Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

Ministry & Care

Interview with Janaki Spickard Keeler, FCS Coordinator

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PYM’s Friends Counseling Service (FCS) brings forward a spiritually sensitive, clinical expertise to care for the mental health and wellness of individuals in the wider Quaker community.

Janaki Spickard Keeler was recently appointed as the FCS Coordinator.  As part of her daily job, she interacts with local Quaker communities, supports present counselors, recruits new counselors, helps promote the service, and attends events throughout the yearly meeting to speak on matters related to mental health and wellness.

[Read more…] about Interview with Janaki Spickard Keeler, FCS Coordinator

Friends Emily and Julia Visit the Friends International Bilingual Center in La Paz, Bolivia

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The Friends International Bilingual Center (FIBC) is a Bolivian program that offers educational programs for children, young people, and adults in la Paz, Bolivia. Their programming is focused around human value and Quaker principles, and participants experience spiritual and intellectual growth centered in the belief that there is that of God in everyone.

[Read more…] about Friends Emily and Julia Visit the Friends International Bilingual Center in La Paz, Bolivia

Talking About Racial Injustice with Children

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Our children are watching, and listening, and learning. This is a deeply challenging time. Families are experiencing a global pandemic that has changed the shape of home and school life. There is economic uncertainty and hardship. Our children are watching and experiencing a nationwide response of fury and protest after the latest tragedies in centuries of Black lives brutally taken. For those of us who live with children and serve young people in our work, it is a moment to be present to them. [Read more…] about Talking About Racial Injustice with Children

PYM’s Friends Counseling Service Coordinator: Janaki Spickard Keeler

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Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is excited to announce the new Friends Counseling Service (FCS) Coordinator, Janaki Spickard Keeler. FCS brings forward a spiritually sensitive, clinical expertise to care for the mental health and wellness of individuals in the wider Quaker community.

The FCS Coordinator interacts with local Quaker communities, supports present counselors, recruits new counselors, helps promote the service, and attends events throughout the yearly meeting to speak on matters related to mental health and wellness.

[Read more…] about PYM’s Friends Counseling Service Coordinator: Janaki Spickard Keeler

Ministry & Care Letter to Our Meetings

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Dear Friends,

This is a check-in to see how you and your meeting are doing in these unique times. The physical distancing required by the Covid-19 pandemic has created unexpected opportunities for discerning how to feel connected when physical contact is not possible. Some meetings are also struggling with how to complete their Spiritual State of the Meeting Report given the challenges of Covid-19. We offer some guidance here. [Read more…] about Ministry & Care Letter to Our Meetings

News from Third Haven Friends

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Third Haven Meeting is moving rapidly (for Quakers) to adjust to our new reality. We held our first Zoom Meeting for Worship this past Sunday. We divided up our directory alphabetically into 6 groups as this is the number of clerks we knew had experience with and access to Zoom accounts. We all felt that starting with smaller groups could be less intimidating to first time users. We even had two young Friends from London join us. We haven’t seen those Friends in such a long while it felt great to catch up. [Read more…] about News from Third Haven Friends

Sustaining Community in Challenging Times – Report from Lehigh Valley

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The following report comes from Lehigh Valley Friends Meeting’s recent  experience with virtual Meeting for Worship. With thanks to Friend John Marquette, who interviewed Lehigh Valley Worship & Ministry clerk, Mary Lou Hatcher

On March 22, six Friends from Lehigh Valley gathered at their Bethlehem meetinghouse to experience and share worship online.

Many meetings have selected the Zoom system to begin online meetings for worship. Lehigh Valley took an incremental step toward true unprogrammed worship with a live stream using YouTube Live and a notebook computer. [Read more…] about Sustaining Community in Challenging Times – Report from Lehigh Valley

Travel & Witness Grant Report: Friends Reflect on Travel in Ghana

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In August of 2019, Vanessa Julye of Central Philadelphia Meeting led a group of Quakers to Ghana to explore the histories of Ghana and the United States. The trip, part of Vanessa’s 25-year ministry to address White Supremacy within the Religious Society of Friends, provided people of all races an opportunity to have critical conversations about history.

[Read more…] about Travel & Witness Grant Report: Friends Reflect on Travel in Ghana

Gathering Together: Support for Families & First Day Programs

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Last Sunday, a handful of families in my meeting decided to try online Children’s Meeting (our First Day program for children) and worship together online. It was a last-minute decision to fire up my Zoom account and see how it worked. We posted the information on Facebook and sent out a quick email on the meeting listserv. Two hours later, when we gathered across households, we were joined by a former attender now living in Seattle, and three other PYM families who had seen the Facebook post. We came together across miles and even time zones to share songs, a reading, queries, and waiting worship. [Read more…] about Gathering Together: Support for Families & First Day Programs

Threshing Session on Membership Minutes of Appreciation

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The Quaker Life Council approved the following minutes of appreciation as a sincere expression of gratitude to the Friends who facilitated the recent January 26 Threshing Session on Membership and to the monthly meeting that hosted. In addition to continuing a process of discernment about membership that has had many years of seasoning in our wider yearly meeting, this was an opportunity for intervisitation during which Friends from across our yearly meeting community could join a meeting for its worship on Sunday and take part in its community life. Intervisitation is an important part of Quaker tradition because it serves to reinforce the bonds we need in spiritual growth.

[Read more…] about Threshing Session on Membership Minutes of Appreciation

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