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Report: Marilyn Manzer and Stephanie Deakin____________________________________The New Meetings ProjectJanuary 18 – 19, 2013, Marilyn and Stephanierepresented Canadian Yearly Meeting at a FriendsGeneral Conference (FGC) consultation. Thediscussion, held at Pendle Hill Quaker Centre, Penn.,focused on the New Meetings Project.Representatives from all fifteen Yearly Meetingsattended. They comprised FGC, plus three FGCstaff, and members of the FGC New Meetings Projectcommittee: about forty people altogether. The NewMeetings Project is in the design stage and has beenidentified by FGC as a high priority. QuakerFinder.org, attracts 80,000 to 100,000 visitors per year, manyfrom places where there are no Meetings. A recentFGC survey identified outreach and integrationof newcomers as the most pressing need. FGC hasreceived $400,000 over two years from the ShoemakerFund, and has committed to raising an additional$100,000. Since the inception of the New MeetingsProject in September, 2012, there have been seventeenrequests for support, many from seasoned Friendsliving in areas where there are no other Quakers.The goal of the project is to develop a systematic,disciplined and replicable model for helping Friends tonurture the creation of new, vibrant Quaker Meetingsand Worship Groups, and to develop resources to helpthem thrive. These will include web-based, print, andpersonal resources.The consultation we attended followed a modelof appreciative inquiry where we collectively and insmall groups examined our hopes for the project,the roles of Yearly Meetings and FGC, and how wemight work together. We shared spiritual stories todiscover conditions that brought us to Friends, andkept us among them to discover attributes of vitality.We mapped our people, physical, institutional andeconomic assets all over the walls.The staff at FGC and the New Meetings Projectcommittee will be pulling together mountains ofnotes from this consultation to use in the design ofthe project. We are looking forward to receiving thereports and results. CYM’s Education and OutreachCommittee, formerly known as HMAC, will befollowing up.We had half a day to explore historic Philadelphia,only a half hour train-ride from Pendle Hill. What amind-blast for a Canadian Quaker to walk into theArch St. (1809) Meeting house and see, not one, buttwo meeting rooms built to seat 1200 people! One ofthem has now been converted into a museum. We alsovisited Friends Center, home of Philadelphia YearlyMeeting, the FWCC offices, and another 1200 seatmeeting room, just blocks from the Arch St. Meetinghouse. We enjoyed walking around the city andseeing amazing architecture and numerous tributes toWilliam Penn, with his statue high atop the stunninglybeautiful city hall.Marilyn Manzer (left), Annapolis ValleyStephanie Deakin (right), Vancouver IslandFriends Center, Philadelphia30May 2013 - The Canadian Friend