Quaker Organization as it relates to Wilton Quaker Meeting Contents Quaker Organization Wilton Quaker Meeting Purchase Quarterly Meeting New York Yearly Meeting (NYYM) NYYM Connect! Aging Resources Consultation Help (ARCH) Powell House Friends General Conference (FGC) Friends United Meeting (FUM) Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW) Quaker Voluntary Service (QVS) Friends Journal QuakerSpeak Pendle Hill QuakerBooks at FGC Quaker Organizations Local Meetings Local meetings consist of monthly meetings and worship groups. A monthly meeting is the primary organizational unit of Quakers. Worship groups are smaller, less formal and usually under the care of a monthly meeting. Local meetings typically meet for worship once a week and for business, once a month, hence the designation "monthly" meeting. Local meetings are often take the name Friend or Quaker as monthly is sometimes felt to be misleading. Local meetings typically manage their affairs through committees. Unprogrammed local meetings have no paid professional clergy. Pastoral and Evangelical meetings and churches typically have a pastor. Some local meetings have schools under their care. Unprogrammed monthly meetings do not report to a higher body in a hierarchical sense. They often associate with geographical or like-minded groups Regional Meetings Local meetings are often organized into regional meetings, sometimes designated as quarterly or half-yearly meeting to indicate how often they meet to conduct their business. Yearly Meetings The yearly meeting is a gathering of local meetings in a larger geographical area comprising a state or group of states. The yearly meeting is so called because it traditionally meets to conduct its business once a year. Yearly meetings generally have volunteer committees and a paid staff. Many yearly meetings have a retreat or conference center. Quaker Organizations National Organizations The Religious Society of Friends was founded by George Fox in seventeenth century England seeking an alternative to the rigid forms of the Church of England. Over time the society evolved into three major groups: • Unprogrammed meetings represented by Friends General Conference (FGC). • Pastoral meetings represented by Friends United Meeting (FUM). • Evangelical meetings represented by Evangelical Friends Church International (EFI). Other Quaker Organizations • Aging Resources Consultation and Help (ARCH) • Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) • Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) • American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) • Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) • Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW) • Quaker Voluntary Service (QVS) Quaker Media • Friends Journal • Quaker Speak • Pendle Hill • Quaker Books Wilton Quaker Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends Wilton Quaker Meeting is an unprogrammed Quaker meeting. We meet weekly at 10:00 am each Sunday for about an hour of silent worship followed by announcements and hospitality. We believe that we can communicate directly with God and that there is something of the Divine Spirit in every person. Thus, everyone is equal in the eyes of God and ourselves. ALL ARE WELCOME Our Meeting is run entirely by volunteers. We have no paid clergy and we believe we are all ministers. When called upon by the divine spirit we may speak out of the silence during meeting for worship. Wilton Quaker meeting associates with Purchase Quarter, NYYM, and FGC. You can find our more on our website: www.fgcquaker.org/cloud/wilton-quaker-meeting Connecticut Friends School (CFS) operates a CT licensed Friends Preschool under the care of, and on the campus of Wilton Quaker Meeting. The Friends Preschool accepts children ages 2 through 4. Since 1957, CFS has offered a play-based, child-centered preschool program where children blossom under the care and guidance of nurturing, experienced teachers. CFS offers a responsive program that focuses on each child and customizes program, curriculum and projects based on each unique group of children. In the Friends tradition, our peaceful and nurturing environment inspires children to become confident, empathetic, creative and capable. Our curriculum fosters critical thinking and encourages children to view themselves as problem-solvers. We emphasize: • Education of the Whole Child ● Experiential Learning • Calm, Peaceful Atmosphere ● Culture of Respect www.ctfriendsschool.org/ Purchase Quarterly Meeting Purchase Quarterly Meeting is an association of Quaker meetings and worship groups in our area including: • Amawalk Monthly Meeting • Chappaqua Monthly Meeting • Croton Valley Monthly Meeting • Housatonic Friends Meeting • Otisville Prison Worship Group • Phillipstown Worship Group • Purchase Monthly Meeting • Scarsdale Monthly Meeting • Sing Sing Prison Worship Group • Wilton Quaker Meeting Purchase Quarterly Meetings are held four times a year, rotating among monthly meetings in the quarter. Active committees include Ministry & Counsel, Scholarship, Peace and Social Concerns, and Prison Ministry. New York Yearly Meeting New York Yearly Meeting is a fellowship. New York Yearly Meeting (NYYM) is the gathering of over 80 Quaker meetings in New York State, northern New Jersey, and southwestern Connecticut. It is affiliated with both FGC and FUM. New York Yearly Meeting gathers as a body three times a year, in the spring and fall for a weekend rotating through the various regions, and for a week in the summer at Silver Bay YMCA on Lake George in the Adirondack Mountains, in Silver Bay, New York. The yearly meeting is so called because it traditionally meets to conduct its business once a year. New York Yearly Meeting is an organization. The Yearly Meeting organization includes a large number of committees organized into four sections: ● General Services • Ministry ● Nurture • Witness It also includes a number of staff. The Yearly Meeting also has a conference center, Powell House, located in Old Chatham, New York, and a school, Oakwood Friends School, located in Poughkeepsie, New York. New York Yearly Meeting is a gathered body. At its spring, summer, and fall sessions, New York Yearly Meeting gathers as a body to conduct the business of the yearly meeting. At these times, the Friends gathered are enabled to speak and act on behalf of the yearly meeting as a whole. www.nyym.org/ Through individual New York Yearly Meeting consultations, workshops, Connect! and trainings, ARCH provides resources to help us all Did you know that New York Yearly Meeting sends out regular cultivate a community of well- communications with tons of supported aging friends. information and opportunities? ARCH staff has received • ARCH SUPPORTS training in: • FAMILIES • vigil at the end of life, • INFOSHARE • sharpen active listening • NYYM "GLOBAL" LIST skills, • POWELL HOUSE • complete advanced care • POWELL HOUSE YOUTH directives, PROGRAM • locate local aging • QUAKER OUTREACH • SPARK resources, • THE TOTE BAG • make a spiritual • YOUNG ADULT FRIENDS assessment, • YOUTH • set up a care team, Sign up at: • and much more. www.tinyurl.com/nyymconnect www.nyym.org/content/arch Powell House Powell House is the conference and retreat center of the New York Yearly Meeting, located on 57 acres in Old Chatham, New York. Its mission is to foster spiritual growth after the manner of Friends (Quakers) and to strengthen the application of Friends’ testimonies in the world. Powell House is a popular place with Wilton Meeting adults and young friends. Upcoming events are listed on the website. They range from Quaker studies, to youth programs for those who wish to grow, share, and care in community, to just plain fun. powellhouse.org/ Friends General Conference is an association of fifteen yearly meetings or regional groups, and twelve directly affiliated monthly meetings. FGC exists to increase communication among unprogrammed Friends, to bring Friends together across yearly meeting lines, to enrich the spiritual life of the Religious Society of Friends, and to provide resources and services to Friends and Friends meetings. It is not a governing body. It does not establish policy for its member meetings, or seek to speak for the Religious Society of Friends. The work of FGC can be summarized into three areas of endeavor: • Help Friends deepen Quaker worship and practice • Support welcoming and inclusive Quaker communities • Support Quaker outreach Vision Statement We envision a vital and growing Religious Society of Friends—a faith that deepens spiritually, welcomes newcomers, builds supportive and inclusive community, and provides loving service and witness in the world. www.fgcquaker.org/ Friends United Meeting is an association of both Christ centered programmed and unprogrammed meetings with more than 50,000 members in the United States and Canada and more than 100,000 in East Africa and the Caribbean which were its mission fields. As the largest organization of Quakers, Friends United Meeting is decidedly centrist and contains a wide range of Christian Quaker theological outlooks from very progressive and inclusive views to very conservative and traditional beliefs among its individual members, Monthly Meetings or Churches, and affiliated Yearly Meetings. Friends United Meeting commits itself to energize and equip Friends through the power of the Holy Spirit to gather people into fellowships where Jesus Christ is known, loved,