Nurture the space for our faith community to thrive!
Recently QLC found joy and fulfillment! Here’s how:
- Launched a sprint to plan an intergenerational mentoring program
- Every year more meetings share their State of the Meeting Report
- Improved communication with committees under our care
This is a current or upcoming project or interesting thing QLC is working on:
- Onboarding a new cohort of QLC members in a way that welcomes them into the work and community.
QLC functions at its best when there are people serving on it who have these skills or experiences:
- Knowledgeable of Quaker principles and practice.
- Active in a PYM meeting or local community of Friends and a member of a Monthly Meeting.
- Spiritually centered and grounded, demonstrate a commitment to their own spiritual deepening, show a strong interest in and curiosity about spirituality and religion, and able to speak adeptly about it.
- Understand the potential of collaborations between monthly, quarterly, and yearly meetings.
- Able to deal with healthy conflict and to collaborate with others.
- Able to make hard decisions, to say “no” when necessary.
These are the areas of expertise needed by some in the Council:
- Nurturing individual and corporate ministry
- Developing or providing effective programs & events
- Youth development and community
- Pastoral care
- Effective social justice and change
- Experience with basic budgeting processes
- Strong communication skills, able to communicate complex spiritual and programmatic information clearly and with joy
The realistic time commitment of members of QLC includes:
- Attend council meetings monthly on Saturday mornings
- Read agenda materials prior to meeting
- Join a committee
- Attend Sessions
- Possibly participate in short-term projects
- Terms: a term is three years, renewable once
Membership:
- Members of councils are named by Nominating Council and approved by Friends at sessions.
- QLC ideally has 15 members and currently has nine
PYM Charge:
With divine assistance the Quaker Life Council maintains and cultivates relationships within Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM). The council watches over yearly meeting activities, nurtures meetings, supports corporate work for peace and justice, and brings together members across meetings to collaborate on projects of common interest.
Scope of authority:
The Quaker Life Council holds full authority for assisting PYM in determining its purpose and priorities through deep spiritual discernment. It supervises the programs and activities that support a vital Friends community of PYM and ensures that they are aligned with the purpose, priorities, and strategic directions of the yearly meeting.
In addition, it holds authority and responsibility for:
- Appointing and laying down its own committees as needed, assigning responsibilities, and appointing committee members who need not be members of the Quaker Life Council but who are asked to do relevant work.
- Holding committees and other structures under its care accountable to their charge.
- Collaborating with the Administrative Council on matters of budget, planning, and communications for improved connections between Friends.
- Providing advice and support when requested for the General Secretary and clerk as needed.
- Communicate the activities of the Quaker Life Council and the yearly meeting to PYM Friends on a regular and consistent basis, so that Friends may always know the business before the Council.
- Bringing the matters of its substructures to the agenda of business meeting as needed, in consultation with the presiding clerk.
- Attending and reporting to yearly meeting in session.
- Participating in strategic planning; ensuring that the strategic directions are met through the work of the Council and its substructures.
- Focusing the yearly meeting body on a very limited number of social justice issues that are clear concerns to which we are called, and facilitating the effective response and action of our community to address those issues.
- Ensuring State of the Meeting reports are produced, reviewed, and shared annually.
- Supervising publications produced by PYM.
- Seeking opportunities to be in mutually supportive relationships with sister Quaker organization
- For further reading about the purpose and structure of the council and its committees, read the Quaker Life Council Corollary Handbook.
- For a review of how our yearly meeting responds to minutes of concern and other types, read the document on Issuing Letters of Introduction and Addressing Minutes.
- The Quaker Life Council meets on the third Saturday of every month. Meeting minutes are available.
Members
- Meg Barney – Providence Meeting
- Emily Blanck – Mickleton Meeting
- Kate Bregman – Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting
- Terry Christensen – Newtown Monthly Meeting
- Susan Claggett – Third Haven Meeting
- Sue Dietz – Medford Meeting
- Robert Greene – Princeton Monthly Meeting
- Bethann Morgan – Buckingham Monthly Meeting
- Michael Moulton – Germantown Monthly Meeting
- Debbie Murray-Sheppard – Wilmington Monthly Meeting
- Kathryn Pettus – Third Haven Monthly Meeting
- Jean-Marie Prestwidge Barch, Clerk – Schuylkill Meeting
- George Schaefer – Abington Meeting
- Nikki Mosgrove, Ex Officio, Presiding Clerk – Trenton Meeting
- Christie Duncan-Tessmer, Ex Officio, General Secretary – Chestnut Hill Meeting
Committees
- Friends Counseling Service Advisory Panel
- Ministry and Care Committee
- Program Committee
- PYM Representative to Sister Organizations
- Sessions Coordinating Committee
- Youth Programs Advisory Committee
Submit a Work & Witness Application
There is a place for all sorts of activity within our yearly meeting community. The Quaker Life Council will help discern the right direction for your work. Do you have a common interest or concern? Are you under the weight of an emerging leading for work or witness? Apply to become a collaborative or sprint under the care of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Make sure you read the full overview of application guidelines before submitting.
