Growing Our Meetings Working Group

The Growing Our Meetings Working Group is under the care of the Advancement and Outreach Committee. The formation of the Working Group was announced at Sixth Month 2019 Interim Meeting (I2019-37).

The Working Group’s charge is as follows:

The initial focus of the GOMWG will be to facilitate a discussion of questions around growth at the BYM level, as well as in local Meetings:

• Does the Yearly Meeting wish to undertake coordinated steps that would facilitate a substantial increase in the membership of the Yearly Meeting? 
• What might be reasons for (or against) growth (at the Yearly Meeting or local Meeting level)?
• How does a growth initiative relate to increasing the racial, age, and other diversity of BYM?
• How do local Meetings articulate a diversity goal (for example, coming more into line with the population of their local community)?
• How would becoming more welcoming require a given local Meeting to change?
• Is the Meeting willing to change in that way? 
• Does becoming more attractive to newcomers involve articulating what BYM Quakers do and believe? 
• What statements would help in this respect?

Growth would involve increasing the size of those local Meetings that want to grow, as well as establishing new worship groups and meetings within the BYM area.

The GOMWG seeks to build a broad support for growth within Monthly Meetings.

If BYM approves a growth initiative, the GOMWG could help identify specific steps to be taken by BYM and local Meetings and facilitate those steps being taken. This could include identifying possible sites for new meetings and worship groups and helping organize local meetings to foster new preparative meetings and worship groups.

Listed below are the current members of the working group.

Growing Our Meetings Working Group Annual Reports