of Burlington Conference Center thanks to Carol Strawson & BMH Working Group.
c) Financial Oversight Working Group has been remade with 3 departures & 5 new appointments. Further dialogue needed on, What is an “audit committee”?
Greening of Friends Center is near completion with Open House on Sept. 12.
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A central conviction of the Peace and Concerns Standing Committee is that Peace, Justice, and an Earth Restored are integral to one another and that they operate across three areas, global, local, and within our own faith community. Each year we continue to review and discern
Peace & ConcernsVision of Work for Peace Justice & an Earth Restored
our priorities. Our discernment continues to lead us to the awareness of God’s presence in all creation and to pay attention to the way we live our lives and to the social and economic structures that create injustice, war, and degradation to the earth and its climate. Peace
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Peace & ConcernsA Vision of New Work
• Raise awareness of the urgent need for a significant and immediate response to climate change and to call on Friends to live in "Right Relationship" with the earth
• We ask all Quarterly and Monthly Meetings and all committees and working groups in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting to be attentive to their relationship with the commonwealth of creation.
• We ask Friends to pay attention not only to simplifying their lives but to engage in the creation of a sustainable economic structure that provides rationally and fairly for all people
Right Relationship with the Earth
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• Encourage and support Young Adult Friends and Friends of all ages in Service
• Work to establish a Philadelphia Quaker Service House and program for Young Adult Friends especially, but inclusive of other age groups, as well
Peace & ConcernsVision of Work
• Work with Heeding God’s Call, the interfaith initiative to Decrease Gun Violence
• Gather a new Working Group to facilitate the diverse outcomes of Heeding God’s Call a Gathering on Peace and oversee the Peace Gathering Website
• Follow up on the Committee to Revision the Peace Testimony
• Focus on healing the consequences of war. Justice
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Peace & Concerns Services and Projects
• Earthcare Working Group• Friends Testimonies and Economics Project• Fairhill Friends Ministry • Friends Conflict Resolution Program• PYM-FCNL Network• Hope Bulletin • India Friends Working Group• Middle East Working Group• Traveling Friends for a Ministry of Peace, Justice and an
Earth Restored • United Nations & Abolish Nuclear Weapons Working Group• Weekend Workcamp of PYM at Friends Neighborhood
Guild
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Peace & Concerns
• Fund for Suffering Granting Group Was created by Interim Meeting to provide meaningful material support to individuals and to Quaker groups who suffer because of their witness to our Quaker testimonies.
• Indian Committee Granting GroupDedicated to the support and funding of Native American initiatives that develop leadership and self-sufficiency, and preserve cultural heritage. We also serve as a resource for Friends seeking a better understanding of Native American issues.
• International Outreach Granting GroupSupports visitation and projects to further international understanding, peace, and other Friends concerns.
Affiliations and Partners
Granting Groups
• American Friends Service Committee
• Coordinating Council of Friends Peace Teams
• Center for Conscience and War
• Friends Committee on National Legislation
• National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund
• Quaker Earthcare Witness
• Eco-Justice Working Group of the National Council of Churches
• Policy Advocacy Action Team of the Pennsylvania Council of Churches
• United Nations, Department of Public Information
• Friends Rehabilitation Program
• Friends Neighborhood Guild
• Energy Coordinating Agency of Phila.
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Support & Outreach Standing Committee
Our mission is to oversee the good works that will produce a healthy, vibrant Religious Society of Friends in the PYM area, which naturally attracts new and existing members, creating a stronger faith community. The word "support" refers to supporting each Meeting as a unit.
Facsimile of The Original Charter of Charles II to
William Penn, for Pennsylvania, 1681.
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From the Support & Outreach Epistle
Dear Friends, we rejoice with you in our sense of God’s grace in all that we do in Support and Outreach for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. We reflect upon a passage from the Journal of George Fox , . . .: “Great things did the Lord led us unto, and wonderful depths were opened unto us, beyond what can by words be declared, but as people come into subjection to the spirit of God, and grow up in the
image and power of the Almighty, they may receive the word of wisdom that opens all things, and come to know the hidden unity in the Eternal Being.” As we go forward, we hold firmly in mind our sense of Divine purpose in our work to help strengthen Friends way within Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, and to further Quaker Witness in the world. Journal 1648.
"George Fox on the Mount of Vision", mural, Governor's Reception Room,
State Capitol, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. - Violet Oakley
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Support & Outreach Services and Projects• PYM Library Services
Operates the library at 1515 Cherry Street, walk-in and mail service; visit meetings and support Meetings’ libraries; support Friends School librarians; display and lending at Annual sessions; opening a new branch in Burlington Quarter. The library has a new web page and is now located in the balcony at Friends Center.
• Quaker Interpretation Program
Arch Street attracts 40,000 visitors a year. They learn about the roots of our religion; that we believe there is that of God in every one. They learn how we worship in expectant silence in our quest for peace & equality.
The new quarters for the PYM Library
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Support & Outreach Services and Projects
• Yearly Meeting Publications PYM News & Yearly Meeting Directory
• Publications Services Group Publication and distribution of free and subsidized Quaker-oriented material.
• Quarter Coordinator Programs
• Quaker Information Center
• Friendly Crafters
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Support and Outreach Working Groups and Initiatives• Quaker Quest Working Group
Creates, encourages, and leads Quaker Quest Programs for both Monthly and Quarterly Meetings within Philadelphia Yearly Meeting
• National Historic Landmark Working GroupTaking forward the process to gain National Historic Landmark designation for the Arch Street Meetinghouse
• Music Among Friends & Telling Our Stories Working Groups Working groups to explore ways to inspire and capture dialogue of Friends
• Vibrant Meetings Review What makes a Meeting “hum” is worship,
fellowship, Friendship, hope, love, and laughter.
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Support and Outreach Granting Groups• Friends Institute Granting Group
Provides grants to young adults to attend conferences for the purpose of developing Quaker leaders and witness.
• Membership DevelopmentFunds efforts to increase visibility of Quaker faith and activities
• Willits Trust Granting Group
Distributes books of Quaker/Christian interest to African Americans in the South and people and groups in Liberia. Friends Center
Worship & Care Standing Committee
The Worship and Care Standing
Committee is charged to
support and encourage
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting
members and meetings in
enhancing their temporal and
spiritual lives. The year 2008-
2009 has been a continuing
exploration of the challenges
and joys of that leading.29
Worship & Care Working & Granting Groups
• Center for Deepening and Strengthening Our Meetings
• Meeting on Worship and Ministry
• PYM Ministry for Racial Justice and Equality in the Religious Society of Friends
• School of the Spirit, A Quaker Ministry of Prayer and Learning
• Spiritual Formation
Worship
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• Friends Counseling Service• Adult Religious Education • Pastoral Care Newsletter • Aging Granting Group • Greenleaf Granting Group• Anna T and Joseph Jeanes
Granting Group
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Care
Worship & Care Working & Granting Groups
4th and Arch Street Meeting House Yearly
Meeting Worship Room
Worship & Care From the Worship and Care 2009 Epistle
Our Standing Committee labors under the weight of a concern that we regard
as urgent. Repeatedly in our work, we have been confronted by working
groups under our care whose ministries, while essential to our life as a faith
community, struggle to maintain a viable level of membership. We believe, in
the spirit of continuing revelation, that it is time to consider whether we are
doing God’s work most effectively under our current structures. We sense
that there are essential ministries under our care which need our assured
support regardless of their ability to find volunteers to facilitate them.
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-
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
1,200,000
1,400,000
1,600,000
808,675
609,929 750,968
878,714 1,001,625
419,993
1,460,150
Financial Oversight by PYM Standing Committees
• The Standing Committees are responsible for overseeing 75% of the total expenditures in the annual PYM budget.
• Total Budget: $5,930,054
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Fiscal Year 2009 Budget
Queries from the Standing Committees:
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George Fox
• Are we doing God's work most effectively under our current structures?
• What is your vision for our work? How can we remain in touch with that vision?
• Is it possible to have systems and structures and remain faithful to the spirit or "way opening?"
• Should Standing Committees be involved with connecting Monthly Meetings to each other?
• How shall we pass on our traditions and processes to each other and to our children?
35
And finally, here is the much discussed elephant in the room.
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