We are so excited to share with you that we have now fully met – exceeded, in fact – the Worship & Care Package Challenge! Back in early November, we announced to you that a generous Philadelphia Yearly Meeting family had agreed to donate $30,000 if we could meet that amount through new and increased gifts. Because of Friends like you, we did it. Then, our generous PYM family extended the Challenge by $20,000.
On the afternoon of Tuesday, February 28, a first-time donor made an online gift that took us over the finish line. It was so much fun to tell this donor what they had done for PYM that day. But it wasn’t just this donor who won the day. Today, we express our deeply felt gratitude to more than 240 PYM donors who stepped up, pitched in, and met the Worship & Care Package Challenge.
As a result of this successful Challenge drive, we will be able to accomplish the following:
- The Pastoral Care Committees of several meetings will participate in Stephen Ministry trainings to help them more effectively provide high-quality, one-to-one, Spirit-centered care to people who are experiencing life difficulties.
- We can look forward to yearly-meeting wide intergenerational worship plus a package of resources, ideas, and support for meetings to hold their own worship for all ages.
- Friends will be invited to yearly meeting-wide Bible study, grounded in an experiential approach in the manner of Friends. It will also be followed by mini care packages for meetings which provide materials, guidance, and support to create their own Bible study experiences.
We will form a Community of Practice with Friends who have a heart for worship and pastoral care at all levels of experience. Circle members can share in training and fellowship to ground and grow their gifts.
We will expand PYM’s database to help us identify Friends with gifts and skills in the areas of pastoral care and worship. This advance in technology will not only seed the Community of Practice, it also will allow us to gather information about the gifts, skills, and professions of Friends in all areas of service. Thank you so much for joining the Worship & Care Package Challenge. We achieved it together.
With love and joy,
Christie Duncan-Tessmer
General Secretary
