Monthly Meeting Reports
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting asks its monthly meetings to share two important reports each spring: Membership Records and Statistics Report and the Spiritual State of the Meeting Report. They are different reports and serve different purposes. Each meeting has its own way of handling this work; in some meetings, both reports are compiled and sent by the same person, while others assign them to different community members.
Membership Records and Statistics Report
The Membership Records and Statistics Report provides demographic information for the meeting. It provides information on how many members and attendees are part of the meeting community and what changes have happened in the population, such as births, deaths, applications, and membership resignations. Our community uses this report to keep up to date on who’s a part of our yearly meeting community and where our Friends are so we can communicate about everything we have to offer them. We also share numbers with Friends World Committee for Consultation, which conducts statistical reports on the Quaker population worldwide.
The Membership Recorder prepares this report if the meeting has one; if it does not, it may be handled by the clerk, the recording clerk, or an office staff person.
Submit your Meeting’s Statistics Report here.
The Spiritual State of the Meeting Report provides a narrative, approved by the meeting, on its own spiritual and cultural matters. The report responds to queries that come from our book of Faith & Practice and the PYM Ministry & Care Committee. Our community relies on these reports to share the joys and struggles in the lives of our local meetings. They provide direction for our business and programming in the yearly meeting so they meet Friends’ needs. The SSotM reports allow meetings to share directly with one another about their spiritual lives. Every Spiritual State of the Meeting report for the last 5 years is available for reading on the PYM website and at Sessions, so The Ministry & Care Committee compiles a single overview report of the state of all of our meetings, which are shared at the Annual Sessions each year. Each report is read by at least two members of the Ministry and Care Committee.
Submit your Spiritual State of the Meeting Report here.
