Strategic Visioning: Where Do We Go From Here?
For more than a year, Wrightstown Friends have been engaged in a continuing conversation about the future of our Meeting.
Beginning with our first Facing the Future, Together gathering in August 2025, and continuing through subsequent sessions in September and February, we have considered our declining numbers, the vitality that remains among us, and what faithfulness may require as our Meeting changes.
Read the story of Strategic Visioning Parts I–III
On August 23, we gathered again for Part IV: Preparing Responsibly for Our Future. We began with a difficult question: Does our Meeting have the vitality and human resources to continue as we have, or do we need to begin preparing for a different future?
The discussion was candid. We acknowledged our aging and declining active membership, the difficulty of finding Friends willing to take on leadership and committee responsibilities, and the fact that several earlier conversations about renewal have produced more ideas than action.
But the discussion also revealed something important: Wrightstown still has vitality.
Perhaps we need to continue differently
One theme emerged repeatedly: the problem may not simply be whether Wrightstown can continue, but whether we can learn to continue differently.
Do we need every traditional committee and position to function as it always has? Could the work of the Meeting be divided into smaller, more manageable tasks? Could some work be contracted? Could we make it easier for people to participate without immediately assuming substantial committee responsibilities?
We also discussed how we welcome newcomers, outreach to the wider community, connections with George School and our Nursery School, possible experiments with worship, and ways of becoming better at explaining what being a Quaker means to us.
Perhaps the most encouraging moment came near the end of the session. Instead of talking about what “we could” do, Friends were invited to say what “I can” do.
And people did.
Specific offers included helping with outreach, talking with Nursery School families, exploring connections with George School, examining alternative worship opportunities, reviewing new outreach materials, helping with responsibilities traditionally performed by the Clerk, and developing a clearer picture of the individual tasks currently carried by the Clerk’s Team.
From discernment to experiment
No decision was made about Wrightstown’s ultimate future. Nor was one expected.
Instead, the session suggested a practical next step: try some things, see what happens, and learn from the results.
The question before us is becoming clearer:
How can the Wrightstown community that exists today organize itself so that our limited energy is devoted to worship, community and witness rather than simply maintaining structures inherited from a larger Meeting?
The August 23 gathering did not answer that question. It did, however, give us some things to try.
Watch, Listen and Read
We encourage Friends who could not attend, as well as those who would like to revisit the discussion, to explore the materials below.
Explore the Strategic Visioning process
Parts I–III: How We Got Here
Watch the August 23 Session Passcode: 1d7^0ASG
Listen to the August 23 Session: