Annual Report of Newtown Friends Meeting

to Bucks Quarterly Meeting

held at Buckingham Friends Meeting

November 15, 2009

The Spirit has been moving actively among us this past year and we feel blessed. Vocal ministry has been widely shared during worship, our children’s programs continue to grow, and several initiatives have been very satisfying.

As of December 31, 2008, our membership totaled 258 of which 48 were minors. Since then we have registered a net increase of 11. A number of our cherished older members who are residents of Pennswood Village are now attending the Pennswood Worship Group on First Days. We miss them. We mourn the passing of Kingdon Swayne, Mary Kester, and Betsy Appelbaum.

New members and attenders have brought fresh energy. The Meeting’s website deserves credit for attracting visitors who then become attenders. Newtown Friends School has inspired a number of families to come and then stay. The Children’s First Day School program is anchored by dedicated teachers and serves from 40 to 60 children each week. A Simple Supper in the fall raised funds to support the Alazawee family, Iraqi refugees sponsored by Bucks Quarter, and a lasagna dinner in the spring raised over $750 towards paying down the mortgage for the addition to the meetinghouse that dates to 2004. Each is a major social event for our meeting community, with parents doing the cooking and children doing the serving with a smile.

Presenters to our Adult class included Peter Lems on his return from a trip to Afghanistan for AFSC, several members sharing their spiritual journeys, George Fisk on the economy, Noorjahan Akbar, a George School student from Afghanistan, and Emmet Gowin on the occasion of his final semester as a professor of photography at Princeton.

One new initiative was taken in response to the discernment of Care and Counsel that their list of expectations and commitments had grown too long to manage. In order to give more attention to their pastoral care responsibilities, they asked to be relieved of various forms of hospitality for members, attenders and visitors. Thus was born a new committee for Inreach/Outreach. This committee is now charged with public relations, oversight for Friendly Eights, drinks and snacks after worship, the Blossom Ride and lunch for Friends Home and Village, and follow up with newcomers who sign the guest book.

Another initiative with the purpose of reaching out to the community was organized by two Meeting members who invited Carolyn Weekley, Director of Museums, Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia and author of The Peaceable Kingdoms of Edward Hicks, to come for Newtown’s 325^th anniversary celebration in April. School children exhibited their own versions of the peaceable kingdom, the Historical Association sponsored a walking tour, and Carolyn Weekley spoke to an overflow crowd for adult class and then joined us for worship.

Worship and Ministry sponsored monthly Sundays at Seven for worship sharing led by individual committee members. Peace and Service sent a letter to young Friends ages 14-18 inviting them to consider the Peace Testimony and alternatives to military service. The committee then followed up with a pizza party for teens and their parents where former member and non-registrant Aaron Crosman shared his experiences as a conscientious objector and engaged them in a good discussion of current concerns related to draft registration, the Iraq war, and the potential resumption of conscription.

The 2008-2009 school year at Newtown Friends School began with 319 students, 13% of whom were Quakers. An important milestone was achieved with the successful conclusion of the NFS Endowment Campaign that raised over $1.5 million. Head of School Steve Nierenberg has announced his retirement for June 2010. A Search Committee of nine, four of whom are members of Newtown Meeting, is hard at work to find his successor.

After nine years under the care of Newtown Meeting, PeaceTalks: Exploring the Alternatives to Violence – a Public Radio Project, has found a new home with The Peace Center in Langhorne. Barbara Simmons’ vision led her to seek out stories on four continents and resulted in twelve documentaries about people finding unique and inspiring ways of moving beyond violence as a tool for social change. The Peace Center is a worthy successor to the Meeting in helping Barbara carry forward her important work on a more permanent basis.

Members of Tzedek v’ Shalom, the Reconstructionist Jewish congregation that rents the meetinghouse for services, invited the Meeting to join with them in exploring ways to reach out to those suffering from the economic recession. Our collaboration, called Tzedek and Friends, has agreed to sponsor a public meeting for workshops and a simple supper from 4 – 7 p.m. on Sunday, Dec.6. We are calling it “Building Community in Troubled Times.” Topics will include networking, financial and mortgage issues, stress management, and new career visions.

This has been a vibrant, purposeful year for Newtown Friends Meeting.

Respectfully submitted,

Betsy Crofts, clerk