NYYM Affiliations

New York Yearly Meeting is formally affiliated with a number of other organizations, both Quaker and non-Quaker. The yearly meeting manages these relationsthips either through standing committees in the yearly meeting organization or through named representatives.

NYYM maintains affiliations with organizations that fall into four categories:

 

Quaker Denominational Organizations

History

Until the turn of the twentieth century, yearly meetings were the largest formal gatherings of Friends. Yearly meetings are comprised of quarterly, regional, and monthly meetings and are so called because they traditionally met annually to conduct their business. Like many other yearly meetings, New York Yearly Meeting now meets three times a year.

At the turn of the twentieth century, however, two new larger "denominational" organizations emerged to better serve the needs of yearly meetings and provide common fellowship. A third organization was formed along the same lines in the 1940s. All three were organized around the branches of American Quakerism that had resulted from divisions in the nineteenth century.

From the first major division in 1827 until 1955, there were two New York Yearly Meetings. These two yearly meetings held membership is separate denominational organizations until they reunited in 1955. NYYM now maintains dual membership in both organizations.

Friends United Meeting

Friends United Meeting (FUM) was formed in 1902 as Five Years' Meeting (because it originally met for business every five years) as a federal body with a uniform discipline comprised of yearly meetings that had held to a more orthodox, evangelical, and Bible-based path in the 1827 divisions.

Visit the FUM website.

Friends General Conference

Friends General Conference (FGC) was also formed in 1902 as a gathering of yearly meetings with historically more liberal attitudes toward both faith and practice.

Visit the FGC website.

Friends World Committee for Consultation

In 1937, after years of concerned work to reconnect a fragmented Quaker world, the Second World Conference of Friends created the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) "to act in a consultative capacity to promote better understanding among Friends the world over" and to provide a home for meetings that had appeared independentlly of the historic groupings that had emerged from our various divisions during the nineteenth century.

New York Yearly Meeting is part of FWCC's Section of the Americas, with gathers together Friends throughout the western hemisphere.

Visit the FWCC–Section of the Americas website.

Separately-incorporated NYYM Institutions

Powell House

Powell House is NYYM's retreat center, located in Old Chatham, New York. Powell House hosts programs for both adults and youth in separate facilities.

Visit the Powell House website.

Oakwood Friends School

Founded in 1796 by New York Yearly Meeting , Oakwood Friends School is New York State's oldest co-educational boarding and day school. It is an independent, college preparatory school serving grades 6-12. Devoted since its inception to fundamental Quaker values, Oakwood Friends School puts this belief into practice by focusing on the individual learner, and cultivating a vibrantly diverse community.

Visit Oakwood's website.

Quaker Social Witness Organizations

  • NYYM maintains formal ties with these organizations through committees or named representatives.
  • Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP)—Runs workshops in communities and prisons to enable creative, affirming responses to conflict and violence.
  • American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)—Founded during World War I, AFSC promotes lasting peace with justice, as a practical expression of faith in action.
  • Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)—Founded in 1943, AFSC lobbies Congress and the administration to advance peace, justice, opportunity, and environmental stewardship.
  • Bolivian Quaker Education Fund (BQEF)—Beginning in 2002, BQEF works to strengthen ties between Andean Quakers and those of North America and Europe through educational opportunities for Andean Friends and service work.
  • Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW)—Quaker Earthcare Witness is a network of North American Friends and other like-minded people who are taking spirit-led action to address the ecological and social crises of the world from a spiritual perspective, emphasizing Quaker process and testimonies.
  • William Penn House—Based in Washington DC, William Penn House offers educational, organizational resources, service opportunities, and hospitality for those who seek a better world.

Non-Quaker Organizations

  • NYYM maintains formal ties with these organizations through committees or named representatives.
  • National Campain for a Peace Tax Fund—Based in Washington, D.C., the Campaign advo­cates for passage of the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Act, H.R. 2377, which restores the rights of citizens whose conscience does not permit financial participa­tion in any war
  • National Religious Campaign against Torture (NRCAT)—NRCAT mobilizes people of faith to end torture in U.S. policy, practice and culture.

Councils of Churches

  • NYYM maintains formal ties with these organizations through named representatives.
  • New Jersey Council of Churches—A community of Christian communions that seeks ways to do together what we are not able to do separately.
  • New York State Council of Churches;—A council of Christian denominations with a focus on social justice, institutional pastoral care, and ecumenical cooperation in education, worship, and action.