Resources on Outreach & Advancement
Overview
Welcome to New York Yearly Meeting's Resources page for outreach and advancement.
Outreach refers to the efforts by meetings to reach out to their communities, broadcasting the presence of local meetings and inviting folks to join us in worship.
Advancement is nearly synonymous with outeach as a description of efforts to advance the Quaker way, but also includes "inreach" efforts to strengthen our meetings and prepare them to meet the needs of newcomers.
Quicklinks to the sections below:
- NYYM Advancement/Outreach Committees
- Advancement Committee (currently suspended)
- NYYM Advancement Task Group
- From a Place of Abundance—An in-depth advancement initiative designed for local meetings in NYYM interested in focusing their outreach.
- Outreach Roundtables—
Day-long workshops that combine worship, presenters, Q&A, and sharing of resources and efforts.
- New Meetings Toolbox—A Friends General Conference resource
- Books and pamphlets—A list of Quaker outreach and advancement materials available from QuakerBooks.org.
- Sample brochures and outreach materials:
Advancement Task Group
The NYYM Advancement Task Group is an ad hoc group of NYYM Friends who hold a concern for advancement and outreach in the yearly meeting.
Is your meeting ready for outreach? Download the Task Group's guide to descerning whether your meeting is ready to do more active outreach.
To learn more about their projects or to contact this group, contact the yearly meeting office at office[at]nyym.org, or call 212-673-5750.
Books and Pamphlets about Outreach and Advancement
- Letting the Light Shine: A Quaker Guide to Using the Media, Simon Risley; $3.
- Outreach Idea Book: Suggestions for Attracting and Nurturing Newcomers and Enriching Quaker Meetings, Outreach Committee of PhYM; $18.
- Turnaround: Growing a Twenty-first Century Religious Society of Friends, Benjamin Lloyd; Pendle Hill Pamphlet #387; $6.50.
- Now We Are Quakers: The Experience and Views of New Members, Alastair Heron; $7.
- Welcome (poster); PyyM; $12.50.
- The Blooging Church: Sharing the Story of Your Church through Blogs, Brian Bailey; $12.
- Being A Quaker: A Guide for Newcomers, Britain Yearly Meeting, Geoffrey Durham; $16.
- Come Worship with Friends, bumper sticker, FGC; $2.00.
- Coming into Friendship As A Gift: The Journey of a Young Adult Friend, (reaching YAFers), Christina Van Regenmorter; $8.00.
- Members One of Another: The Dynamics of Membership in Quaker Meeting, Pendle Hill Pamphlet, Tom Gates; $6.50.
Sample Brochures and Outreach Materials
NYYM's Advancement Committee has gathered as many advancement/outreach pamphlets as it can find. These vary a lot in their quality and many could not be used in their current form. But they represent a wide variety of approaches and content that we hope you will find useful. We also hope you will share resources with us that we have not yet collected. Please contact the office if you have something to contribute; and thanks.
Introductions to Quakerism in General
Specifically for visitors and new attenders
- Advancement Basics, Part One: First-time Visitors & New Attenders, FGC Advancement & Outreach Committee
- Welcome New Commers (table top card)
- Welcoming Newcomers (one meeting’s guidelines)
- Education and Support of New Attenders, Lake Forest Meeting, Illinois YM
- To inquirers about the Religious Society of Friends, by Leonard S. Kenworthy
General Introductions
- Welcome New Comers (table top card)
- Welcoming Newcomers (one meeting’s guidelines)
- Education and Support of New Attenders, Lake Forest Meeting, Illinois YM
- Suggested Reading for New Attenders, from Carlisle Meeting
- Introducing Quakers, Pendle Hill Pamphlet by Gordon Browne
- Friendly Answers to Questions about American Quakers, FWCC
- The Minimum Quaker, by Edmond P. Hillpern
- On the Quaker Peace Testimony, from First Friends Meeting, Greensboro, North Carolina
- Using Quaker Practice, from New York Yearly Meeting
- Happy Valentine's Day, An outreach Valentine's Day card: "Let us see what love can do"
- An example of Quaker outreach, from a Friends Church in Oregon
- The Wider Quaker Fellowship, from FWCC
Other Media
- Starting a Film Series as a means of Quaker Outreach for your Monthly Meeting
- Media Tips
- Plain Press Release, from Purchase Meeting
Introductions to Quaker Worship
- Holy Expectancy, from The Friend
- An Introduction to Quaker Meeting for Worship in the Unprogrammed Tradition
- An Invitation to Worship, London YM
Introductions for Individual Meetings
Regions
- Burlington
- There are Quakers in NYC
- Find Yourself...Come Home, from Salem Quarterly Meeting, New Jersey
- A Brief History of Quakerism and New York Yearly Meeting
Monthly Meetings