It is earnestly recommended that, as Friends tend to the affairs of our Society, we bear in mind always that we are about God's work. We should endeavor humbly and reverently to conduct ourselves and our meetings in the wisdom and peaceable spirit of Jesus—with dignity, forbearance, honesty, and, above all, love.
Where and How Decisions Are Made
In the beginning, the Religious Society of Friends mistrusted church hierarchies, believing that the path to the Divine is inward for each individual and worshiping group. Friends have kept the power of decision in religious matters as close as possible to the primary worship group and the individual. The monthly meeting (see pp. 177-190), accordingly, has a freedom of action and responsibility in matters of membership not given to either the yearly meeting (see pp. 193-200) or to a regional gathering such as a quarterly or half-yearly meeting (see pp. 190-193). On the other hand, there are some matters on which a degree of uniformity among neighboring monthly meetings is essential to the good order of the Society. There are also a number of functions that are more efficiently accomplished centrally.
By virtue of membership in a monthly meeting, Friends also become members of a regional gathering and the yearly meeting. All members have the privilege and the responsibility to participate in decision-making within each body. Monthly meetings often designate certain members to attend sessions of their regional meetings, annual or called sessions of the yearly meeting, and Interim Meeting (see pp. 194-197), although all members are welcome and encouraged to attend.
Within its own area of responsibility, each body is autonomous. Friends do not attend regional meetings and yearly meeting as instructed delegates of their monthly meetings but join others in worship and decisions that respond to the moving of the Spirit in that time and place. Monthly meetings may adopt and forward minutes expressing unity on issues coming before a regional meeting, Interim Meeting, or yearly meeting, but such minutes do not limit the freedom of the body assembled to adopt alternate courses.
Monthly meetings, regional gatherings, and the yearly meeting share the common task of encouraging and sustaining members in their obedience to the Truth revealed in work and worship. Members' lives are made both harder and easier: harder, by the challenge to a higher level of commitment to a religious calling; easier, by the presence of a supportive structure within which that calling can be answered.
When presented with an urgent concern or proposal, whether by an individual under strong leading or by a group with a powerful sense of mission, bodies such as regional gatherings, yearly meeting, or Interim Meeting may be tempted to act precipitately. It is helpful in reaching a rightly ordered sense of the meeting to have in place a procedure for broad prior consideration in monthly meetings of such concerns or proposals.
Reporting, Oversight, and Guidance
Monthly meetings, quarterly meetings, Interim Meeting, and the yearly meeting prepare and disseminate written annual reports. Many of these bodies also report informally to members through newsletters at more frequent intervals. There is also a strong tradition of oral reporting to monthly meetings of the deliberation of other bodies.
Monthly meetings send to quarterly meetings two separate forms of annual report: an overall "state of the Meeting" and a report of the committee on worship and ministry. Quarterly meetings report annually to yearly meeting on the same two subjects, drawing on the reports of monthly meetings.
Quarterly meetings should make provision for careful review of both annual reports of monthly meetings to identify situations in which it may be appropriate to offer oversight or guidance. The yearly meeting has a similar responsibility as it reviews annual reports from quarterly meetings.
The yearly meeting asks each year for two administrative reports:
- Membership statistics, provided by monthly meetings to both the quarterly and yearly meeting, for use in apportioning fair shares of yearly and quarterly meeting expenses, and for other purposes.
- Names of officers of quarterly and monthly meetings. The monthly meeting report goes to both the quarterly and yearly meetings.
The yearly meeting also notifies quarterly meeting clerks of publication deadlines for inclusion of their annual reports in the Yearbook.
This pattern of reporting, oversight, and guidance offers, but does not mandate, outside assistance to monthly and quarterly meetings. It is deliberately designed to affirm their autonomy. The only body in the structure that is specifically accountable to a parent is Interim Meeting, which reports on its actions annually to the yearly meeting in session.
Monthly Meetings
The monthly meeting is the fundamental spiritual community in the Religious Society of Friends. It is so called because its members meet monthly to conduct its business. It conducts meetings for worship weekly or more often, and is a caring community as responsive as it can be to the spiritual, social, educational, and material needs of its members. It may own and manage property, engage in significant social action, and operate schools or other institutions. It has sole authority to enroll or release members and to oversee marriages. It may undertake any action or assume any function consistent with the practices and principles of the Religious Society of Friends and not specifically the responsibility of some other body.
Governance, Officers, and Committees
Decisions are made by those gathered at regular monthly meetings for worship for business, or at special sessions called on reasonable notice by the clerk or by the committee of overseers. Such gatherings are meetings for fellowship and information sharing, as well as for worship and decision-making. Decision-making among Friends is discussed on pp. 21-26.
The entire range of a monthly meeting's activities—the conduct of worship, the care of members, religious education, the management of property, decisions on membership, issues of social action, oversight of institutions—should be given regular attention at monthly business meetings. While carrying out the day-to-day functions is often delegated to committees or designated officers, the monthly meeting remains the responsible body for all activities undertaken by its decision or on its behalf.
Each monthly meeting appoints a clerk (see p.187), a treasurer, and a recorder (see p.186), and usually a recording clerk. An assistant clerk may also be appointed, if needed. All other delegated functions are normally entrusted to committees rather than individuals.
Members are expected to serve on committees of the monthly meeting unless distance or disability is a significant hindrance. Acceptance of appointment is a commitment to be diligent, loving, and responsive in carrying out the committee's functions.
Committees serve the monthly meeting not only by carrying on routine delegated functions, but also by doing important background work in preparation for decisions at the monthly meeting for business. They examine designated matters in depth, identify the issues, gather the most useful information, and make seasoned recommendations for decision by the Meeting. When this work is done well, the monthly meeting in session is able to focus quickly on the matter at hand.
Monthly meetings should be clear about both what they expect of their officers and committees and what the limits are of their authority in performing those tasks. They should require full and timely reports. Such clarity and communication within an atmosphere of trust will liberate Meetings, officers, and committees to fulfill their respective tasks without wasteful duplication and frustration. Nevertheless, when good order requires, responsibilities and powers of decision delegated to an officer or a committee may be recalled and exercised by the Meeting.
The committees most commonly appointed by Meetings are mentioned under the function they perform for the monthly meeting.
The Individual and the Meeting
While the Religious Society of Friends accepts a variety of vocabularies for the expression of faith and encompasses a broad range of views on the way faith can be carried into action, there is a core of beliefs and standards of conduct which Friends hold in common. Monthly meetings, with the guidance of this Faith and Practice and supplementary sources have the on-going task of interpreting those beliefs and standards to prospective members, and may be called on to interpret them from time to time to experienced members as well. The individual should not hesitate to ask the Meeting for such interpretation.
A member under the weight of a spiritual or personal concern, or who feels a call to life-changing social action, may seek the assistance of the Meeting in testing this leading. The member may ask for individual counsel, or for a committee of clearness (see p. 29) chosen by the member or by the Meeting. Persons called to service on such a committee have a special concern to listen carefully, respond out of their own experience, and seek to promote individual and corporate faithfulness to spiritual leadings. Where no issue for Meeting decision arises, a committee of clearness will often have no need to report back to the monthly meeting.
Nurture of the Meeting Community
Members express their care for one another in many ways. They support one another's spiritual journeys. They participate in the intimate joys and sorrows of birth, marriage, death, and other rites of passage. Members facing important decisions receive counseling, as in the case of those contemplating marriage or those who are facing decisions about the military. At times of distress, the Meeting responds with the appropriate support, and, if needed, makes referrals to professional care-givers. A Meeting assumes responsibility for helping members resolve their differences. It responds to the special needs of the young and the elderly, and of new members, prospective members, and members at a distance.
All members share the duty and privilege of caring for one another. But except in small Meetings that act in all matters as a "committee of the whole," Friends have found it useful to identify specific duties and responsibilities and assign them to committees. A common practice is to assign pastoral care to a committee of overseers, care for the meeting for worship and members' spiritual development to a committee of worship and ministry, and oversight of programs for religious education to a religious education committee. The work of these committees is closely linked. Small Meetings often have a combined committee on ministry and oversight.
If separate committees are maintained, it is recommended that they meet together occasionally to assess the Meeting's programs of nurture, identify tasks undone or done poorly, and recognize those done well.
Monthly meetings should evaluate from time to time their effectiveness in nurturing members. If improvement is needed and continuing earnest attempts do not bring it, members may conclude that the Meeting either lacks sufficient numbers to do all that is necessary, or that its numbers have become so great that a sense of loving community is endangered. In either event, thought should be given to fundamental change, whether by merging with a neighboring Meeting or by dividing into two Meetings.
Meetings should view the division of the following duties described as illustrative, not prescriptive.
Committee on Worship and Ministry
(See also the section on Worship and the Meeting for Worship, pp. 17-21; queries on worship and ministry, p. 182-183)
The Committee on Worship and Ministry should be open to participation of members of all ages who are concerned for the spiritual life of the Meeting. It should include Friends in close fellowship with frequent speakers in meeting, ready when needed to help them keep sensitive to divine promptings. It should also include some Friends who are looked to as helpful counselors, to whom persons go for understanding and loving guidance. The vocations of ministry and of counseling are interwoven, and Meetings should encourage Friends to respond to a call to either service.
Giving Counsel Those who are asked to give counsel should remember that often the best service is to be a good listener. When advice is given it should be offered in love and grounded in the Light.
Teaching by Example Members of the committee teach by example as much as by precept and should therefore be chosen with consideration for the way in which Friends' testimonies are reflected in their lives. As they feel the call to be true to the essential testimonies of Friends, they help others to grow in loyalty to these testimonies. They encourage members and attenders to be ready and obedient should the leading come to enter into vocal ministry or prayer. They help members and attenders understand that all who attend the meeting for worship share responsibility for drawing the meeting together in expectant waiting and prayer.
Needs of the Young The committee may need to take special pains to accommodate the needs of the young. Their interest in remaining Friends in later years may well be strengthened by the memory that as children they felt well prepared for meeting for worship and welcome there. Meetings fortunate enough to experience the murmurings of the very young, or the bustle of a group of children entering late or leaving early, should call themselves blessed.
Vocal Ministry and the Ministry of Stillness Committee members should nurture the meeting for worship by giving appropriate attention to the quality of the vocal ministry and of the ministry of stillness that springs from centered silence. All Friends should be encouraged to give adequate time to study, meditation, prayer, and other ways of preparing themselves for worship. Sympathetic encouragement should be given to those who show promising spiritual gifts or who are timid or young in the ministry. Loving guidance may be needed by those whose ministry does not appear to come from deep centeredness in the Spirit. Some Friends may need to be counseled to avoid advance plans to speak on a specific topic in meeting for worship, thus closing themselves to the leading of the Spirit. Friends sometimes need to be counseled against self-centered activities that isolate them from the worship group. Both listeners and speakers may occasionally need guidance to assure that diversity of religious expression is enriching, not divisive.
Inappropriate Conduct The committee should help the Meeting both to rise above occasional inappropriate conduct and to deal firmly with repeated behavior disruptive of corporate worship or business. The committee, not an individual, should make the decision to speak for the Meeting with a person whose vocal ministry is not acceptable. Committee members may praise or caution as individuals, but it should be clear that in doing so they are not speaking for the committee.
Interfaith Councils The Committee on Worship and Ministry is often assigned the task of representing the Meeting on interfaith councils or ministeriums, and encouraging active involvement by the Meeting in ecumenical activities.
Recording of Ministers Philadelphia Yearly Meeting no longer follows as a general practice the granting of formal recognition as "recorded ministers" to those with special gifts in the ministry. During the early years of this century the formal recording of ministers and elders was largely discontinued, first in London and then in Philadelphia, as a practice that had lost its usefulness. Nevertheless, some Meetings have continued its observance as a nurturing support to those individuals with unusual gifts in the ministry. Although Friends' practice of a free ministry is based upon the experience that the gifts of the Holy Spirit may be bestowed upon anyone at any time, a monthly meeting may, upon the advice of its Committee on Worship and Ministry, record as ministers those members who are recognized as having a clear leading to vocal ministry and prayer or counseling of individuals.
This recognition is not one of status or privilege and should be reviewed periodically. It is an affirmation based upon loving trust. The Meeting's trust is that individuals so recorded will, in all humility, diligently nurture and exercise the gift of ministry in order that the Meeting as a whole may be nourished. The individual's trust is that the Meeting will on its part encourage and sustain them, and not only liberate them to undertake the disciplines of prayer and study and retreat that help clarify the springs of ministry but also lovingly and faithfully counsel them. Such nurture and encouragement and discipline are of special significance for younger members who, out of diffidence or unawareness, may discount their gifts and let them wither.
The gifts of the Spirit are diverse, and Friends' ministry includes pastoral care in settings such as hospitals and prisons. Friends' work in these areas may be especially benefited by the recording as ministers of those so gifted.
Reporting by Monthly Meeting Worship & Ministry Committees
The Committee on Worship and Ministry reports periodically to the monthly meeting for business. Also, in consultation with the monthly meeting, this committee submits a written report to the meeting on Worship and Ministry of PYM and to the quarterly meeting Committee on Worship and Ministry where such a group is active. In preparing these reports concerning the spiritual life of their meetings, monthly meeting committees on worship and ministry may be guided by the following queries that have been developed by the PYM Meeting on Worship and Ministry.
Concerning meeting for worship
- In what ways does our meeting encourage members and attenders to prepare hearts and minds for meeting for worship?
- How are we nurturing the sense that our meetings for worship are held in expectant waiting—joyfully patient to feel God's Spirit?
- How are we helping Friends to find God's presence both in the silence and in the spoken ministry?
- How are children and newcomers introduced and welcomed into meetings for worship?
- What opportunities does our meeting provide for additional group worship to suppplement the main meeting for worship?
- What problems do we perceive with our meetings for worship? How might we work to alleviate the problems we have identified?
Concerning ministry
- What evidence is there in our meetings for worship of vocal ministry that springs from obedience to the Living Spirit? How does our meeting nurture and support such ministry?
- If our meeting experiences inappropriate ministry, how do we address it?
- Have any of our members or attenders been called to a particular ministry within or beyond the meeting? If so , how has our meeting helped with discernment, encouragement, and support?
- Have any of our members or attenders suffered while trying to live their ministry? If so , what has our meeting done to help?
Concerning Spiritual Community
- How does our meeting nurture the spiritual lives of individual members and attenders, both adults and children?
- What evidence is there of God's presence in our meeting community?
- What are visitors to our meeting looking for in worship and in the spiritual life of the meeting? What causes visitors to stay or leave?
- What evidence is there in our meeting of lives transformed by the Spirit of God?
Committee of Overseers
A Committee of Overseers is appointed to assume leadership in maintaining a caring community, helping all members to find their right roles as nurturers of others. Its tasks may be shared with other committees.
Pastoral care and counseling are the special responsibility of the members of this committee. They should take a personal interest in the spiritual and physical welfare of each member of the Meeting. Membership on this committee calls for dedication, tact, and discretion. It should be entered into prayerfully, with an alert willingness to be of service. Overseers should meet together regularly and carry on their work in a spirit of consecration and love.
While the Meeting places special responsibilities and duties on this committee, others should also be conscious of their duty and privilege of caring for the members of the Meeting. In some cases pastoral care can be carried out to better advantage by Friends who are not on the Committee of Overseers. Also, especially in small meetings, the resources of the yearly meeting can be used where the action could not appropriately be performed by any Meeting member.
Responsibilities of overseers for the Meeting as a caring community include:
Care of the Meeting family Overseers should become acquainted with Meeting members, should visit them in their homes, if possible, and should maintain contact with all members and attenders in a spirit of affectionate interest.
Care of young people The members of this committee should be aware of and foster influences that develop the religious life of the children and young people of the Meeting, whether members or non-members, and should assist in giving them an understanding of the principles and practices of Friends. Overseers should seek to strengthen the work of the Committee on Religious Education or other committees seeking similar ends. Young people desire and need to have a creative part in the life of the Meeting; Friends should recognize the contributions that young people can make.
New members Overseers should pay special attention to new members, making them feel welcome, introducing them to other Friends, and offering them means of deepening their knowledge of Friends' beliefs. This special attention should continue for some months or years, if necessary.
Marriage Overseers see to it that the Meeting responds in good order to requests to be married under its care (See details under Marriage Procedure, pp. 47-54). Overseers should also take the lead in bringing into the fellowship of the Meeting the nonmember Wanc/(e)s or spouses of members.
Divorce When a couple within the Meeting has decided to divorce, the overseers should first explore the possibility of reconciliation. If the effort fails, overseers should encourage an equitable, non-adversarial separation, and seek to maintain the Meeting's connections with both individuals.
Differences If differences arise among members of the monthly meeting, members of the Committee of Overseers should take steps to provide a framework for reconciliation, perhaps seeking help from other Meeting members, from the quarterly meeting, Interim Meeting, or conflict resolution services within the yearly meeting. If all such endeavors fail to bring disputing members together to work out a resolution, and a third party would be helpful in resolving the dispute, overseers should endeavor to persuade the parties to find a mediator rather than go to court.
Members in material need Overseers, or a committee especially appointed for the purpose, should provide for those members in need of financial assistance. Meetings are advised to exercise tactful and watchful care in ascertaining and meeting those needs. Such care may involve aid in finding employment, in establishing eligibility for public income maintenance programs, in defraying the living expenses of individuals or of families, and in providing for the education of young people. Friends are urged to be open-hearted and liberal in providing funds for these purposes but are cautioned not to expose unnecessarily the names and conditions of the fellow members assisted.
Visiting in case of illness or other trouble Visiting the sick and extending sympathy and assistance to families in time of serious illness, bereavement, or other trouble are important services.
Funeral and memorial meetings Overseers assure that a memorial meeting or funeral is held upon the death of a member, and may offer to do so upon the death of a nonmember. (See Death & Bereavement and Memorial Meetings, pp. 58-59.)
Yearly meeting and other resources Overseers should know when and where to seek professional help in care and counseling, whether from services of the yearly meeting or from community agencies.
Responsibilities of overseers for the Meeting as a body of members include:
Inquirers The overseers should give information to persons interested in learning about the Religious Society of Friends. Attenders at meeting for worship should be given loving attention and invited to consider applying for membership when they become convinced of the principles of Friends. (See Membership, pp. 34-39.)
Application and transfer of membership: The Committee of Overseers should receive all letters of application for membership and all requests for transfer of membership to or from other Meetings within the Religious Society of Friends. Both new applications and transfers should receive careful consideration before being brought to the monthly meeting. (See details under Membership, pp. 39-40)
Membership list This committee should keep an accurate list, with addresses and telephone numbers, of all members of the monthly meeting. This list should be compared annually with the recorder's list, before the Checklist for Monthly Meetings (p. 190) is answered. Endeavor should be made to keep in touch with all members. Letters should be written to those who are nonresident to give them news of the Meeting and its activities and to let them know that the Meeting is interested in their welfare. When appropriate, such members should be urged to consider the advantages of transferring membership to a Meeting closer to their residence. A list of non-members who attend with some regularity should also be kept.
Delinquencies or lack of interest Members who neglect the obligations of membership should be cautioned by overseers in a loving spirit and with the hope of restoring their interest in the Meeting. If this proves unavailing, overseers should follow the guidance in the section on membership (pp. 41-43).
Religious Education
Religious education is a lifelong endeavor. It begins in the family, as parents take responsibility for the religious education of their children. Monthly meetings have a special responsibility to bring children under their care into full participation in the life of the Meeting and into an understanding of the beliefs and practices of Friends.
Meetings are expected to offer religious education programs for young and adult members and attenders, drawing on the many resources made available by the Religious Education Committee of yearly meeting, Friends General Conference, and others. A thriving First Day School has proven to be important to the life of many Meetings. Religious education programs can also include study groups, conferences, retreats, service projects, and libraries.
Outreach
By extending a welcome to people in the community and interpreting our faith to them, we practice a traditional form of Quaker ministry. In larger meetings, an Outreach Committee can assist the overseers in the care of seekers, attenders, and new members, helping to include them in the life of the Meeting and encouraging them to join in membership.
Peace and Social Justice
Meeting members may feel a responsibility to address a variety of issues in their community, state, nation, or world. Common ways of giving life to these leadings include:
- Planning and carrying out service projects as corporate activities of the Meeting.
- Maintaining a committee to address peace and social justice issues. This committee may recommend particular action to individuals and to the Meeting itself as a corporate body.
- Encouraging members to participate in the work for social change of larger Quaker groups or other bodies, or to independently pursue leadings to social actions consistent with Friends' testimonies. Members who appear to be moved by a genuine prompting of the Spirit may be supported in leadings that not all share.
- Supporting a member or members in seeking assent to a particular expression of social concern by a quarterly meeting or yearly meeting (see pp. 65-67).
- Contributing services or money to help free a member to pursue a social concern as a 'released Friend'.
Property and Finance
Monthly meetings may hold and maintain real property; hold and maintain trust funds; solicit, maintain, and disburse operating funds for their own purposes; and raise funds for a quarterly meeting, yearly meeting, and other such bodies as they may decide to support. These tasks and responsibilities are entrusted to a treasurer, trustees, and, if needed, committees charged with such functions as property maintenance, graveyard management, fundraising, and investment management. The books of those holding funds are audited at least annually, usually by a committee of Meeting members. For guidance in property matters, including an expression of Quaker attitudes toward the exercise of economic power, see pp. 80-81.
Records
A recorder keeps records of births, adoptions, deaths, marriages, divorces, and changes in membership (see pp. 35-43). The recorder, or another person or committee specially designated, periodically publishes a directory of members and persons associated with the Meeting.
Care should be taken that minutes of monthly meetings for worship and business, when approved, are recorded on acid-free paper, appropriately bound, held in safekeeping, and, when no longer required for current reference, deposited in one of the Friends' historical libraries at Swarthmore and Haverford Colleges. Records of other meeting bodies may be treated similarly, if desired.
Guidance of Meeting Affairs
The Clerk as Manager
The clerk conducts business sessions (see pp. 24-28) and, with the assistance of a secretary or assistant clerk, sees to the management in good order of the affairs of the Meeting. The clerk carries out the instructions of the Meeting on all matters pertaining to the accomplishment of its business. In addition, the clerk is often in the best position to identify weaknesses or failings in the committee structure and to initiate corrective action. The annual reporting process (see pp. 188-190) is supervised by the clerk and provides an occasion for assessment and correction as needed.
The Nominating Committee
Monthly meeting officers and committee members are given substantial autonomy within their areas of responsibility, so their wise selection is essential to the Meeting's welfare. The Nominating Committee bears the important responsibility of discerning the gifts of members, recommending the right people for these and other services to the Meeting, and seeing to their replacement at appropriate intervals by others equally well qualified. To provide for a broad sharing of the nominating functions, Meetings are encouraged to specify short terms for Nominating Committee members, and to choose an ad hoc "naming" committee to nominate people to the Nominating Committee. At a minimum, a Nominating Committee can offer:
- A procedure for the identification, recruitment, training, and rotation of clerks. The office of assistant clerk or recording clerk is often used as a training ground for clerks.
- A roster of officer positions and standing committees of the Meeting, with job descriptions and numbers of members in each committee.
- Where warranted, a plan for the staggering of terms and the regular rotation of members serving in various offices and committees.
- A reporting procedure which permits the Meeting to weigh nominations thoughtfully before final action.
Volunteers and paid staff
Friends have been reluctant to deviate from the tradition of volunteerism that has marked the Society from its beginnings. Volunteers, as they work together for the Meeting, often find their religious lives mutually strengthened, their sense of community deepened, and their commitment as members affirmed. These dividends of volunteerism diminish when volunteers find themselves overcommitted. Some Meetings have found themselves strengthened spiritually when they have employed staff to perform a few essential functions, such as child care, general secretarial work, and maintenance of buildings and grounds.
Annual or Biennial Checklist for Monthly Meetings
Friends have found that the regular consideration of these inquiries is helpful for maintaining good order as the Meeting community fulfills its responsibilities.
State of the Meeting
- Is the Meeting in a reasonable state of health, its problems manageable with its own resources? If not, has it considered calling on the quarterly or yearly meeting for assistance?
Committees
- Do committees have clear responsibilities assigned by the Meeting? Are they functioning in ways that meet the needs of the Meeting, and do they report regularly to the Meeting?
Economic Resources
- Are endowments and working capital invested in a socially responsible way? Does the Meeting employ the services of the Friends Fiduciary Corporation? Is the income of restricted endowments put to the uses specified or the concerns indicated by the donor?
- Is title to real property:
- held by the Meeting as a permanent corporate body, as recommended by the yearly meeting?
- held by the Friends Fiduciary Corporation? If so, is the Meeting aware of the potential inconveniences?
- held by trustees? If so, are the trustees all living and competent to serve?
- Are fire and liability insurance in good order?
- Is real property managed with care for nature's integrity? Are burial grounds simple in style and carefully maintained, with accurate records in the hands of a responsible committee?
- Are policies and practices for hiring and dismissal of employees consonant with Friends' belief? Do employees receive caring oversight and equitable compensation?
- Are patterns of spending and consumption socially and environmentally responsible?
Finance
- Does the monthly meeting have a long-term financial plan? Does it establish clear policies, through an annual budgetary process, for the raising, custody and spending of money?
- Are routine operating budgets financed by the living?
- Are the accounts of custodians of Meeting funds regularly audited, and reports made to the monthly meeting? Does the Meeting require bodies under its care to undergo regular audits and to send the auditors' reports to the Meeting?
- Have the Meeting's treasurer and Finance Committee observed all state and federal regulations governing the handling of their finances? Where there is doubt, has the yearly meeting or legal counsel been consulted?
- Is the burden for financial support spread equitably within the Meeting?
- Does the Meeting have a process for extending financial aid to members suffering as a result of a witness to Friends testimonies, or experiencing hard circumstances?
- What activities or programs strengthen the Meeting's ability to devote financial resources to good works?
Records
- Are official membership records in the hands of a competent recorder? Are they reviewed at least annually by overseers?
- Are informal records of members and attenders kept in a computer data base or data bases, from which can be drawn useful information for building the Meeting community, such as newsletter mailing labels, lists of children by age group, and telephone numbers?
- If the Meeting is incorporated, are its records maintained and its corporate procedures conducted in accordance with good practice and legal requirements?
- Are minutes of the monthly meeting and of significant committees accurately and neatly kept on acid-free paper and retired from time to time to a designated depository?
Quarterly (Regional) Meetings
Regional gatherings of Friends were first advocated by George Fox in 1666 when he also established monthly meetings, realizing that the Society of Friends had thus far been held together mainly by the leadership of a few traveling ministers. Groups of neighboring monthly meetings within Philadelphia Yearly Meeting have likewise felt strengthened by joining to form quarterly or half-yearly meetings. These bodies traditionally have met two to four times a year as occasions for Friends to encourage and strengthen one another through worship, and to deal with matters of regional concern. Today the importance of some of these gatherings has diminished, and their benefits are felt to be better supplied by the yearly meeting. Others have found new roles that have given them new vigor. Members of each regional meeting decide how often they will gather for worship, business, and mutual support.
Such a regional meeting is composed of all the members of its constituent monthly meetings. It may be established upon the initiative of the yearly meeting; or when the yearly meeting approves a request from one or more monthly meetings; or when a regional meeting wishes to divide. In all cases the yearly meeting should appoint a committee to be present and assist in the organization. With the consent of their constituent monthly meetings, two or more regional meetings may merge. (See p. 203)
Sessions of a quarterly meeting, thoughtfully planned, can provide religious fellowship, spiritual enrichment for Friends, and a forum for cooperation and exchange of information and ideas among the members of the constituent monthly meetings. Those gathered may develop plans to deal regionally with broader issues and special concerns and may also test concerns that a monthly meeting wishes to bring before the yearly meeting. Those named as monthly meeting representatives should be faithful in reporting to the members of their monthly meeting the proceedings of such gatherings.
Functions and Organization
of Quarterly Meetings
Some quarterly meetings within Philadelphia Yearly Meeting have substantial institutions under their care, are custodians of property, employ paid staff, and have active programs in matters of ministry and worship, peace and social concerns, and youth. These activities are usually overseen by committees whose members are nominated by constituent monthly meetings.
Quarterly meetings maintain a structure of administrative officers and committees. These include at a minimum a clerk, a recording clerk, and, when financial matters are addressed, a treasurer. There may be committees to assist the clerks, to plan gatherings, to conduct routine business between sessions, to prepare the annual budget, and to provide sensitive oversight of staff.
- A nominating committee nominates the officers as well as the quarterly meeting's appointees to the yearly meeting Nominating Committee (see p. 199). It oversees the process by which the quarterly meeting committee members are nominated by monthly meetings; or, where appropriate, it makes the nominations. A quarterly meeting should give periodic attention to the structure of its on-going bodies to assure that they are appropriately representative and suited to its needs. (For the roles of the Clerk and Recording Clerk, see pp. 24-28).
- The treasurer receives, holds, invests, and disburses the quarterly meeting's funds in accordance with that meeting's instructions. The treasurer receives the covenants from its constituent monthly meetings to provide for the quarterly meeting's expenses and to be used toward developing the income budget of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Auditors, appointed annually, should audit the treasurer's books, submit a written report to the quarterly meeting, and guide the treasurer as needed in good accounting practices.
- A committee on worship and ministry can enrich the lives of the members of the quarterly meeting. It may also respond sensitively when a monthly meeting is in need of special nurture.
- A committee focussing on peace and social concerns can enable members of different monthly meetings to coordinate more effectively their public witness or service.
- A committee concerned principally with activities may provide programs such as retreats, service projects, and workshops for adults and youth. In addition to its own resources and help from the yearly meeting, with monthly meeting consent this committee may employ staff to assist in giving vitality to its regular meetings and to the ongoing social and religious life and activities—especially of the younger members of its constituent monthly meetings.
- A quarterly meeting which has a school, health facility, or other institution under its care should appoint to the governing body members with dependable commitment and proven qualifications. The quarterly meeting should entrust operating responsibility to those appointed and seek through legal means to limit the Meeting's liability for their actions. It has the obligation to offer encouragement and spiritual nurture to the governing body and to intervene if the viability of the institution is in question. It should maintain a regular reporting process from the institution to the quarterly meeting that will promote diligence in management, good stewardship, and regular attention to maintaining the Quaker character of the institution in all aspects of its policies and operation.
- A property committee or trustees can assume responsibility for property such as meetinghouses or burial grounds under the care of the quarterly meeting.
Oversight and Assistance
Quarterly meetings may guide individual monthly meetings through transitional stages and on request provide assistance for specific need. When a monthly meeting faces difficult problems, needs encouragement, or wishes guidance in making decisions concerning membership, it may ask for the quarterly meeting's assistance; or the quarterly meeting may take the initiative in offering assistance. Interim Meeting may also be of assistance in such circumstances.
To assure such support, the quarterly meeting should establish its schedule of regular annual reports from each of its constituent monthly meetings as a means of constructive self-assessment. When a quarterly meeting for whatever reason cannot fulfill its functions of oversight or assistance, or is unable to receive and forward Meeting reports and funds, the condition should be reported to Interim Meeting for its advice and assistance.
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting was founded in 1681 to provide assistance and oversight for the monthly meetings then established or in prospect in the middle Atlantic colonies. In its early years it was called the "General Yearly Meeting for Friends of Pennsylvania, East and West Jersey and of the Adjacent Provinces." Its geographical boundaries today are more limited but no more precise. They are the unplanned result of a series of affiliation decisions by monthly meetings in the border areas. From 1827, when the yearly meeting split, to 1955, when the branches reunited, two yearly meetings functioned in the same general geographic area and each called itself Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
Annual Sessions
All members of its constitutent monthly meetings are members of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends and should feel under the weight of duty to attend the annual sessions and participate in its deliberations and decisions. In meeting for worship for business and other forums, members come together in annual or special sessions for assessment of the life of the Society, the conduct of business, spiritual refreshment and commitment, and the renewal of the bonds of friendship.
Monthly meetings appoint two or more representatives, to assure both a large pool of wisdom and insight at each session and full and careful reports of these sessions to their home Meetings. Members of other yearly meetings and other interested persons are welcome to attend; but decisions should be made, under divine guidance, by the members present. Continuity of attendance is of great value.
The annual sessions may change in format or emphasis from year to year. They are occasions for sharing information and concerns from individual members, constituent meetings, yearly meeting committees, and other Friends' groups, or organizations in sympathy with Friends. Some messages are in the form of epistles from other yearly meetings, to which it is customary to reply with an epistle approved near the close of the sessions.
Information, insight, and concern are received in a worshipful spirit and often evoke deeply felt responses. The yearly meeting may be led to unite in an expression of concern or in a decision for specific action. Since such expressions or actions speak for the entire membership, responsible bodies should carefully review in advance any concerns or proposals for action which are to come before the annual or special session.
Annual sessions can also play a role in the chain of assessment and oversight through the reception of and response to the annual reports of the quarterly meetings and Interim Meeting.
An annual session may have before it many actions to consider or few, but each year one of the weightiest is the budget. Budgetary proposals are given wide circulation well in advance of the annual session, with ample opportunity for comment. The discussion of the budget is most useful when it explores the spiritual and testimonial implications of budgetary decisions and elicits and weighs ideas that will influence future budgets.
The yearly meeting in annual session appoints clerks for terms of one year. In addition to a presiding clerk, these may include alternate clerks and recording clerk(s). It also appoints a treasurer and assistant treasurer for terms of three years, as well as the holders of such other offices as it may create. It establishes, funds, oversees and lays down standing and ad hoc committees and working groups; and it appoints or provides for the appointment of their members.
The yearly meeting in annual session is supported by a committee to plan a proposed agenda and schedule, and by committees to make arrangements that will contribute to the care of those in attendance. During the sessions the clerk and alternate clerk are supported by a committee to assist the clerk chosen by the clerk.
The Yearly Meeting Between Sessions: Interim Meeting
History of Interim Meeting
In the year 1756 the Meeting for Sufferings was established in Philadelphia to represent Philadelphia Yearly Meeting between sessions and to carry out its work. It consisted originally of twelve Friends appointed at large by the yearly meeting and four Friends from each quarterly meeting. It was in every sense a Select Meeting. In the course of time the name was changed to Representative Meeting, and in the 1970s it was decided that attendance at the sessions would be open. In 1996 the name was changed to Interim Meeting.
Any significant change in the makeup and function of Interim Meeting is the sole responsibility of the yearly meeting in session.
Interim Meeting membership
The number, selection, and terms of service of members of Interim Meeting are from time to time reviewed and determined by the yearly meeting upon recommendation from Interim Meeting.
Participation in the sessions of Interim Meeting
Friends gather in worship at Interim Meeting just as they do at their quarterly or yearly meeting, not as instructed delegates but as individuals guided by the Spirit at that time and place. Interim Meeting is representative of the yearly meeting in annual session; it is not a gathering of representatives of constituent bodies. In any representative body members will, nevertheless, experience the tensions that are implicit among the dictates of individual conscience, the desires of the bodies that appointed them, and the best interests of the whole.
The designation of individuals as members encourages both continuity of attendance and seasoned judgment. Continuity of attendance is imperative for satisfactory communication between the Interim Meeting and monthly or quarterly meetings and their members. Information and understanding must constantly flow into and out of Interim Meeting so that policies and decisions may be made with widespread help and be widely understood and implemented when made.
Interim Meeting has adopted these queries to guide its members:
- As part of Interim Meeting in a worshiping community, am I faithful to the responsibility of seeking God's will in carrying out the business of our yearly meeting? Do our practices provide us with spiritual refreshment? In what ways do I contribute to this?
- Am I faithful in sharing the decisions reached by Interim Meeting with my monthly meeting, including all information appropriate to the understanding of those decisions? Do I share other reports and information about events?
- Do I participate in a way that helps the clerk accomplish the agenda of the meeting?
- Am I careful not to speak too easily or too often, careful to discern whether my speaking is rightly ordered?
- Am I careful to listen to the Spirit as it is reflected in the contributions of others as well as within myself?
- If I am not in agreement with the discussion, do I strive to present alternatives in a way that both helps others understand my concerns and maintains the spirit of worship?
- Do I assist the clerk by remaining focused on the agenda item under discussion? Do I hold the clerk in the Light, especially when there are tensions in the decision-making process?
Functions and responsibilities of Interim Meeting
Interim Meeting acts for the yearly meeting when the yearly meeting is not in session and ensures that the work and witness of yearly meeting are carried forward in the spirit of yearly meeting in session. It reports annually to that body.
The yearly meeting has delegated the following duties to Interim Meeting:
- Accepting responsibility for those concerns specifically referred by yearly meeting in session.
- Providing general oversight and coordination of the work of the committees of the yearly meeting and of other groups of Friends acting under leading with yearly meeting approval.
- Representing the yearly meeting and appearing in its behalf whenever the cause of truth, public welfare, or the interest and reputation of the Society of Friends may require.
- Providing for widespread consultation and discussion on matters of major import to the Society of Friends.
- Providing for the printing and distribution of literature that will extend the knowledge of Friends' faith and practice, and reviewing both communications and publications specifically issued in the name of the yearly meeting.
- Providing advice and assistance to monthly or quarterly meetings, upon their request, in the administration of property and trust funds, or in dealing with difficult situations.
- Providing advice and assistance for any persons suffering because of adherence to Friends' testimonies.
- Receiving and endorsing minutes of Friends traveling in the ministry or under other circumstances related to Friends' concerns.
- Establishing contact with other Quaker bodies and other religious organizations on matters of common concern.
- Designating the duties and responsibilities of the treasurer and assistant treasurer of the yearly meeting.
- Appointing the general secretary and associate secretaries of the yearly meeting, designating their duties and responsibilities; and providing for each oversight, support, and regular evaluation of performance.
Interim Meeting appoints, customarily for one year, its clerk and such officers as it finds necessary, and designates their duties and responsibilities. The clerk shall not be concurrently the clerk of yearly meeting.
Experience has shown that eight sessions a year are usually necessary to perform the duties of Interim Meeting. Its clerk may call special sessions as needed.
When need arises, Interim Meeting may ask the clerk of yearly meeting to call special sessions of the yearly meeting. When vacancies occur among the officers of the yearly meeting, Interim Meeting makes interim appointments.
Interim Meeting may not make any changes in Faith and Practice, issue any statement of faith, or act upon any matters specifically reserved for the yearly meeting. It should advise the yearly meeting when a revision of the text of Faith and Practice is indicated.
Any significant change in the makeup and function of Interim Meeting is the sole responsibility of the yearly meeting in session.
The Yearly Meeting Between Sessions: Committees of the Yearly Meeting
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM) is empowered to appoint, fund, oversee, and require regular reports from its five standing committees and these, in turn, have authority to create, oversee, and lay down services and projects in program areas assigned to them by PYM. This authority is subject to budgeting and program direction from Interim Meeting or PYM in session. In addition, each standing committee oversees representatives to those external organizations and granting groups which PYM has assigned to that specific committee.
The principal functions of the standing committees are as follows:
- Education—review, guide and support the religious and academic education of young people and those who serve them within PYM. This committee thus oversees such activities as curriculum development for First Day Schools, non-violence and children's projects, and also support for Friends Schools and for Friends in public education.
- General Services—provide oversight for the various elements of administration that enable PYM to pursue its ministry. These elements include finance, personnel and office services, coordination of granting groups, conference management, and property management.
- Peace and Concerns—select, enable and monitor projects that implement Friends testimonies both locally and in the wider world, in order thereby to help bring about a more just and peaceful world. Such projects arise from the leadings of individual Friends who find support within their monthly meetings or from a group of Friends, including established working groups.
- Support and Outreach—provide essential services that will strengthen monthly meetings as fundamental units within PYM. Such services include the PYM library, publications, support for monthly meetings in their outreach efforts, and support for regional coordinators.
- Worship and Care—support and encourage members and meetings in enhancing their temporal and spiritual lives. The committee has oversight of various groups and projects dealing with spiritual enrichment and pastoral care such as aging concerns spiritual formations and adult religious education.
Worship and ministry are essential to the life of the Religious Society of Friends. In recognition of this fact, the Meeting on Worship and Ministry of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is specifically charged with the responsibility of nurturing the quality of worship, ministry, and spiritual life throughout the yearly meeting. Annual sessions of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting have traditionally opened with consideration of matters laid before it by the Meeting on Worship and Ministry.
Prior to the restructuring of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in 1998, this group was known as the Committee on Worship and Ministry, and was itself a standing committee. Under the new structure, the Meeting on Worship and Ministry continues to perform these functions under the aegis of the Worship and Care Standing Committee.
Members for the five standing committees are proposed by the Nominating Committee and approved by Interim Meeting or PYM in session. Determination of how members of a working group are selected is the responsibility of its standing committee. The standing committee may request the assistance of PYM's Nominating Committee or delegate the responsibility to the working group itself when that seems to be suitable. However, members of groups that make monetary grants must be selected by the standing committee and their names reported to Interim Meeting.
Nominating Committee
The Nominating Committee presents to the annual sessions nominations for the following yearly meeting positions:
- Clerks of the yearly meeting, for terms of one year. These include alternate clerk(s) and recording clerks in addition to the presiding clerk.
- Treasurer for a term of three years, but not serving more than 4 terms; and an assistant treasurer as needed.
- Such other officers as the yearly meeting may direct.
The Nominating Committee presents either to the annual sessions or to Interim Meeting nominations of the following:
- Persons to serve on the five yearly meeting standing committees, on the Financial Stewardship Committee, and on other bodies as directed by the yearly meeting.
- Persons to represent the yearly meeting at other gatherings and organizations that are consonant with Friends' practices and beliefs.
The Nominating Committee also prepares a list of nominees to the Friends Fiduciary Corporation from which it appoints its members according to its by-laws.
Financial Stewardship Committee
The Financial Stewardship Committee is charged with preparing the PYM budget. The process of budget development includes gathering funding requests from the standing committees as well as the perceptions of monthly and quarterly meetings regarding the relative value of the various yearly meeting projects and services. The committee is made up of a representative from each of the standing committees and five to nine at-large members appointed by PYM through its nominating committee.
Friends Fiduciary Corporation
This corporation is a tax-exempt, church-related, legally separate, Pennsylvania non-profit corporation whose sole mission is to provide services for Friends meetings, schools and other Friends organizations. Its main service, acting as either agent or trustee, is to provide discretionary investment of the funds placed in its care. Friends Fiduciary also holds "bare" legal title of real estate, where necessary, on behalf of some unincorporated Meetings, schools and burial grounds.
The corporation appoints the members of its board from a list of nominees presented by the Nominating Committee of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
Meetings: Growth and Changes in Formal Relationships
Worship Groups
When a group of people have been drawn to Friends worship and testimonies but find no organized Meeting nearby with whom to worship, they may form a Friends' worship group. The worship group can be as formal or as informal as is desired and can assume as little or as much structure as it feels is rightly ordered. It may not, however, present itself as an official body of the Religious Society of Friends or act in its name.
A facilitator or correspondent may help by maintaining contact among the worshipers, arranging for the time and place for worship sessions, and issuing whatever publicity the group may wish. Such leadership is especially helpful when a group draws its members from scattered communities, experiences a lull in its activities, or decides to broaden its activities and relationships.
Some Friends' worship groups fulfill their purposes by remaining in a temporary state, meeting seasonally or only briefly. Those that have achieved some permanence may choose whether to remain informal or to seek a formal relationship with the Society of Friends.
The latter choice requires individuals to decide whether to apply for membership in the Society of Friends or, for those already members, to apply for a transfer of membership. For the group, the issue, decided in consultation with the regional meeting within which they reside and with neighboring monthly meetings as appropriate, is whether to apply to the regional meeting for status as a preparative meeting or as a monthly meeting.
Preparative Meetings
Status as a preparative meeting serves as an intermediate step between that of a worship group and an established monthly meeting. It also serves the needs of a group wishing to have membership in the Religious Society of Friends but not ready to assume the full responsibilities of a monthly meeting.
A preparative meeting is a Meeting under the care of a monthly meeting, reporting regularly to it, yet holding its own meetings for worship and having its own officers and meetings for business. Insofar as it wishes, it may have its own committees and financial structure and its own programs and activities, including the holding of memorial meetings or funerals. It may own property and trust funds. A preparative meeting may not admit members or conduct marriages under its care or in other ways act as an established monthly meeting.
When a monthly meeting, with quarterly meeting approval, accepts the request of a worship group for status as a preparative meeting of that monthly meeting, it enrolls as its members those individuals in the group who apply and are accepted. Thereby the monthly meeting affirms its role as nurturer of these additional members and of this new Meeting and appoints a committee of oversight composed of Friends experienced in worship and business after the manner of Friends. The monthly meeting should promptly inform the yearly meeting of this change in status and of the names of the members involved.
Given that there may well be experienced Friends and different but valid customs in the new preparative meeting, an established Meeting has much to learn as well as to offer when called upon to assist a worship group. A tender and sensitive spirit must prevail in this process and consultations should be grounded in worship.
Changes in Established Meetings
Monthly Meetings
When members of a worship group or of a preparative meeting wish to form a monthly meeting, they should first consult with the appropriate monthly meeting and the regional meeting. If it is evident that the group is fully aware of the responsibilities of an established monthly meeting (see pp. 177-190), a formal minute should be prepared and forwarded to the monthly meeting. If the monthly meeting approves this minute, it is forwarded to the regional meeting. When the regional meeting gives approval, it appoints a committee of oversight to assist in matters of membership and responsibilites for finance and property. The regional meeting should also inform the yearly meeting of such a change in status along with the names of the members involved.
A large established monthly meeting, in order better to meet members' needs, may wish to divide; or a Meeting, feeling itself to be too small to fulfill its various obligations of property, finance, and spiritual nurture, may wish to become a preparative meeting of another Meeting or to merge with it. The Meetings involved should minute their intentions and seek the approval of the regional meeting. If the proposal is approved, the yearly meeting should receive prompt notice of the change and of the names of the members involved.
Quarterly (Regional) Meetings
For reasons such as convenience of attendance, a monthly meeting may request transfer of affiliation from one quarterly (or regional) meeting to another. The parties involved should consult carefully and, if the change is approved by all concerned, the matter should be reported to the yearly meeting or Interim Meeting for its approval.
Similar consultation and discernment should occur when one or more monthly meetings wish to form a new regional meeting; or when a large regional meeting feels it right to divide; or when smaller regional meetings wish to join into one. In such cases a committee from the yearly meeting or Interim Meeting should be party to the discussions and assist as needed. Final approval rests with the yearly meeting or Interim Meeting.
Whenever Meetings Merge
When any merger of Meetings occurs, all property both real and fiscal of the bodies involved becomes the property of the newly established body. Meetings are cautioned to prepare proper minutes to take care of all legal matters involved in the merger.
Whenever Meetings are Discontinued
If the members of a Meeting believe it desirable either to lay it down or to unite with another Meeting, they should make their request to the regional meeting to which they regularly report. If approval is granted, this regional meeting should appoint a committee to assist in making the necessary arrangements. In the case of the closing of a monthly meeting, this committee should arrange for the transfer of individual memberships to another Meeting. Notification of such action should be forwarded promptly to the yearly meeting.
In the case of the laying down of a preparative, monthly, or regional meeting, all rights and responsibilities of property vested in it and all responsibility for records shall be transferred to the larger meeting of which it has been a part.
Revising Faith and Practice
A regular review of Faith and Practice should be undertaken to keep our statements on faith and practice in step with changes both in understanding our call to obedience to the Light and in our procedures for such matters as marriage and membership.
Revisions should not be undertaken lightly nor under pressure from groups eager to press their special concerns. Major revision should be initiated only by action of the yearly meeting in session, usually upon recommendation of Interim Meeting. Such revision places heavy demands upon those individuals so entrusted, and careful consideration should be given to their selection, to the expected extent and process of the revision, and to the staff and financial support required.
Minor changes, especially in matters of procedure, may originate at any level. Such experiments are to be encouraged, but should be laid before Interim Meeting prior to consideration by the yearly meeting in session.
Any proposed revisions should be widely circulated and discussed prior to formal acceptance and publication by the yearly meeting. To assure full opportunity for responsible consideration by the membership, all changes in Faith and Practice laid before the yearly meeting in annual session for preliminary reading may not be finally accepted until a year later.
