Welcome to Baltimore Yearly Meeting!
Baltimore Yearly Meeting nurtures a vibrant Quaker community across the Mid-Atlantic. BYM unites Friends from 50 Quaker meetings and worship groups throughout Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia.
Together at BYM Friends we
Strengthen Local Meetings
The monthly meeting is the beating heart of everything we do. At its core, the yearly meeting is an association of Quaker monthly meetings and other local worshipping communities coming together to support one another. We share a common Faith & Practice - and we share our skills, gifts, spiritual leadings, and resources across local worshipping communities.
Grow in Spirit & Community
Quakers believe that there is “that of God” in every person—an Inner Light that is loving and honest and can lead us to truth and justice. As BYM Friends we gather for Meetings for Worship four times each year to discern the Leadings of the Spirit and to conduct our community business and three more times throughout the year for spiritual formation retreats.
Nurture Youth
BYM has a special commitment to the spiritual, social, and emotional thriving of all young people. Our camps and youth retreats are vibrant, diverse, youth-centered communities. BYM scholarships and grants provide material support to children, families, and child-serving organizations, and the Religious Education Committee connects meetings to resources for nurturing youth.
Connect & Serve as Friends
Working together is an extension of our worship into the practical life of Quakerism. Working together benefits both the wider community and those Friends who participate. We serve together on Committtes, gather for service projects and social witness, and are part of the worldwide body of Quakers - connected to 14 organizations and hundreds of thousands of Friends around the world.
Retreat for Meeting Clerks
The Yearly Meeting wants to help support local Meeting clerks, so we would like to invite you to a retreat for Meeting Clerks, past, present, and future, at Annapolis Friends Meeting in Maryland on 11/9/2019 from 10:30am - 4pm. While focused on Meeting clerks, anyone with an interest in how we build and sustain our Meeting communities is most welcome to attend. Please write to ymclerk@bym-rsf.org to let us know you’re coming. Also let us know whether you seek overnight hospitality or child care, have special dietary needs, or have any questions, so we can try to accommodate. This event is intended more as a retreat than a workshop, though we can try to make it whatever you would find most helpful. Please let us know your thoughts on that. Primarily, this is a day for spiritual refreshment, fellowship, and sharing our collective wisdom. We’ll have time to share our joys and challenges and ask questions and hear responses from those gathered. We’ll also have time to hear what sort of support you would find most helpful from the Yearly Meeting and make sure you are aware of support we do provide. In particular, one topic might be to explore diversity or anti-racism concerns, especially in light of the anti-racist declaration approved at Annual Session. Let us know if you’re interested in that.
