Our Quaker Wider Community

The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) have established Meetings within all continents of the world. There are about 400,000 Quakers worldwide with most of them in Africa. Here in the Delaware Valley Quakers are organized into local Monthly Meetings which are gathered into groups of Quarterly Meetings (which meet 4 times a year) that are all apart of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Byberry Monthly Meeting is one of nine Monthly Meetings in Abington Quarterly Meeting. 

Abington Quarter is one of 14 Quarters that make up Philadelphia Yearly Meeting... and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting consists of over 100 Quaker meetings found in Central and Eastern PA, Southern NJ, and Northern Delaware. Each of these Meetings has their own distinctive flavor; small or large membership, varying diversity of age groups and ethnic social economic backgrounds, and theology. Monthly Meetings are the composite of all its members as they jointly express their faith.
 

Wider Quaker Fellowship and Organizations in Service to God’s Love in This World  

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) https://www.afsc.org/	Founded in 1917, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Quaker organization that promotes lasting peace with justice, as a practical expression of faith in action.   Drawing on continuing spiritual insights and working with people of many backgrounds, AFSC nurtures the seeds of change and respect for human life that transform social relations and systems.
	Beacon Hill Friends House Beacon Hill Friends House is a center for Quaker learning and action, the home of Beacon Hill Friends Meeting, and a residential intentional community grounded in Quaker principles. Our mission is …. To embody the Quaker principles of faith, simplicity, integrity, community and social responsibility in order to nurture and call forth the Light in all of us. Beacon Hill Friends House fulfills its mission by:  Providing a center where Friends and others can meet, worship, and learn Advancing and fostering the principles of the Religious Society of Friends Offering opportunities for leadership development, personal deepening, and collective action Maintaining a diverse, intentional, residential community guided by Friends principles To learn more about Beacon Hill Friends House, visit:  https://bhfh.org/ To learn more about the Midweek Worship programs offered:  https://bhfh.org/midweek/
Friends General Conference (FGC) https://www.fgcquaker.org/	With divine guidance, staff and volunteers of Friends General Conference (FGC) provide services and resources for individual Quakers, Quaker meetings and people interested in the Quaker faith and practice. The work of FGC can be summarized into three areas of endeavor: To hold conferences and consultations To provide Religious Education materials and opportunities To host programs and initiatives for and on behalf of our members
The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) https://www.fcnl.org/	As a Quaker organization, Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) is dedicated to pursuing policies that uphold and sustain the inherent worth, contributions, and dignity of each person including refugees. FCNL’s multi-faceted approach draws on the expertise of registered lobbyists in Washington, DC, the commitment and passion of people around the country in our advocacy network, and the relationships we cultivate with elected officials and community leaders. Because our lawmakers are making decisions about people’s lives, we must be ready to work with them, regardless of party or agreement, on all issues.  Our elected officials need constituents and advocates who will encourage, teach, appreciate, and hold them accountable to work for the common good. This practice of respectful lobbying that stays open to the possibilities of “yes” is the way we turn love and faith into action.
Friends World College for Consultation (FWCC) https://www.fwccamericas.org/	The Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) fosters fellowship among all the branches of the Religious Society of Friends. In the Americas, the Quaker community extends from the Arctic to the Andes, spanning a rich diversity of regional cultures, beliefs and styles of worship.   Answering God's call to universal love, Friends World Committee for Consultation brings Friends of varying traditions and cultural experiences together in worship, communications and consultation, to express our common heritage and our Quaker message to the world.
Pendle Hill Quaker Center for Study and Contemplation https://pendlehill.org/	Pendle Hill is a Quaker, Philadelphia-area retreat and conference center that seeks to transform lives and foster peace with justice in the world. Originally conceived as a Quaker “school for prophets,” Pendle Hill today offers education programs that support members of the Religious Society of Friends and other spiritual seekers to: Experience divine love, presence, and guidance in their lives; Understand, serve, and challenge their faith communities; and Work with their neighbors to foster peace, social justice, and sustainability in the wider world. We do this with an educational approach that encourages student engagement, dialog, community, compassion, curiosity, creativity, humor, joy, insight, growth, responsibility, and faithfulness.
Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) https://quno.org/	Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) is a Quaker presence at the United Nations, representing Friends’ concerns for global peace and justice to the international community. Quakers are known for speaking out against injustice and war -- issues that are incompatible with our vision of a world in which peace and justice prevail.   QUNO staff work with people in the UN, multilateral organisations, government delegations, and non-governmental organisations, to achieve changes in international standards and practice. Our work is rooted in the Quaker testimonies of peace, truth, justice, equality, and simplicity. We understand peace as more than the absence of war and violence, recognizing the need to look for what seeds of war there may be in all our social, political, and economic relationships.
Right Sharing of World Resources (RSWR) https://www.rswr.org/	Right Sharing of World Resources (RSWR) is an independent Quaker not-for-profit organization grounded in a sense of stewardship for the world’s material, human, and spiritual resources. God calls us to the right sharing of world resources from the burdens of materialism and poverty into the abundance of God's love, working for equity through partnerships with our sisters and brothers throughout the world.    RSWR provides grants for marginalized women in Kenya, Sierra Leone, and India to fund individual micro-enterprise projects. The goal is to improve the quality of life for the women, their families, and their communities, and to empower these women in a sustainable and self-determined way. A second goal of RSWR's work is to provide opportunities for those blessed with material resources to explore the burdens of materialism, the power of enough, and global responsibility; and to promote balanced sustainable lifestyles and sharing rightly from abundance.
Quaker EarthCare Witness https://www.quakerearthcare.org/	Quaker EarthCare Witness is a network of North American Friends (Quakers) and other like-minded people who are taking spirit-led action to address the ecological and social crises of the world, emphasizing Quaker process and testimonies. We are called to live in right relationship with all Creation, recognizing that the entire world is interconnected and is a manifestation of God.   While QEW supports reforms in laws, technology, education, and institutions, its primary calling is to facilitate transformation of humans' attitudes, values, identity, and worldview that underlie much of the environmental destruction going on in the world today. We work to integrate into the beliefs and practices of the Religious Society of Friends the Truth that God's Creation is to be respected, protected, and held in reverence in its own right.
Friends Peace Teams https://friendspeaceteams.org/	Friends Peace Teams is a Spirit-led organization that develops long-term relationships with communities in conflict around the world to work for peace, healing and reconciliation, and to create enduring cultures of peace. Friends Peace Teams travel and visit with a concern for peace in difficult places –- geographically, politically, and emotionally. Wherever they go, they bring people together from different backgrounds, orientations, affiliations, ethnicities, religions, and ages. The intent is to contribute to healing the effects of trauma and deprivation in their many forms across boundaries. Friends Peace Teams work in solidarity and parity, listening to and sharing experiences, not working or teaching from an agenda. To honor the dignity of every person and support local peace workers, the teams exchange experience through active, experiential methods, working grassroots to grassroots to preserve peace by deconstructing historical legacies of racism, exploitation and oppression.
Quaker Voluntary Service (QVS) https://www.quakervoluntaryservice.org/	Quaker Voluntary Service (QVS) is an 11-month experience, living at the intersection of transformational spirituality and activism. Young adults work full-time in professional positions at community based organizations, addressing a wide range of issues, while living in a cooperative house and worshiping with, and being mentored by, local Quakers. Fellows receive housing, transportation, food, support for health and wellness (including access to health insurance if needed), and a small stipend, while engaging in regular self-led workshops and retreats that allow for continuing education in social justice, faith, and community building topics.
Quaker School of the Spirit http://www.schoolofthespirit.org/	The Quaker School of the Spirit ministry serves all those who wish to be more faithful listeners and responders to the work of the Inward Teacher. The ministry is grounded in prayer and offers programs to deepen the Quaker contemplative tradition of the living silence. Before the coronavirus and COVID-19, the School of the Spirit Ministry offered weekend retreats, held at various retreat centers. Until we can safely return to those centers, we are holding day-long e-retreats. More than ever, in these days of sequestering, we need times for our Spirit -– times of “retirement” as early Friends used to say. We need time for com­munion with God and the refreshment of the soul, even in our own homes.