Committees form the structure of our meeting and handle the wide-range needs and business of our faith community. Instead of a minister, who ensures that the business of the organization is accomplished, Friends choose a volunteer clerk of the meeting. In addition, Friends choose clerks to lead various committees with specific purviews. These groups meet to further the work of the meeting and prepare for decisions to be made by the full membership at the monthly Meeting for Business. The meeting maintains an office that is cared for by a part-time secretary, a meeting employee.
Officers, representatives and committee members are nominated by a Nominating Committee and approved by the meeting, for 3-year terms unless otherwise indicated. Attenders interested in membership or participating more deeply are encouraged to experience committee meetings. The roles of the meeting's committees and individual positions can be explored below.
Committee Name | Responsibilities |
|---|---|
Adult Education Committee | Adult Education Committee provides a monthly series of talks on Quaker topics of particular relevance to meeting members and attenders. Visit our Calendar for upcoming lectures and explore past talks on the Adult Education page. |
Care Committee | Care Committee is responsible for the pastoral care and counseling of its members, taking personal interest in the well-being of each member, with special concern for young members, new members, those in need, and inquirers. It is responsible for applications for membership and transfer, for marriages, and for home visits and care for members in need. |
Children's Meeting Committee | Children's Meeting Committee oversees Children's Meeting, which is offered regularly for the school age children of all members, attenders, and visitors. Visit Children's Meeting to learn more. |
Contributions Committee | Contributions Committee prepares and distributes solicitation letters to members and attenders for financial support of the meeting. |
Educational Scholarships Committee | Educational Scholarships Committee provides scholarship information to members, solicits and evaluates applications and makes grants from the available funds, reporting annually to the meeting. |
Finance Committee | Finance Committee prepares the annual budget, evaluates requests for funds, oversees audits and periodic reviews of accounts, and advises the meeting on financial matters as requested or needed. |
Funerals, Interments, & FSWBG Committee | Funerals, Interments, & FSWBG Committee is responsible for memorial meetings, provides assistance to families and friends on the occasion of a death, and maintains the documents that record members’ end-of life decisions. The committee holds a relationship with the Friends Southwest Burial Ground (FSWBG). |
Hospitality Committee | Hospitality Committee purchases refreshments, keeps supply closets in order, provides a schedule of responsibilities for the tea-table, and reminds Friends of the scheduled assignments. |
John Martin Trust Distribution Committee | John Martin Trust Distribution Committee is responsible for the disbursement of grants to necessitous Friends within Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, from requests submitted by Monthly Meetings. It also considers other uses of the John Martin Trust. For more information visit the John Martin Trust page. |
Nominating Committee | Nominating Committee nominates candidates for all positions except Clerks and its own members, presents the nominations at a monthly meeting for business and at a subsequent session for a second reading and approval, and prepares an annual list of all the meeting’s positions and terms. |
Outreach Committee | Outreach Committee reaches out to visitors and attenders with conversation, hospitality and guidance to increasing their knowledge of the meeting and of Quakerism. |
Peace & Social Concerns Committee | Peace & Social Concerns Committee serves as the meeting’s resource for information and action on social issues and opportunities for service, organizes the meeting’s involvement in Friendly concerns, and considers requests for funding in consultation with the Finance Committee. |
Relief Committee | Relief Committee considers the needs of meeting members for financial assistance and allots meeting relief funds, maintaining the highest degree of privacy possible. |
Worship & Ministry Committee | Worship & Ministry Committee is responsible for the spiritual development of members and the quality of the meeting for worship. The members of this committee share service as the head of meeting for worship, reading from the Advices once a month, making annual reports to the Yearly Meeting, meeting regularly with the Care Committee, and sitting at head of memorial meetings and other events as requested. |
OFficers | Responsibilities |
|---|---|
Clerk | The Clerk presides at Monthly Meeting for Business, coordinates the meeting activities, carries out the instructions of the meeting in any matter pertaining to its business, and represents the meeting as necessary. |
Alternative Clerk | The Alternate Clerk fills in for the Clerk as needed, and assists the Clerk as requested. |
Recording Clerk | The Recording Clerk is present at each Monthly Meeting for Business to compose its minutes, reading them for its approval at the end of each session. He/she relays a copy of the minutes to the meeting secretary for prompt distribution online or by mail to all members. The secretary keeps a minute book of paper copies for use by the Clerk and preserves copies of cited documents for each session. |
Alternative Recording Clerk | The Alternate Recording Clerk fills in for the Recording Clerk as needed. |
Recorder | The Recorder maintains the meeting’s vital statistics (membership, births, deaths, marriages), provides certificates of transfer, prepares annual membership and attenders lists, and reports each year to the meeting and to Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. |
Treasurer | The Treasurer is responsible for the custody and disbursements of the meeting’s general funds and trust funds, maintains their records, supervises the bookkeeper, meets with the Finance Committee, and reports annually or as needed to the meeting. |
Meetings for Business occur on the third Sunday of the month. In contrast with the more specifically focused committee meetings, Meetings for Business deal with a wide variety of topics and include the participation of all members. The full title of this practice is Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business, calling to the worshipful sprit in which members gather. During Meetings for Business, Friends conduct business without voting and in the manner traditionally used by members of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, as informed by the current edition of Faith and Practice. The sense of the gathering as a whole is sought regarding the issue under consideration.
Meetings for Business occur September through June, following a potluck lunch at the meeting house. We observe a summer break in July and August. Visitors and attenders are welcome to observe Meetings for Business. You can visit our Calendar to find the information for our next Meeting for Business.