Bethesda Friends Meeting

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Spiritual State of the Meeting (SSOM) 

(The SSOM is drafted in February/March and finalized in April)

Please click here to get a printer friendly version  (Jan 2026) 

SEEKING INPUT ON THE SPIRITUAL STATE OF OUR MEETING (SSOM)

Dear Friends:


Each year, the Ministry and Worship Committee gathers input on the spiritual state of the meeting and develops a report for consideration by the Meeting, which is  sent on to Baltimore Yearly Meeting. To frame these discussions, we develop queries on how friends are feeling about their participation in Bethesda Friends Meeting (BFM), what is working or not working, and how we might provide the best possible spiritual nurture. We truly value every response we get and hope you will give us your views. 


Queries on which we invite input this year are set out below

  1.  What do I mean by Spirit/ spiritual? Do others in my Meeting mean something else? How do we react to that diversity?
  2.  How well do we maintain openness and humility as we proclaim our testimonies and live them?
  3.  Have we helped each other recognize and follow leadings? Have we connected and grown in Spirit as a community?
  4.  Has the Spirit led us to take social action as a whole community? Is our activism grounded in Quaker faith and practice? Am I / are we satisfied with what we are doing together in the world? What do we long to do?
  5.  Our aspiration as a Quaker community is that all our members and attenders feel welcomed, respected and spiritually nurtured in our Meetings for Worship. How are we doing? What more might we do?
  •   If you are a newcomer, how might we help you find spiritual nurture in Meeting for Worship, and feel more included in our community?
  •   If you are not a newcomer, do you have ideas about this you would like to share?

You do not need to respond to each of the queries; we welcome input on those that resonate with you. 


Pathways to provide input include the following:

1)      At our regular monthly Meeting for Business on February 1st (9:00 am), we hope there will be time for worship sharing on these queries.

2)      We will host a discussion at 12:30 pm on February 8th at the Meeting House, with zoom option.  The Zoom link will be the same as the one for Meeting for Worship.

3)      At our monthly potluck lunch on February 15th, members of the Ministry and Worship Committee will host tables for those wishing to share their responses to the queries.

4)      We will solicit input from the BFM committees. 

5)      You are welcome to provide input on these queries by email to ministry-worship@bethesdafriends.org.  

6)      Should you prefer to provide anonymous responses, you can do so via this link: https://forms.gle/3L2TLkLwNAv1pX5j8

7)      You are also welcome to provide input directly to any member of the Ministry and Worship Committee (contacts listed below (see your Directory for their emails) 

We look forward to hearing from you.  Thank you! -- from the BFM Ministry and Worship Committee

Margaret B.  Doug S. Eric S. Georgianna Z.  Gale T.      
Jabez M Bernie B.  Margaret B. Peter J.  


A first reading of the SSOM report will be held at the March 

Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business, with a second reading in April.

After approval, it is forwarded to and archived by Baltimore Yearly Meeting.

Bethesda Friends Meeting

Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 30152, Bethesda MD 20824

Our Meetinghouse is on the campus of the Sidwell Friends Lower School at the intersection of Edgemoor Lane and Beverly Road in Bethesda, Maryland

We are a member organization of the Religious Society of Friends

www.bethesdafriends.org
301-986-8681
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