Faith & Practice Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends A Book of Christian Discipline Adopted 1955 Revised 1972 Reprinted with limited editorial changes 1978 Revised 1997 Revised 2002 Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Fifteenth and Cherry Streets Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102-1479 ISBN 0-941308-08-1 Contents Foreword Preface Historical Introduction 1 Beginnings 1 Consolidation & Withdrawal 5 Schism and Reform 6 Reconciliation 9 Unity Amidst Diversity 11 Friends Beliefs and Practices 16 The Light Within 16 Worship and Meeting for Worship 17 Decision-making 21 The Good Order Used Among Us 26 Committees for Clearness 29 Friends and the Bible 30 Prayer 31 Friends and the Sacraments 32 Our Meeting Community 34 Membership 34 Friends and Education 43 Quaker Marriage Procedure 47 Intervisitation 56 Death and Bereavement 58 Funds, Property, Burial Grounds 60 Opportunities for Wider Religious Fellowship and Action 63 Applications of Friends Testimonies 65 Concerns, Leadings and Testimonies 65 Living with Ourselves and Others 68 Living in the World 74 Extracts from the Writings of Friends 82 Advices 82 Belief 86 Worship 100 Experience 129 Concerns, Leadings, Testimonies 145 Structures in our Yearly Meeting 175 Monthly Meetings 177 Annual or Biennial Checklist for Monthly Meetings 189 Quarterly (Regional) Meetings 191 Philadelphia Yearly Meeting 193 Friends Fiduciary Corporation 200 Meetings: Growth and Changes in Formal Relationships 201 Changes in Established Meetings 202 Revising Faith and Practice 204 Queries 205 Glossary 215 Sources of Extracts 222 Biographical Notes of Authors 232 Index 256 Foreward As Friends use this Faith and Practice, we should heed the admonition stemming from the Meeting of Elders held at Balby, England in 1656: Dearly beloved Friends, these things we do not lay upon you as a rule or form to walk by, but that all with the measure of the light which is pure and holy may be guided, and so in the light walking and abiding, these may be fulfilled in the Spirit, -not from the letter, for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. This edition of Faith and Practice of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends is intended to be a guide for our members and all those who seek to understand in greater detail the ways we endeavor to apply our fundamental affirmations. Early Friends proclaimed that from the beginning every person has been endowed with the capacity to enter directly, without mediator or mediation, into an empowering holy communion with God. They rejected, therefore, the assumption that this communion, which is essential to spiritual health, occurs primarily in the presence of designated persons in an established religious institution using sacred language and rituals. Friends, both in individual worship and in meetings for worship and for business, continue to experience the presence of the living God not only as awe and healing but also as guidance for conduct. Like the prophets of Israel they proclaim the unity of religious faith and social justice. The Religious Society of Friends continues to affirm that refreshment of spirit and the ability both to know and do right come when families and individuals, in daily life and in meeting, trust in the Light that enlightens and empowers everyone who comes into the world. Preface What is presented herein represents the labor of nearly a decade by almost a score of committee members and by many, many members of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in their home Meetings and in sessions of yearly meeting. Of importance has been the recognition that formerly latent differences among yearly meeting members have become explicit and vigorous. During the decades in which the two Philadelphia Yearly Meetings were preparing for and consummating reunion, Friends remembered that the separation of 1828 seemed to have arisen over theological words and phrases and were wary of using such terms for fear of renewing the schism. In recent years that worry has faded and there is more outspoken diversity of expression among us. It has also become clear that Friends sometimes find clarity of communication difficult because of the lack of a commonly understood religious vocabulary, as members from many different religious backgrounds and experience have joined the Society of Friends. From the beginning it was determined by those entrusted with the task of revising the 1972 Faith and Practice that more was expected than to update that version. As a matter of policy, sexist language has been removed except in direct quotations. We have returned to the understanding of early Friends that Faith and Practice, as a whole and as a book of discipline, comprises advices regarding the 'good order used among us' which have been confirmed by experience. Still, we have included-at the beginning of the section of quotations-the extracts from Epistles of the Yearly Meeting of Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, 1694 and 1695, which many Friends find especially helpful, and which appeared in the 1972 edition under the heading Advices. In conclusion, we have tried to respect the deeply felt leadings of sometimes diverse groups and of individual Friends without attempting to represent them in detail. The quotations section, extracts from the works of Friends past and present, is intended to reflect more directly the richness of our diversity. Historical Introduction Commitment to a life of obedience to the Spirit has been of essential importance to Friends both as individuals and as Meetings. This commitment has led us to support much that is creative in public life, education, business, and concern for the oppressed. It also has led us to oppose practices and institutions that result in violence and exploitation in the world around us. Our history, however, demonstrates that our discernment has not always been complete: we have not always been united in our perceptions of what obedience to the Spirit requires, and we have fallen into conflict and misunderstanding even among ourselves. Yet out of such conflicts, painful as they have been, have come greater clarity of commitment and unity in witness. The following account divides our history into five periods, from the origins of Quakerism in England to recent developments within Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. I Beginnings 1652-1689 The Religious Society of Friends arose in England in the middle of the seventeenth century. This was a time of turbulence and change in both religion and politics. In the established Church of England, great emphasis was placed upon outward ceremony; there, and in such dissenting churches as the Baptists and Presbyterians, religious faith was also generally identified with the authority of the Bible or the acceptance of a formal creed. Many individuals, however, became increasingly dissatisfied with ceremonies and creeds, and broke away from these churches. Singly or in small groups, they turned inward in search of a religion of personal experience and direct communion with God. George Fox (1624 - 1691) was one of these seekers. Even as a child, he was serious and thoughtful, often pondering the Scriptures and engaging in solitary reflection. At age nineteen, after being urged to engage in conduct that violated his religious scruples, he decided to leave home in order to seek spiritual direction. For four years he wandered through the English midlands and as far south as London. Though he consulted various ministers and professors (that is, professing Christians), none could give rest to his troubled soul. Finally, as he recorded in his Journal, ...when all my hopes in [Christian ministers and professors] and in all men was gone, so that I had nothing outwardly to help me, nor could tell what to do, then, Oh! then, I heard a voice which said, "There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition," and when I heard it, my heart did leap for joy. ...My desires after the Lord grew stronger, and zeal in the pure knowledge of God and of Christ alone, without the help of any man, book, or writing. And so, in 1647, at the age of twenty-three, George Fox began to preach. His basic message was simple enough: first, that his own dramatic and life-changing experience of a direct, unmediated revelation from God confirmed the possibility of a religion of personal experience and direct communion with God, a religion of continuing revelation instead of a closed, written canon; and second, that this same possibility was available to every person. Fox's message, combined with his charismatic personality, soon attracted a small group of women and men who joined him in spreading the "good news" that "Christ has come to teach His people himself." These first "publishers of Truth" believed the good news to be a revival of primitive Christianity rather than a new gospel. Gradually, Fox and his associates began to enlist others in this revival; and in 1652, Fox persuaded many of the Westmorland Seekers, a numerous and already well-established religious movement, to become Friends (or Friends of Truth), as his followers called themselves, or Quakers, as they came to be called by others. Also in 1652, with the permission of Judge Fell, Fox and Margaret Fell turned Swarthmoor Hall, the Fells' home, into the headquarters for the infant Religious Society of Friends. These two events-the absorption of the Westmorland Seekers into the Quaker movement, and the establishment of a home base-warrant the choice of 1652 as the birth-time of the Religious Society of Friends. While many religious dissenters who welcomed Fox's message of direct communion and continuing revelation became Friends, those persons who were committed to the Church of England or to other churches regarded his message as unwelcome, heretical, and treasonable. It was unwelcome, since Fox and some of his followers often invaded and disrupted the church services of others. It was heretical, since the idea of continuing revelation displaced the church and even the Scriptures as finally authoritative. It was treasonable, since those who embraced this idea also refused to acknowledge the authority of the state (with its established church) as taking precedence over the authority of individual conscience, and consequently refused to take any oath of allegiance to the state and to pay tithes towards the maintenance of the Anglican Church. Accordingly, the meetings of early Quakers were frequently disrupted by angry mobs, their meetinghouses were vandalized and burned, and they were themselves subjected to imprisonment and cruel treatment by officials of the state. Such persecution continued until 1689 and the so-called Glorious Revolution, when a Toleration Act was adopted that gave legal sanction to the principle of religious liberty. (Some restrictions on rights continued, however, into the 19th century.) Yet, like the early Christian church, the Quaker movement gained more adherents despite-or because of-the persecution. Some historians claim that the Quakers constituted ten percent of the British population by the end of the seventeenth century. This combination of persecution and expansion yielded several important consequences. First, the Quakers' sense of themselves as a distinct people with a divine mission became stronger. Their refusal to take oaths under any circumstances, to serve in the army, to take off their hats to persons in authority, to use formal speech (the plural "you" when speaking to one's so-called betters), and to dress like the "world's people" all date from this period. Unlike other dissenters, they insisted on holding their meetings publicly in spite of persecution, and thus began earning their reputation for scrupulous honesty. (The fact that Quaker merchants adopted a fixed price system significantly enhanced this reputation.) Second, though unwilling to formulate any explicit creed or profession of faith, the early Friends were more than willing to engage in religious controversy and to defend their basic beliefs. Thus began the publication of numerous books and tracts intended to explain and justify Quaker principles. Undoubtedly, Robert Barclay's Apology (first published in Latin in 1676 and then in English in 1678) was the most theologically sophisticated of these books. Both Margaret Fell and George Fox wrote pamphlets defending a woman's right to preach and prophesy, one of the more controversial of basic Quaker beliefs. Third, the early Friends realized that their movement required at least some kind of institutional structure: to provide material assistance and emotional support for those being persecuted, and also to nurture and discipline the individual and group life of its adherents. Thus was initiated, at Fox's urging, the bottom-up system of monthly, quarterly, and yearly meetings. Though this system has often seemed undisciplined to non-Friends, it has given stability and continuity to our Religious Society. Separate men's and women's meetings for business were established as another institutional innovation. The latter afforded opportunities for women to exercise administrative and decision-making skills that were not generally available to them in the larger society. During this initial period of Quakerism, Friends were not only engaged in sharing their "good news" with others in England. They also went to countries on the continent of Europe and in the Near East. Mary Fisher, for instance, was one of six Friends who undertook a mission to Turkey, but was the only one to be received by the Sultan in 1658. Of particular importance were the missions to the British colonies in North America and the West Indies. And under the leadership of William Penn (1644 - 1718), Quaker colonies were established in West Jersey and Pennsylvania. Friends first came to New England as early as 1656, just four years after the birth of their religious society. In Massachusetts, the Quaker missionaries were imprisoned, tortured and expelled; four of them were put to death between 1659 and 1661, including Mary Dyer, whose statue is near the entrance of Friends Center at 1515 Cherry St. in Philadelphia. In the more tolerant Rhode Island, however, they were not only permitted to proselytize but also to settle. Meetings for worship were soon formed, and the first yearly meeting to be established was held in 1661, though meetings for business were apparently not held until some ten years later. Quakers began to settle in the Delaware Valley in 1675, following the purchase of land near the present city of Burlington, New (then West) Jersey by two Friends. In 1681, Charles II repaid a sizable debt to the estate of William Penn's father by granting to Penn the land to the west of the Delaware River. The King named this land Pennsylvania in honor of Admiral Penn. William Penn intended to establish there a veritable "holy experiment"-an enlightened proprietorship based on New Testament principles and with liberty of conscience guaranteed. Unfortunately, Penn's tenure as proprietor of his colony was frequently marked by conflict, and things only worsened when his sons came to power. Perhaps the most lasting vestige of Penn's "holy experiment" is a form of creative tension. Penn's political practice was by no means consistent with his theory, nor was his theory of governance adequately developed. Then as now, the tension between practice and theory, social engagement and mystical illumination, yielded as much heat as light. And yet the underlying principles of Penn's vision are as pertinent as ever: participatory decision making, religious liberty, justice as fair dealing with one's neighbors (the Native Americans, for instance), non-violent resistance rather than military defense, and the abolition of oaths. II. Consolidation & Withdrawal 1689-Circa 1800 Quakers continued to be maligned and occasionally persecuted, even after the adoption of the Toleration Act by the English Parliament in 1689. But for the most part, Quakers were left alone. Perhaps ironically, their enthusiasm-or in other words, missionary zeal-diminished almost as soon as they won toleration; and the maintaining of discipline among a "peculiar people" tended to replace the expansive evangelism of the early years. What had once been a glorious and creative movement now took on the characteristics of a closed sect. By 1720, the Quakers had become a minority of the population of Pennsylvania, but they retained political control of the colony until 1755 when, at the onset of the French and Indian Wars, most Friends gave up their seats in the Assembly rather than vote war measures. There was, during this period, a kind of "interlocking directorate" of the political leaders of Pennsylvania and the leading figures within Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Nevertheless, Quakers throughout the eighteenth century tended more and more to withdraw from active public life; increasingly, they sought to deepen their own spiritual lives and to hedge their Society about with distinctive rules and customs. But there were some, Betsy Ross for instance, who chose actively to support the American cause during the revolution and who formed a movement called the Free Quakers; others sought to avoid the conflict by moving to Canada; and a few Quaker leaders were exiled to Virginia. During this period yearly meetings established requirements for membership and adopted, then frequently revised, Books of Discipline, which were intended to define more precisely the code of Quaker conduct and to prescribe the means of enforcing this code on members. For instance, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting's 1704 Book of Discipline included a provision discouraging the marriage of Friends to non-Friends; its 1712 Discipline recommended disownment (that is, expulsion) of members who married "out of meeting"; and its 1722 Discipline required immediate disownment for this conduct. Such policies obviously enhanced the exclusivity of the Religious Society of Friends, as did the Queries and Advices formulated in order to increase Friends' mindfulness of their distinctive code of conduct. But this period of consolidation was also a period of creativity. Even as Friends turned their energies from worldly matters, and particularly as they withdrew from governing Pennsylvania in 1755, they clarified and refined the testimonies for which Friends are known today. For instance, they became more deeply involved as leaders in the movement to abolish slavery and to achieve racial justice; they expressed concern for the treatment of prisoners; they established a number of philanthropies benefitting Native Americans; and they opposed the payment of taxes for war purposes and adhered generally to the principle of nonviolence. An unprecedented number of reforming ministers arose at this time and traveled widely in the ministry, combining an effort to improve the discipline and to perfect the setting up of meetings, to preach against slavery and other social evils, and to hold public meetings in which they preached to the general public, just as their spiritual ancestors had done a century earlier. One such minister was John Woolman (1720 - 1772), who exemplified what a Quaker life could be when governed by the testimonies of Friends. His untiring efforts to eliminate the holding of slaves, to improve the treatment of Native Americans, and to end economic exploitation gave substance to the Quaker testimony on equality; and his choice of a way of life "free from much Entanglement and the Desire of outward Greatness," as he records in his Journal, likewise demonstrated the practical import of the Quaker testimony on simplicity. Though he directed his energies primarily to reform within the Religious Society of Friends, his work and his public writings were also clearly intended to influence the practice of the larger society. III. Schism and Reform Circa 1800-1900 Even before the opening of the nineteenth century, American Friends exhibited two divergent tendencies: on the one hand, an emphasis on continuing revelation; on the other, an emphasis on the Christian origins of Quakerism and the authority of the Bible. For instance, in the 1690s George Keith formed a separatist movement called the Christian Quakers which strongly emphasized the life and teachings of the historical Jesus. Keith-one of the earliest and most effective "publishers of Truth"-had emigrated to East Jersey in 1685, and then to Philadelphia in 1689, where he became the first headmaster of the Quaker school from which both Friends Select and William Penn Charter claim descent. Though previously he had written some thirty books and tracts defending basic Quaker beliefs, he had increasing doubts about those beliefs and also about the structure of governance within monthly meetings. Accordingly, he began a campaign to establish deacons and elders as the guardians of the theological views of those who spoke in meetings for worship. He also proposed that all members be required to affirm a confession of faith or creed. After being rebuffed by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (and then by London Yearly Meeting as well), he established the Christian Quakers, with some fifteen monthly meetings. This movement did not last very long; by 1700 it had all but disappeared, and Keith himself had returned to England and joined the Anglican Church. But it clearly anticipates one of the tendencies of American Friends in the nineteenth century, which has been labeled (or perhaps, mislabeled) the evangelical. The other nineteenth-century tendency continued to emphasize the Inward Light, or immediate and continuing revelation, as the primary basis for religious faith and practice. The most eloquent and charismatic leader of this movement was Elias Hicks (1748 - 1830), a Quaker farmer from Long Island. Hicks personally believed in the divinity of Jesus Christ, but emphasized the primacy of the Inner Light, and deplored creedal statements. He urged Friends to live apart from the world, he opposed public education, he opposed the construction of the Erie Canal and a system of railroads. But he was a strong abolitionist, and criticized those Friends who used any products of slave labor. His opposition to the wealth and power of city Friends in such centers as Philadelphia drew support from many, though some leading Philadelphia Quakers believed that his remarks were intended to undermine their authority. Hicks became a catalyst for existing differences among members of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Finally, in 1827 there was a formal schism within Philadelphia Yearly Meeting into "Orthodox" and "Hicksite" branches. Economic, geographic, kinship, and governance considerations were involved, in addition to theological differences. Many Orthodox Friends emphasized the importance of establishing a personal relationship with the bibilical Christ; some evidenced the influence of John and Charles Wesley, founders of the Methodist movement. Those who generally sympathized with the religious teachings of Elias Hicks became the Hicksite Yearly Meeting. Many Hicksite Friends believed that experience of the Inward Christ was more important than understanding the biblical Christ. Orthodox Friends in Philadelphia met at the 4th and Arch Streets meetinghouse, while Philadelphia Hicksite Friends built a meetinghouse at 15th and Race Streets. To confuse matters further, each group continued to refer to itself as Philadelphia Yearly Meeting: that is, each assumed that it alone represented the authentic Quaker perspective and practice. Orthodox Friends were dominant in the city of Philadelphia; and Hicksite Friends, elsewhere in the region previously under the jurisdiction of a single Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. This split was soon followed by similar schisms in Baltimore, New York, New England, Ohio, and Indiana Yearly Meetings. Further schisms occurred subsequently, occasioned by disagreements among Friends regarding faith and practice, but clearly exacerbated by the strong personalities of the principal controversialists. An English Friend, Joseph John Gurney (1788 - 1847), brother of Elizabeth Fry, who was a well-known advocate of prison reform, also took an evangelical position, emphasizing the Bible and playing down the Inward Light. His teachings influenced the Orthodox Friends in America, and some of his followers in England separated from London Yearly Meeting in 1835. John Wilbur (1774 - 1856) attempted to establish a position that would reconcile differences-that is, he stressed Orthodox Quaker views but also acknowledged the importance of the Inward Light; some of his followers formed another separatist movement among Friends in 1845. Still, it was the basic schism between Orthodox and Hicksite Friends that largely defined Quaker experience in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting for the remainder of the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth century. (Precisely because this schism defined the Quaker experience in America for such a long time, no definitive account nor interpretation has gained universal assent among Friends even today.) Despite these divergent trends and conflicts, American Quakers made notable advances and contributions during the nineteenth century. Friends participated in the westward expansion, forming monthly and yearly meetings wherever they settled-but especially in Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, and on the Pacific coast. Many of these meetings adopted a pastoral system. Education, always a major Quaker concern, was promoted by the establishment of a number of Quaker schools and colleges. Friends also worked for the abolition of slavery and war, for the welfare of African-Americans and Native Americans, for prison reform, for temperance, and for the rights of women. Some Quakers played a prominent role in the formation of the underground railroad, giving aid and shelter to escaping slaves on their way to the Northern states or to Canada. And it is noteworthy that of the five women who organized the first women's rights convention at Seneca Falls in 1848, four were Quakers: Lucretia Mott; her sister, Martha Coffin Wright; Mary Ann McClintock; and Jane Hunt. Such activities obviously placed members of the Religious Society of Friends in conflict with many in the larger society. IV. Reconciliation Circa 1900-1955 Appropriately enough, it was the continuing commitment of both Orthodox and Hicksite Friends to the peace testimony that paved the way for their gradual reconciliation and, in 1955, for the reunification of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Orthodox and Hicksite members attended the Lake Mohonk Conferences on International Arbitration held near the end of the nineteenth century. In 1897, they worked together to support American participation in an arbitration treaty. And in 1901 the two separate (and occasionally contentious) Philadelphia Yearly Meetings jointly organized a conference for world peace to which all American Quakers were invited. There were other developments in the early 1900s which contributed to the eventual reconciliation of Orthodox and Hicksite Friends. The formation of Friends General Conference in 1900 laid the foundation for cooperation in nurturing Quakers and Quakerism, though it was in itself a Hicksite enterprise. After the Manchester Conference of 1895, London Yearly Meeting began shifting to a more liberal stance and to develop contacts with Hicksite Friends, inviting some to their summer schools. When Woodbrooke was set up as a Quaker study center in 1903, a number of Hicksite young people were recruited to attend, and thus met Orthodox young people for the first time on British soil. Both British and American Young Friends began to work actively to heal the breach. In January of 1913 Henry Cadbury organized a group of Philadelphia Young Friends from each branch to meet regularly to study the separation. Their report, issued in 1914, stated that it was not a matter of doctrine but of authority which had caused the separation. The group continued to meet, and to develop social occasions in which young people of both branches could get together. In time a few marriages resulted. In 1916 Joseph Elkinton-a prominent Orthodox Friend-personally conveyed a letter of friendship from his own yearly meeting to the Hicksite Yearly Meeting. In 1917, both branches united with Friends Five Years Meeting to organize the American Friends Service Committee to provide service opportunities for conscientious objectors of all American yearly meetings, and implement Quaker testimonies in response to the First World War. Formation of the Friends Committee on National Legislation in 1943 played a similar bridging role, as did Pendle Hill and, at least in the immediate Philadelphia area, the Friends Neighborhood Guild. Working together proved efficient, and by 1930 a number of committees with similar objectives merged as a means of gaining greater effectiveness: of particular significance was the formation of a unified Peace Committee. At the same time, the Disciplines of the two yearly meetings were revised in the direction of commonalities rather than differences: for instance, at least some of the queries included in the two Disciplines were, after a time, identical. The process of healing was further helped by two social groups organized for the purpose-the Friends Social Union and the Divotee Golf Club of Atlantic City. Women of the two yearly meetings worked together on issues of suffrage and of peace. The two yearly meetings both took action in the 1920s to lay down their separate women's and men's meetings for business. This was done at the request of the women. Thus ended an institution that in the seventeenth century had been radical-acknowledging women's spiritual gifts; that in the nineteenth century had been an important training ground for Quaker women entering public life; but that came to be seen in the age of female suffrage as second class status in religious life. That this step was taken by both yearly meetings at about the same time was further evidence of their readiness to come together. These developments, which resulted from the individual and shared efforts of a number of Orthodox and Hicksite Friends, established a growing desire for reunification. In 1933, changes were made in the Disciplines of the two Philadelphia Yearly Meetings to provide for the formation of united monthly meetings, that is, monthly meetings with membership in both Orthodox and Hicksite yearly meetings. An even more decisive step towards unity was taken in 1946, when the two Philadelphia Yearly Meetings agreed to establish the Philadelphia General Meeting which would be held in the autumn and attended by both Orthodox and Hicksite Friends, though separate sessions would continue to be held in the spring. Also in the mid-1940s, the two yearly meetings formed a Religious Life Committee which met for its own spiritual nourishment and also to prepare for visiting monthly meetings in both yearly meetings; clearly, the need had been felt to affirm religious unity. Finally, in 1950, a committee was formed with representatives from both yearly meetings to prepare a common book of discipline. This committee submitted its work, entitled Faith and Practice, to both yearly meetings and to the General Meeting in 1954. The following year, a schism that had lasted for 128 years was amicably brought to an end, and a single, reunified Philadelphia Yearly Meeting convened-with standing room only-at Arch Street Meetinghouse. V. Unity Amidst Diversity 1955- Friends in Canada and in New York were reconciled and reunited at about the same time as those in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. New England Yearly Meeting had already experienced this process some ten years earlier. And indeed, there was among Friends throughout North America a growing interest in dialogue and cooperation. The Friends World Committee for Consultation, which had been founded in 1937 following the Friends World Conference at Swarthmore College, encouraged this development. Even more, the Fourth World Conference of Friends held at Guilford College yielded what became known as the Faith and Life Movement, with regional and then national meetings during the 1970s and early 1980s in which all North American yearly meetings participated; all shared the objective of finding common ground. On the other hand, there were important differences that continued to divide Friends, both within and between the various yearly meetings, and not the least concerned how to respond to two major social and political issues of the 1960s-the Vietnam war and the civil rights movement. Social Concerns Members of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM) were encouraged to participate in efforts to end the war in Vietnam. For instance, the PYM News for May 1965 included a call to attend a vigil at the Pentagon sponsored by the Interreligious Committee on Vietnam, of which Philadelphia Yearly Meeting was itself a member. Then, at the 1967 yearly meeting sessions, the decision was reached to support the Phoenix project sponsored by an Action Group of Concerned Friends. This project involved sending medical supplies to North Vietnam despite the illegality of such action. The clerk of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting resigned his clerkship soon thereafter, because as a sitting federal judge he was personally and officially committed to uphold the law; other Friends likewise wrestled with the question of whether civil disobedience was an appropriate method of registering opposition to the Vietnam war. Following its 1964 sessions Philadelphia Yearly Meeting issued A Quaker Call to Action in Race Relations. In that call, Friends acknowledged failure in carrying out the implications of the Quaker testimony regarding human equality and advocated various steps to promote fair housing and fair employment. During the summer of 1964, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting sponsored a project in Mississippi to rebuild churches and construct a local community center. Many Friends, however, felt that their efforts should be focused on the needs of disadvantaged minorities in their own geographic area. Accordingly, in 1966, Friends in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting initiated a community action project in Chester, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia Friends were thus already attempting to respond to the urban crisis when they were presented with the Black Manifesto. In the summer of 1969, the Black Economic Development Conference confronted various religious groups, including Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, with the demand that they pay reparations, given the alleged participation or complicity of such groups in the institutional arrangements that had disadvantaged African-Americans over the years. Shortly thereafter Philadelphia Yearly Meeting scheduled three called sessions in order to consider how it should respond to the Black Manifesto. Some 27 members of the local Black Economic Development Conference attended the third session, on 31 January 1970, and stood at the front of the meetinghouse for 45 minutes, with brief speeches by three of its leaders. Though the yearly meeting decided to reject the demand for payment of reparations, it did establish a Minorities Economic Development Fund which allocated funds (established in part through individual contributions and in part from the yearly meeting endowment) to support various community action projects in the Philadelphia area, including some sponsored by the Black Economic Development Conference. Subsequently, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting wrestled with other manifestations of the ongoing problems of race relations and war. In the spring of 1978, it attempted to establish a "Friendly Presence" in West Philadelphia to encourage nonviolent resolution of the growing conflict between MOVE, a local commune, and the city of Philadelphia. In 1984 and again in 1988, the yearly meeting became the object of an IRS suit resulting from its refusal to levy the salary of one of its employees who did not pay the military portion of federal taxes. The members of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting have confronted other social concerns since 1955. Among these have been gender roles within monthly meetings and the general society, the rights of homosexuals, the investment of yearly meeting funds in companies with business interests in South Africa under apartheid, the Sanctuary movement for refugees in the US without credentials, the AIDS crisis, and the need for conflict resolution skills in families and schools. Reorganization of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting When The Messenger (the newsletter of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting [Hicksite]) began publication in late 1928, there were some 10 yearly meeting committees with 3 devoted to social concerns. The latter were the Committee on Peace and Service, the Committee on the Interests of the Colored Race, and the Committee on Philanthropic Labor (which was charged to support prohibition, prison reform and child welfare agencies, among other things). A similar distribution of committees existed in the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting [Orthodox]. By the mid 1960s, following reunification and even with the merger of committees from the two yearly meetings that had not merged previously, there were still 40 distinct yearly meeting committees and some 15 of these were independently operated and funded. Clearly, some kind of restructuring was needed. And so, in 1966, Representative Meeting solicited responses from monthly meetings and from individual Friends to two basic questions: How should our religious society be organized so that it allows its members the most effective opportunities for service to the world and its own members? How should the finances of the yearly meeting be handled in order to use our moneys and funds most effectively in the service of God? The first question has been answered with decisions to restructure Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in the mid-1970s and then in the mid-1990s. And likewise, the second question has been answered with the adoption of different approaches to fund raising and budgeting in the late 1960s and then in the late 1990s. The first restructuring of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting occurred in 1974, which coincided with ground breaking for the new Friends Center at 15th and Cherry Streets in Philadelphia. The new organization included three general committees-Worship and Ministry (which replaced the previously separate Yearly Meeting on Worship and Ministry), Nominating, and Personnel: and also three coordinating committees. The latter were to provide oversight and support for various committees and working groups dealing with specific programs and functions in relation, respectively, to the education and care of members, testimonies and concerns, and general services. Also, Representative Meeting was reorganized so that, in addition to members appointed by yearly meeting committees and a small number of at-large members, each monthly meeting appointed its own members. And finally, a committee formed in 1964 to undertake the revision of Faith and Practice completed its work, which was approved at the 1972 sessions of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Beginning in 1994, a Structures and Workings Committee formed primarily of the clerks of monthly and quarterly meetings, began to consider once again how our yearly meeting might best be organized. It recommended a general plan to replace the three coordinating committees with five standing committees: Worship and Care, Education, Peace and Concerns, Support and Outreach, and General Services. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in its 1996 sessions approved this plan, and also the formation of an Implementation Committee, charged with working out the details-in particular the roles and responsibilities of the standing committees. This was completed by the 1998 annual sessions. Apart from the standing committees, there were to be two independent committees-Nominating Committee and a Financial Stewardship Committee; and Representative Meeting was renamed Interim Meeting. Otherwise, all yearly meeting services, programs and working groups were to come under the general oversight of an appropriate standing committee. In particular, the Worship and Ministry Committee, which had been independent of the previous coordinating committee structure, was brought under the aegis of the Worship and Care Standing Committee, though it has been renamed the Meeting on Worship and Ministry; similarly, the Personnel Committee became the Personnel Services Group under the aegis of the General Services Standing Committee. To complement this reorganization, the yearly meeting staff changed its basic role from committee support to general provision of services, so that assistance in coordinating volunteers or planning conferences, for instance, might be available to any of the project, service, or working groups that operate under the aegis of the five standing committees. There have also been two approaches to financing yearly meeting activities. In early 1969, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting adopted centralized budgeting and a new pattern of fund raising. Each monthly meeting was expected to pay an assessment or quota based on its adult membership; and a Combined Appeal (subsequently named the Annual Appeal, and then the Annual Fund) replaced separate appeals issued on behalf of some 13 different yearly meeting committees. In addition to the funds from meetings and individuals, a significant portion of the yearly meeting budget comes from bequests and income from bequests. Then in 1997, concurrently with its restructuring, the yearly meeting replaced the quota system with a covenant mechanism, such that each monthly meeting voluntarily pledges the level of its support for quarterly and yearly meeting activities and services based on the resources that it can make available for these purposes (rather than the number of its adult members). The yearly meeting also adopted a procedure for increasing the involvement of monthly and quarterly meetings in the setting of priorities for the activities and services of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, and hence for its budget. Recent Growth and Change Since reunification in 1955, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting experienced significant growth in its associated institutions. The number of Friends schools proliferated. Several life care retirement communities were formed, beginning with Foulkeways in 1964. And the Burlington Meetinghouse was renovated and expanded as a conference center for the increasing number of younger Friends and families. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting had some 30,000 members in 1775, and about half that number by 1925, which were unevenly divided between two yearly meetings. Since then, the yearly meeting has continued to experience a gradual reduction in recorded membership. In 1994, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting recorded 12,100 members. Of these, about half had newly joined the Religious Society of Friends during the past 15 years. Many of our monthly meetings experienced an influx of active attenders. A large number of young families participated in the revitalization of the First Day Schools. At this time, attenders were not included in the membership statistics of the yearly meeting. Our monthly meetings, our yearly meeting, and Friends institutions have continued to offer a vital and active service to members, attenders, and the community at large. We remain committed to a life of obedience to the Spirit, and seek to be faithful witnesses to the Truth. Friends Beliefs and Practices The Light Within The Light Within is the fundamental and immediate experience for Friends. It is that which guides each of us in our everyday lives and brings us together as a community of faith. It is, most importantly, our direct and unmediated experience of the Divine. Friends have used many different terms or phrases to designate the source and inner certainty of our faith-a faith which we have gained by direct experience. The Inward Light, the Way, the Truth and the Life, the Spirit of Truth, the Divine Principle, the Christ Within, the Seed, and the Inner Light are examples of such phrases. George Fox refers in his Journal to "that Inward Light, Spirit, and Grace by which all might know their salvation" and to "that Divine Spirit which would lead them into all truth." He wrote: "There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition" and encouraged Friends "to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one." Many Friends interpret "that of God" as another designation for the Light Within. For Friends, the Light Within is not the same as the conscience or moral faculty. The conscience is a human faculty, which is conditioned by education and the cultural environment; it is not, therefore, an infallible guide to moral practice. It should nevertheless be attended to, for it is one of the faculties through which the Light shines. Friends are encouraged to test the leadings of conscience by seeking clearness, through direct communion in the meeting for worship, and through the clearness process (see p. 29). Such testing enhances and clarifies insight so that the conscience may be purged of misconceptions and become more truly obedient to the Light Within. When conscience has been transformed by experiencing the Light, it gives more reliable direction even though it may seem to point in a direction that is contrary to generally accepted authorities. Friends' experience has been that following an enlightened conscience brings a release of the spirit and also a state of peace that are independent of the tangible results of the action taken. Spiritual power arises from living in harmony with the divine will. George Fox often spoke of the power he experienced in times of need, and of that relationship between power and the Light. For instance, he writes that "the power of God sprang through me," and, he admonishes us, "hearken to the Light, that ye may feel the power of God in every one of you." Continuing obedience to the Light increases our gratitude for God's gifts. Among these are an awareness of enduring values, the joy of life, and the ability to resolve problems in accord with divine leading, as individuals or as a Meeting. Under the guidance of the Light, the monthly meeting is enabled to use and transform the aspirations and judgments of its members. This practice helps the Meeting make decisions and face undertakings in a spirit detached from self-interest or prejudice. Basic Quaker testimonies such as equality, simplicity, nonviolence, integrity, and community have arisen from a deep sense of individual and corporate responsibility guided by the Light Within. Recognizing that God's Light is in every person overcomes our separation and our differences from others and leads to a sympathetic awareness of their need and a sense of responsibility toward them. Friends believe that the more widely and clearly the Light is recognized and followed, the more will humanity come into accord. "Therefore," writes George Fox, "in the Light wait, where unity is." Worship and the Meeting for Worship The meeting for worship is the heart of the Religious Society of Friends. It draws us together in the enlightening and empowering presence of God, sending us forth with renewed vision and commitment. Worship Our word "worship" has its roots in the concept of "worth-ship." Worship is our response to what we feel to be of ultimate importance. Our expression of that feeling of ultimate worthship may take many forms. Worship is always possible, alone or in company, in silence, in music or speech, in stillness or in dance. It is never confined to place or time or form. When Friends worship, we reach out from the depths of our being to God, the giver of life and of the world around us. Our worship is the search for communion with God and the offering of ourselves-body and soul-for the doing of God's will. The sense of worship can be experienced in the awe we feel in the silence of a meeting for worship or in the awareness of our profound connectedness to nature and its power. In worship we know repentance and forgiveness in the acknowledgment of God as the ultimate source of our being, and the serenity of accepting God's will. In worship we discover direction for our lives and the uses of our resources. Leadings are often made clearer by reference to the life and teachings of Jesus and by the transforming power of the Inner Light. From worship there comes a fresh understanding of the two great commandments: to love "your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." (Luke 10:27). Careful listening to the Inward Teacher can lead to fresh openings: an inpouring of love, insight, and interdependence. True listening can also bring the worshiper to new and sometimes troubling perceptions, including clear leadings that may be a source of pain and anxiety; yet it can also bring such wholeness of heart that hard tasks can become a source of joy. Even when we worship torn with our own pain or that of another, it is in worship that we discover new strength for what faces us in our everyday lives. Each experience of worship is different. There is no right way to prepare for spiritual communion, no set practice to follow when worship grows from expectant waiting in the Spirit. Vital worship depends far more on a deeply felt longing for God than upon any particular practice. "Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." (Matthew 7:7) The Meeting for Worship Friends find it useful to come to meeting with hearts and minds prepared for worship by daily prayer, meditation, and study, especially of the Bible and of the experience of others. We deepen thereby our awareness of the wonder of God and of God's love, and acquire the words with which to understand and to express that awareness. Many also find help through thoughtful reflection and listening to the Inward Teacher in the course of daily life and service. As Friends arrive for meeting, such preparation helps us set aside our preoccupation with ourselves and our affairs and so settle into worship in a manner described by Alexander Parker in 1660: The first that enters into the place of your meeting ... turn in thy mind to the light, and wait upon God singly, as if none were present but the Lord; and here thou art strong. Then the next that comes in, let them in simplicity of heart sit down and turn in to the same light, and wait in the spirit; and so all the rest coming in, in the fear of the Lord, sit down in pure stillness and silence of all flesh, and wait in the light. Those who are brought to a pure still waiting upon God in the Spirit are come nearer to the Lord than words are; for God is spirit and in the spirit he is worshiped. Worship in meeting may thus begin with stilling the mind and body, letting go of tensions and everyday worries, feeling the encompassing presence of others, and opening oneself to the Spirit. It may include meditation, reflection on a remembered passage from the Bible or other devotional literature, silent prayer, thanksgiving, praise of God, consideration of one's actions, remorse, request for forgiveness, or search for direction. Even in times of spiritual emptiness, Friends find it useful to be present in worship. Worshiping together strengthens the members of the worshiping community and deepens the act of worship itself. Such communal worship is like a living organism whose individual but interdependent members are essential to one another and to the life of the greater whole. It is like the luminous unity and individual fulfillment that arise when musicians, responding to the music before them, offer up their separate gifts in concert. Friends sometimes use Paul's image and speak of the meeting for worship as a body whose head is Christ (I Cor. 12:27). The gifts and participation of each member are important in maintaining and enriching the spiritual life of the meeting for worship. There is a renewal of spirit when we turn away from worldly matters to rediscover inward serenity. Friends know from experience the validity of Jesus' promise that "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20). Often we realize our hopes for a heightened sense of the presence of God through the cumulative power of group worship, communicated in silent as well as vocal ministry. When we experience such a profound and evident sense of oneness with God and with one another, we speak of a "gathered" or "covered" meeting for worship. Communion and Communication Direct communion with God constitutes the essential life of the meeting for worship. Into its living stillness may come leadings and fresh insights that are purely personal, not meant to be shared. At other times they are meant for the Meeting at large to hear. When a leading is to be shared, the worshiper feels a compelling inward call to vocal ministry. The very name "Quaker" is by tradition derived from the evident quaking of early Friends witnessing under the power of the Spirit. Though ministry is seldom accompanied by such outward signs, some still feel the inward quaking. Vocal ministry may take many forms, as prayer, praise of God, song, teaching, witnessing, or sharing. These messages may center upon a single, vital theme; often apparently unrelated leadings are later discovered to have an underlying unity. Such ministry and prayer may answer the unrecognized or unvoiced needs of other seekers. When someone accepts the call of the Spirit to speak, fellow worshipers are likewise called to listen with openness of minds and hearts. Diffident and tender spirits should feel the Meeting community's loving encouragement to give voice, even if haltingly, to the message that may be struggling to be born within them. Friends whose thought has been long developing and whose learning and experience are profound serve the meeting best when they, like all others, wait patiently for the prompting of the Inward Teacher. Anyone moved to speak following another should first allow others to absorb and respond inwardly to what has already been said. Friends should not put obstacles in the way of the call, whether by deciding in advance to speak or not to speak, or by feeling a duty to speak to provide some balance between silence and the spoken word. Even if not a word is spoken, meetings for worship can be profoundly nurturing. Hindrances to Worship All present should remember that spiritual opportunities entail responsibilities as well, including attention to the time of assembling and consideration for those already settled. Speaking carried on in a spirit of debate or lecturing or discussion is destructive to the life of the meeting for worship and of the meeting community. It is rarely helpful to answer or rebut what has been said previously. Friends moved to vigorous support of causes need to find brief and sensitive ways to voice their insights. Similar sensitivity should be practiced by those who bring material to be posted or shared during worship. Any who habitually settle into silent reading or sit in inattentive idleness cut themselves off from their fellow worshipers and from the pervasive reach of the Spirit. If hindrances to worship occur within a meeting for worship, members of Worship and Ministry or others as appropriate should move quickly and in love to provide counsel. In Closing Friends gather for worship in quiet waiting upon God. We come together out of our care for one another and out of our shared hunger to know God, to follow the leading of the Spirit, to feel with clarity our shortcomings and the reality of forgiveness, to give voice to our anguish, faith, praise, joy, and thanksgiving. At the close of the meeting for worship, we shake hands in acknowledgment of our commitment to one another and to God, and go forth with renewed trust in the power and reality of God's grace and love. Decision-Making The presuppositions of the corporate meeting for worship have, from the very beginning, profoundly affected the method of decision-making in the meeting for business. In both, there is faith in the Guide. There is faith in a continuous revelation that is always open to produce fresh disclosures. And there is respect and affection for each other that cuts through all diversity and that helps to kindle a faith that, with patience and openness, the group can expect to come to clearness and to resolve the problems that come before it. - Source unknown From Faith Into Business Friends' decision-making is rooted in the spiritual oneness of a religious community. We reject majority rule for the higher goal of reaching decisions in unity, through distinctive attitudes developed by Friends over the centuries. Our process is democratic in the sense that everyone is encouraged to participate. However, it also goes beyond democracy in that it does not rely solely on human will or ability. Participants are expected to put aside personal desires and allow themselves to be led by a Guide beyond the self. When this decision-making process is used carelessly, its lack of formal rules of order can lead to abuse by neglect or by design. When used with care, it is deeply satisfying and produces practical decisions that are in harmony with the Spirit. The act of choosing is inescapably religious, in that it reveals our fundamental values and deepest loyalties. Friends must therefore be rigorous in discerning the ultimate source of their leadings, always looking beyond the self, and never letting their own wills become a substitute for God. The Religious Basis of Our Decision-Making Despite the difference in format, meetings for business are meetings for worship in which our business is held and are conducted in the same openness to the leading of the Spirit. For our religious community to thrive, it is essential that we nurture our love for one another, maintain our spiritual unity, and live in harmony with the Spirit. These beliefs underlie every attitude and practice in our meetings for business. As we wrestle with outward issues, the Inward Light gives us new perspectives and creative responses. On all matters, even the mundane, its presence promises a fresh revelation of truth and a clearer understanding of God's will. It is also our experience that new openings to truth may come at any time and from any source. Each Friend should therefore listen to all efforts to express that truth, testing them against accumulated experience, the life and teachings of Jesus, and moral and spiritual guides in Scripture and elsewhere. Yet we are careful to rely not on the letter of the text, but to read as George Fox enjoined us to read the Scriptures: "in the Spirit in which they were given forth." The Goal of Friends' Decision-making The goal of Friends' decision-making is a Spirit-led sense of the meeting-a crystallization of the search for clarity on the topic under consideration. Even in the face of strong difference of opinion, that goal is achievable when there is spiritual unity. Our search is for unity, not unanimity. We consider ourselves to be in unity when our search for Truth is shared; when our listening for God is faithful; when our wills are caught up in the presence of Christ; and when our love for one another is constant. A united meeting is not necessarily all of one mind, but it is all of one heart. We believe that this unity, transcending apparent differences, springs from God's empowering love, and that a Meeting, trusting in the leadership of that love and gathered in its spirit, will enjoy unity in its search for truth. A Meeting is a living spiritual entity which may encompass strong differences of opinion. It is like an individual who may have many conflicting inclinations but who still has a final sense of how to act. The sense of the meeting is not designed and fitted together, but is conceived, born, and nurtured; the Meeting's care for the quality of its decision-making process is essential to the rightness of its decisions in the same way that an expectant mother's care for her own health is essential to the strength of her child. Sense of the meeting is not synonymous with consensus. Consensus is a widely used and valuable secular process characterized by a search for general agreement largely through rational discussion and compromise. Sense of the meeting is a religious process characterized by listening for and trusting in God. Both result in a course of action agreed to by all of the participants, but the sense of the meeting relies consciously on the Spirit. Although reasoned argument and lively debate may often play a role in Friends' decision-making, they are useful only to the extent that they are the expressions of spiritual leadings. When the sense of the meeting has been rightly discerned, those present will know that they have faithfully followed their Guide, and will feel a continued affection for each other. Expectations of Participants Among Friends, the decisions made by a group are enriched when all members commit themselves to regular attendance at meetings for worship as well as at decision-making sessions. By maintaining a spirit of worship throughout the meeting, participants nurture their openness to the leadings of the Spirit and its gifts of trust, humility, compassion, and courage. Although an individual Friend has the designated role of clerk, all share the responsibility for the maintenance of a Spirit-led gathering, for the wise use of time, and for a steadfast search for truth. All are expected to be attentive and to offer concisely such insight as each may have. None should remain silent in the belief that the conclusion is foregone, or that an insight apparently counter to that of the body of the Meeting will be divisive. Friends who feel they cannot agree with what they perceive to be the weight of the Meeting must not yield to the temptation to absent themselves from the meeting for business in order to spare both themselves and the Meeting. Such an absence implies a lack of faith in the Meeting's access to divine guidance and its ability to find unity. Both speaking and listening should be marked by respect for others, with speakers saying only what they know to be worth others' hearing, and with listeners seeking the Light as it is revealed through others. An openness of spirit is crucial, especially when differing views are being expressed. Friends have learned the value of contributions from serious and consistent attenders who are not members. Many Meetings welcome all who care to attend at decision-making sessions. Non-members should show sensitive restraint when addressing Meeting affairs. Each Meeting is at liberty to limit the participation of attenders; such limits should be clearly defined and communicated in advance to avoid embarrassment and hurt feelings. Prior definition is particularly important with respect to any sessions which involve confidential information or evaluations of individuals. No one should take action on the Meeting's behalf in anticipation of a minute's approval, but should wait for actual approval. The Role of the Clerk Ideally, the clerk is both servant and leader who thoughtfully prepares for the meeting; maintains a worshipful spirit in the meeting; sets a helpful pace; discerns the sense of the meeting when it is present; and expresses it clearly or identifies those who can do so. Such a clerk sensitively searches for the right course of action and helps maintain the meeting's spiritual unity. All these tasks are accomplished in an active, informed, helping spirit, facilitating but never dominating, carefully free from partisanship. When nominated and appointed by members of the Meeting, the clerk accepts the obligation to focus time, energies, and gifts in the fulfillment of that trust. The clerk helps the Meeting move through the agenda with efficient but unhurried dispatch, keeping the members' attention on the matters to be considered. The clerk listens, learns, and sifts, searching for the sense of the meeting, possibly suggesting tentative minutes or periods of silent worship to help clarify or focus Friends' leadings. The clerk encourages those who are reluctant to speak, and in like manner restrains those who tend to speak at undue length or to speak too often. When the sense of the meeting seems to be clear, the clerk lays it before the Meeting. If there are objections or reservations, the clerk opens the way for further seeking and refinement. When there are no further objections or refinements, the clerk directs that the sense of the meeting be so recorded. It is especially important that the clerk make clear what previous decisions or customs have been established on a given issue since lack of unity on a proposed change normally means that the status quo will be preserved. When the sense of the meeting seems elusive, the clerk should be sensitive to the potential benefit of deferring the matter to a later time, to a different body, or to a different forum. The clerk should be careful to refrain from opinionated participation in the discussion. Further, the clerk should be alert to those occasions when his or her ability to read the sense of the meeting may be blurred by deep personal convictions. In that event, the clerk stands aside and asks the Meeting to recognize someone else as clerk for the moment. After the meeting is concluded it is the clerk's duty to ensure that those charged by the Meeting with new tasks or specific actions are informed of their responsibilities. The clerk also takes care that matters held over appear in later agenda. Finally, letters or documents whose drafting has been entrusted to the clerk are promptly dispatched. The Role of the Recording Clerk The proceedings of a meeting should be carefully and appropriately minuted by someone designated to serve as recording clerk. Since meetings are held for different purposes, the recording clerk's minutes reflect the essential purpose of each meeting, be it for decision, for discussion, or for inspiration. The recording clerk should state precisely the nature, extent, and timing of actions directed to be taken and the persons responsible. Ambiguity and inaccuracy must be avoided. Minutes should be written in the knowledge that at a later date the Meeting may well need a full and circumstantial account of its decision and how it was reached. In the writing of minutes, the recording clerk is more effective when there has been detailed prior consultation with the presiding clerk so that names, dates, and proposals are already familiar. It is then also possible for the recording clerk to prepare tentative introductory sentences for each item of business, especially those that are routine. A recording clerk does not hesitate to ask for help in formulating minutes. Where the action to be taken is clear but the wording of the proposed minute is not, it is sometimes useful to ask a few Friends to withdraw to prepare a final draft for the Meeting's later consideration. In some cases, the presiding clerk rather than the recording clerk will be in a better position to write the minute. The recording clerk may at times be asked to prepare a minute on a matter of substance while the Meeting waits. All others present should settle into silent and supportive prayer until this task is complete. In some instances a meeting may approve a minute in principle, being satisfied that its later refinement need not come before the Meeting again. Once adopted, minutes retain their authority until amended by a subsequent minute. To prevent confusion and misunderstanding, some Meetings find it useful for the recording clerk to read the minutes and have them approved from time to time during the course of the meeting or at the end; others read only those minutes referring to weighty and difficult matters and approve the complete minutes at the following session. Meetings follow a variety of practices in this regard, each of which has merit. If minutes are considered at a later session, those not present when business was discussed and actions taken should refrain from sharing in the approval of the minutes. Recording clerks and clerks are granted the freedom to make only editorial changes or correct inaccuracies in the minutes, taking care that their meaning is in no way changed thereby. If other correction is needed, it should be brought before the Meeting at a later session. All minutes are preserved in ways that will ensure their availability and permanence. The Good Order Used Among Us Thoughtful preparation frees the Meeting to follow the leadings of the Spirit, preventing frustration arising from poor arrangements, incomplete information, or unclear procedure. The clerks or other designated persons prepare the agenda and, if appropriate, distribute the agenda and other essential information in advance. They may need to remind persons who are to bring matters before the meeting to come prepared. They must be careful to call members' attention to issues of special moment. Arrangements are made for the time and place of gathering, child care, meals, hospitality, and other organizational matters as needed, to permit as many as possible to attend and to provide ample opportunity for the unhurried disposition of business. Members who are prompt in arrival and disciplined in settling into worship contribute much to the depth and power of the meeting. It is also important that this time of settling and focusing not become a brief formality. Where a presiding or recording clerk has not already been appointed or is unable to serve, the Meeting may ask any member to serve until a regular appointment is made. Decision-making by sense of the meeting applies to easy issues as well as to difficult ones. Matters felt to be routine but necessary are dealt with quickly in a spirit of trust. The Meeting may accept without extended discussion a suggestion volunteered by the clerk or other member, or may empower an individual or a committee to act on the matter. Matters of importance are best presented by someone who is familiar with the issues. However, the Meeting must also be open to hear the concerns of others who may not be as widely experienced or well informed, but who nevertheless feel strongly led. The promptings of the Inward Teacher may come with power to any present, without respect to age or experience. Friends know that sensitive and powerful insights come to newer and younger members They also know the importance of those whose experience and advice in similar matters have been helpful in the past. The Meeting in Conflict Friends often find themselves most challenged when matters before them call forth strongly held but incompatible responses. A Meeting which goes forward for whatever reason without real unity in the Spirit does so at its peril. When any member present feels so strongly led as to wish to prevent the Meeting from acting, it is important that the Meeting take the time to test this leading in a loving spirit, and examine responsibly the consequences if the action is not taken. The search for the course of action that will keep the meeting in unity-or the resolution of the problems caused by disunity itself-rests as much with the individual or group in opposition as it does with the other members. Questions for a Meeting in Conflict When disagreement on an issue threatens to divide a Meeting, it may be helpful for the Meeting and each Friend to consider the following questions: ¥ Have all Friends taken care to fully examine, in a loving and prayerful spirit, the perspective of those with whom they disagree? ¥ Have all Friends truly tried to leave behind their personal desires, the better to be led by the Spirit? ¥ Do all Friends seek to discern God's will in all viewpoints? ¥ Have Friends considered whether God's will for them as individuals may differ from God's will for the Meeting? ¥ Do those in conflict regularly reaffirm, in voice and attitude, the love they feel for one another? Moving Forward in Unity In situations of conflicting insights, Friends have found helpful several ways of moving forward in unity: ¥ The Meeting may move to a deeper spiritual searching and sharing, often entering periods of silent worship. Every conviction is examined in the Light as Friends wait together to discern whether their convictions stem from a genuine motion of the Spirit. Friends may thus be empowered to lay aside those convictions which are not so based. While seeking new light, Friends should also remain faithful to the leadings they sense as authentic, even when these seem contrary to the weight of the Meeting. ¥ The Meeting may wait or proceed with other business while a small representative ad hoc committee withdraws, in the hope that they can bring forward a minute or course of action that will lead to unity. ¥ The Meeting may reschedule the matter for another time, encouraging members in the interim to continue their search for the right action, whether in solitary prayer and meditation, or in small informal groups. ¥ After patient searching over a considerable period, the Meeting may conclude that the sense of the meeting is clear and unity in the Spirit can be maintained if that sense is translated into action, but acknowledge that a few Friends continue to have reservations about the substance of the proposed action. In that event, those Friends may feel led to withdraw their objections, being unwilling to stand in the way of the Meeting. Or those Friends may say that they feel released from the burden of their concern, having laid it on the conscience of the Meeting. Or they may stand aside while maintaining their objections, asking that their names and the grounds of their objections be minuted. Friends who stand aside are affirming their continuing spiritual unity with the Meeting. That unity will require of those Friends acceptance with good grace of the decision's consequences for the Meeting and for themselves. It will require the rest of the Meeting to keep the objections firmly in mind as they proceed. Each of these avenues expresses trust in divine guidance and a commitment to remaining in unity in the Spirit. Committees for Clearness Friends may be most familiar with clearness as the process a Meeting uses to decide whether to take a marriage under its care, or to accept someone into membership. More and more, however, Friends are rediscovering the power of committees for clearness to guide and support members facing a crisis in their lives, sensing a leading towards a personal witness or considering a change in life's direction. Those who wish the help of a clearness committee may ask the clerk of the Meeting that such a committee be formed. Meetings are encouraged to establish a procedure for the forming of clearness committees so that the Meeting may be prepared and supportive when a Friend so requests. Members of a clearness committee are chosen based on their willingness to devote prayerful time and energy, their knowledge and experience, and their ability to ask searching questions and provide support and guidance in a spirit of loving worship. Those seeking clearness may suggest Friends who would bring significant gifts to the committee. When Friends gather in a committee for clearness, we find ourselves under the same loving discipline as when we gather for meetings for worship and business: an openness to the Holy Spirit and a commitment to one another and to discerning God's will. We listen deeply to those who have asked for guidance. We do not come intent on giving advice or taking a position. The gathering includes an explanation of the issue or problem for which clearness has been sought, periods of worship, time for questions, and an opportunity for the sharing of insight and inspiration. The clerk of the committee guides this process, mindful of the needs of the Friend seeking clearness and of the promptings of the Spirit. Whether or not clearness is reached, it is helpful to report to the monthly meeting, being careful to respect confidentiality. This enables the Meeting to continue to respond to the Friend who requested clearness, and to support any changes or witness this Friend undertakes. Committees for clearness can help Friends be obedient to the Spirit and enable Meetings to better support and nurture their members, build trust, and deepen spiritual community. Friends and the Bible Friends' appreciation of the Bible and other scriptures springs from our faith that there is in everyone the capacity to be open and responsive to the experience of the Divine. The possibility of that experience has been present in every place and time, even before the Bible was written, whenever and wherever people have earnestly sought communion with God and an understanding of God's will. The influence of the Bible upon the Society of Friends has been both unique and profound. George Fox knew the Bible intimately prior to his great "openings"-openings that dealt radically with both religious and social issues and that continue to influence our Society. He insisted that his openings came first by God's "immediate spirit and power" but were later found to be "agreeable to Holy Scriptures." Like Fox, Friends since have found the Bible to be the record of direct experiences of the Holy Spirit, serving as an important touchstone against which to test our leadings. Friends at all times have brought to their reading of these scriptures light from other sources. Through historical, literary, and cultural studies as well as sifted experience we have enriched the insights provided by our reading of the Bible. As a Society we have been generally freed from the so-called conflict between science and faith, finding instead therein a mutual illumination. Friends know from experience that knowledge of the Bible widely shared in a Meeting deepens the spiritual power of both spoken ministry and inward listening. The Bible, moreover, even in those parts that seem alien and uncongenial, challenges us to examine more closely our current assumptions and leadings. Maturing insight and experience often discover that passages once apparently irrelevant and lifeless speak truth with power. Given the Bible's importance in shaping the ways Friends have expressed their experience of the presence and leading of God and its power to illumine our worship and our vocal ministry, we are encouraged to know it well. We do not, however, consider scriptures, whether Hebrew or Christian or those of other religious faiths, to be the final revelation of God's nature and will. Rather, we believe in continuing revelation. This term emphasizes our ongoing communion with the Living God, our expanding sensitivity in our relationships with one another, and our growing knowledge of the universe. Since it also has great nurturing power for individuals, knowledge of the Bible opens our spirits to the religious power of art, music, and literature. The Bible warns us as well of the violence that can spring from our individual self-righteousness and of the hard-heartedness rooted in our alienation from God. It offers the words to express the guidance that can flow from our responsiveness to the Light Within, as in Amos' call that we "let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream" (Amos 5:24); as in Jesus' citing the two great commandments (Matt. 22: 37-39); and as in Paul's injunction that we speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15). Yet most importantly, the Bible offers us hope, as in Jesus' assurance: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you" (Matt. 7:7). Prayer The continuing experience of Friends has been that opening ourselves in prayer to the Divine is essential for deepening worship and rightly ordered lives. Since Friends have no prescribed form of prayer, we are free to choose those practices and those words to designate the Divine that meet our individual needs. There are many ways to pray. Prayer can be sung, thought, spoken, or expressed through the work of our hands or the movements of our bodies. We may use formal prayers, such as the one that Jesus taught us, or pour forth our own heartfelt words. Prayer can be as simple as delighted gratitude for the day. It can be the quiet outpouring of the desire of the heart or even wordless, simply being in the Presence. It can be as complex as digging into ourselves in order to remove blocks to openness to the Spirit's action in our lives. For many, prayer also grows out of a desire for a closer relationship with God as we discover that God reaches for us even as we reach for God. God loves us first. To center and be close to God can be a difficult exercise; yet, sometimes, with no apparent effort, one feels prayed through as an instrument of the Holy Spirit. Our prayers and lives of service are a response to this Infinite Love as we experience who we are and from whom we come. Prayer with others or in solitude or in the attentive listening in the quiet of the meeting for worship often becomes the seedbed for leadings to service. When action proceeds out of lives of prayer, it serves neither the ego nor the need to succeed but instead fulfills our desire to be faithful to the leadings of the Light. For many, asking God for healing for ourselves and for others is an integral part of prayer. It is their experience that mind and spirit, though wounded even at the deepest levels, can be healed through prayer and so become whole. Listening to our inmost being where the Inward Christ dwells enables us to go out and touch others in love and acceptance. Through prayer, Friends can enter with those of other faiths into a unity deeper than words or forms. Many Friends have found that regular times for prayer are an important discipline, for it is through regular practice that prayer becomes central to our lives. Indeed, through the regular practice of prayer, our spirits grow and flourish in unanticipated ways. In the assurance that our Creator hears and cares, prayer can be a time of humble confession and yearning for forgiveness, a time when we do not ask for answers but seek to return to the order of God's world. In prayer we can pour forth our sorrow, our anger, our love, our joy, our thanksgiving for inward peace. While prayer is most often intensely private, vocal prayer can be a helpful ministry in meetings for worship and for business. It may also spring up or be requested in the company of another or in small groups. Whether as individuals or families or Meetings, in spoken or silent grace before meals, we gratefully acknowledge our dependence upon God. In prayer we may open ourselves to God's loving, teaching, healing, and recreating us so that we become people who worship in spirit and in truth and do God's work with joy on earth. Friends and the Sacraments The absence from Friends' worship of the outward observance of the Lord's Supper, water baptism, and other sacraments emphasizes the reality of inward experience. Friends are aware of the power of a true, inward baptism of the Holy Spirit; in meeting for worship at its best they know direct communion with God and fellowship with one another. These experiences make the outward rites seem unnecessary and, to some Friends, a hindrance to full attainment of the spiritual experiences which are symbolized. While fully appreciative of the help that has come through the outward forms to many generations of Christians, Friends symbolize by their very lack of symbols the essentially inward nature of the sacraments. However, just as rituals and forms may become ends in themselves and thus diminished in spiritual power, so doctrinaire repudiation of form and ritual may become an end in itself, devoid of life. Friends affirm the sacramental nature of the whole of life when it is under the leading of the Spirit. Any moment, any relationship, any object when so touched can serve as a sacrament. Insofar as we are faithful in our testimonies, our very lives may thus serve for others as the outward and visible evidence of inward and invisible communion. Our Meeting Community Membership The Meaning of Membership The Religious Society of Friends is a community of faith based on experience of a transforming power named many ways: the Inner Light, the Spirit of Christ, the Guide, the Living God, the Divine Presence. Membership includes openness to an ongoing relationship with God and willingness to live one's life according to the leadings of the Spirit as affirmed by the community of faith. For generations of Friends, membership has been an outward sign of an inward experience of Christ, the "true light which gives light to everyone" (John 1:9). In Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, Friends gather to worship in stillness, waiting upon the Divine Presence. From this have come revelations of the love and guiding will of God, revelations inwardly experienced that may be shared in words with others present and expressed in attitude and action. Participation in this form of worship is intrinsic to membership, since ours is above all an experiential religion. Friends do not require acceptance of a creed as a test of membership, believing that no creedal statement can adequately describe spiritual reality. Membership establishes a commitment. It means that for each member the Religious Society of Friends provides the most promising home for spiritual enlightenment and growth. It commits a person to the daily pursuit of truth after the manner of Friends and commits the Meeting to support the member in that pursuit. Membership includes a willingness to live in spiritual unity with other members of the Religious Society of Friends. Members are expected to participate in communal worship, to share in the work and service of the Society, and to live in harmony with its basic beliefs and practices. Membership entails readiness to live as part of the monthly, quarterly, and yearly meeting. Specifically, this means participation in meeting for worship, meeting for business, committee work, and giving time, skills, and financial support to Meeting activities such as religious education, pastoral care, and witness to the broader community. Since Friends reject the distinction between clergy and laity, responsibility for the full range of Meeting activities rests with the membership. Attenders Friends Meetings are often visited by people from other religious backgrounds or with no religious ties. All visitors should be made welcome, with continuing attention given to those who return frequently and become regular attenders. Meeting members should endeavor to get acquainted with attenders and be available for spiritual support and guidance. Some Meetings have committees concerned specifically for the care of visitors and attenders. The Meeting should invite regular attenders to participate in its life, recognizing that they may become members. They should be made familiar with Friends' way of worship, manner of conducting business, organizational structure, finances, and major spiritual and historical writings, as well as Friends' periodicals. They should be encouraged to attend business meetings and, at the discretion of the monthly meeting, to serve on committees. Attenders should also be urged to attend sessions of quarterly and yearly meeting and gatherings of Friends General Conference. Information about groups such as the American Friends Service Committee, Friends Committee on National Legislation, and Friends World Committee for Consultation should be made available. All regular attenders should be provided a copy of Faith and Practice. Attenders who seem nourished through their involvement with the Meeting, are comfortable with Friends' basic beliefs and practices, and understand the responsibilities of membership, should apply for membership. The Meeting, for its part, should encourage such attenders to apply. Before attenders apply, they may find it valuable to discuss their spiritual goals and concerns with Friends in whose wisdom, experience, and personal sympathy they have confidence. These Friends will guide the attender in deciding whether he or she is ready to apply or should first become more familiar with the Religious Society of Friends. Application for Membership The monthly meeting is the final authority in all matters concerning an individual's membership. A person joining a monthly meeting becomes thereby a member of a quarterly meeting, the yearly meeting, and the Religious Society of Friends. There is no membership in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting other than membership in a particular monthly meeting. Attenders who apply for membership should do so in a formal request to the clerk of the monthly meeting, stating why they are moved to join the Religious Society of Friends and relating briefly their response to Friends' beliefs and practices. The clerk may share such requests with the Meeting and then refer them to the overseers, or may refer them directly to the overseers, who in either case promptly appoint a clearness committee to visit the applicant. The clearness committee should undertake this visit as a serious responsibility both to the Meeting and to the applicant. The visit should take place in an atmosphere of openness and caring so that both the committee members and the applicant feel comfortable in exploring fundamental questions of religious belief and practice and the responsibilities involved in membership in the Society. Some questions the committee might ask are: ¥ What are some milestones in your spiritual journey? How do you expect membership in the Meeting to help you in this journey? ¥ What gifts do you believe you might bring to the Meeting community? In what ways would you like to share your time and talents with the Meeting? ¥ How familiar are you with Friends' beliefs and practices? Are there some in particular which attracted you to Friends? Are there some you find puzzling or disturbing? ¥ Are you comfortable with a Society whose unity of spirit coexists with a diversity of beliefs? Are you prepared to join a Meeting family which includes people whose perspectives may differ considerably from yours? ¥ Have you weighed the Queries and Advices? Does their guidance speak to you? ¥ How closely are you in harmony with Friends' testimonies? With Friends' work for social justice? ¥ Are you prepared to suffer (as Friends have done) if God calls you to take actions which are difficult, unpopular, or even contrary to the civil laws? ¥ Do you understand the relationship between the monthly, quarterly, and yearly meeting? Are you aware of and willing to meet our expectation of financial support for programs, services, and facilities at these three levels of our organizational structure? The clearness committee needs to be prepared to respond faithfully to a wide range of questions that the applicant may ask. The applicant should be encouraged to share expectations concerning the Meeting and the significance of membership. Applicants who are members of another religious body are expected to give up that membership as they join the Meeting, formally advising the other organization of their intent to join the Religious Society of Friends, and endeavoring to obtain a letter of release from their previous religious affiliation. If the overseers approve the application, they recommend acceptance to the monthly meeting. Action may be postponed until a later session to give time where needed for members to become well acquainted with the prospective member. If the monthly meeting approves the application, it records the acceptance into membership and appoints two or more Friends to welcome the new member. While the desire of an attender to become a member is generally a cause for rejoicing, the overseers should not hesitate to advise the Meeting to postpone acceptance or even to reject an application if there is good reason to do so, such as an applicant's inflexible disagreement with some significant aspect of Friends' religious practice or belief. In cases where the overseers recommend postponement of a decision and the Meeting agrees, the overseers should keep in sympathetic touch with the applicant, explaining the reason for the hesitancy and seeking to help remove it. If and when the overseers judge the applicant to be ready for membership, they should encourage the Meeting to reconsider and accept the application. If a person whose residence is remote from Meetings of Friends wishes to become a member, the monthly meeting should consider carefully whether the applicant's needs, as well as those of the Meeting, will be served by membership in absentia. Quakerism grows as we give and receive within a living community. It may help to recommend participation in the Wider Quaker Fellowship rather than membership in a particular monthly meeting. Children All children from birth to maturity need to feel themselves full participants in the fellowship of the Meeting, to be nurtured in their spiritual development and their understanding of the faith and practice of Friends, and to be guided and encouraged in preparation for Quaker adulthood. The Meeting should sympathetically help children prepare for the decisions they must face, such as those regarding cultural conformity and military service. As they mature, if they have received this care from their Meeting, they will become increasingly conscious of the full meaning of the responsibilities of membership in the Religious Society of Friends and be ready to make their own decision regarding membership. Growing up in a Meeting offers children an extended religious family. It is the Meeting's joyful responsibility to provide an atmosphere of care, love, and recognition-in short, a spiritual home-for all young people in the Meeting, regardless of their membership status or that of their parents. A monthly meeting's approach to membership for children should promote the goal of a Religious Society of Friends made up of members by mature convincement. Some Friends believe the process of nurture of the young toward mature convincement is aided by a child's sense of belonging fully to a Meeting, a sense that comes only with membership. Other Friends believe the process is aided by a status of associate member that calls for a child to make an assertion of mature convincement when ready to do so. Still others believe that any form of involuntary membership limits a child's freedom to choose. Monthly meetings are encouraged to respect parents' sense as to what is best for their children. Thus, either on their own initiative or in response to an inquiry from the Meeting, parents who are members may, at the time of their child's birth or adoption or later: [1] request membership for their child; [2] request associate membership for their child; [3] not request any enrollment for the child. If the parents are members of different Meetings, the parents decide which Meeting records the child. When only one parent is a member, children may be recorded upon the request of one parent and with the permission of the other or, under unusual circumstances, upon the request of one parent. Where there is only one legal parent, that member may request membership or associate membership for the child. Meetings are urged to recognize the diversity of family patterns and be sensitive to the concerns of all involved. Parents requesting membership for their child should intend to raise the child as a Friend in a Meeting community. The parents and the Meeting should help the child to grow gradually into the responsibilities of membership, and should encourage the child to take on specific responsibilities when ready. The meeting has an obligation to those recorded as members at a young age to ensure that as they reach adulthood they are aware that they should thoughtfully consider their own commitment to membership. Associate membership is available only to children. It carries with it the full responsibilities and privileges of membership up to age 21. (For yearly meeting statistical purposes associate members will not be recorded after their 21st birthday.) Associate members, when they are led, may request full membership. The monthly meeting should encourage associate members nearing the age of 21 to apply. If an associate member does not take this step by the age of 21, that person's name will be dropped from membership. If an associate member is not clear by that age about applying and is dropped from membership, it is the Meeting's responsibility to continue a caring relationship. Such a person may be encouraged to apply for membership when ready. A person may apply for membership in a Meeting at any age, following the procedure set forth above. Meetings are urged to show a loving flexibility which recognizes the uniqueness of each person's spiritual growth. Some people are spiritually ready for membership early in their lives; others are ready only as adults. In the case of younger applicants, it may be desirable to ascertain the support of the parents or guardian. Transfer of Membership to Another Meeting Friends who live at a distance from their own monthly meeting but near another will do well to transfer their membership to the nearer one unless there is some very special reason not to do so. Residence in the vicinity makes it possible to enjoy the benefits, and to carry out the responsibilities, of membership in a particular Meeting. Inability to participate in the life of one's own Meeting means a loss to both the individual and the Meeting. A member of one monthly meeting who moves to the area of another is normally accepted as a member of the Religious Society of Friends and welcomed into membership. Pending transfer of membership, both Meetings should cooperate in discharging their responsibility toward the member. Duties of the monthly meeting from which the member is moving To initiate the transfer of membership, Friends who have moved away from their Meeting should apply to that Meeting for a letter of transfer to a Meeting near their new place of residence. When a monthly meeting receives such an application for transfer, the overseers should, unless there is a strong reason to doubt their member's willingness to contribute to the life of another Meeting, prepare in duplicate a letter of transfer, recommending the Friend to the care of the Meeting to which transfer is requested. If the monthly meeting approves the application for transfer, the clerk should sign the letter, the principal copy being forwarded to the receiving monthly meeting, the duplicate being retained for the records. When the Meeting issuing the transfer receives acknowledgment that the new Meeting has accepted the Friend into membership, the original Meeting terminates the Friend's membership, noting its action in the minutes. Duties of the monthly meeting to which the Friend is moving The clerk of the monthly meeting to which a member is being transferred should acknowledge receipt of the letter. Then the clerk should refer it to the overseers who should recommend action to the monthly meeting. If there is ground for serious objection to the transfer, the letter should be returned to the Meeting which issued it. If there is no objection, the monthly meeting should accept the transfer and record the Friend as a member, sending information to that effect to the issuing Meeting, to which the Friend in the interim has continued to belong. Following a transfer, the monthly meeting should appoint one or more Friends to welcome the new member, including an invitation to attend meetings for worship and business, serve on committees, and share in the financial support of the Meeting. Duties of the recorder concerning letters of transfer The recorder should keep a list of all letters of transfer issued and accepted by the Meeting. The accepting Meeting's recorder should notify the yearly meeting of the new member. On occasion, Friends request a transfer of membership for reasons other than a change of residence. The procedure noted above applies in any case. Sojourning members Friends may attend a monthly meeting because they have moved temporarily into its vicinity, but may not wish to give up membership in their home Meeting, to which they expect to return eventually. Their desires in this regard should be set forth in a minute from their home Meeting. Such Friends are listed as sojourning members of the Meeting they attend. Sojourning Friends may fulfill all functions that they are willing to undertake and that the host Meeting sees fit to assign to them. However, they should not be counted in the statistical reports of the host Meeting. Their sojourning membership ends when they leave the area of the Meeting where they have sojourned. Its clerk should then notify their home Meeting. Those who continue as sojourning Friends for an extended period should be asked to examine their reasons for remaining in that status, and to consider a transfer of membership. Joining other religious bodies If members wish to leave the Religious Society of Friends and join some other religious body, they should notify their monthly meeting. The monthly meeting may give them a letter stating their good standing in the Religious Society of Friends. When they have been received in membership by another religious group, their membership with Friends shall cease. Requests for dual membership Membership is a major commitment to participate in a particular community of Friends, and full participation in two religious bodies at once is usually impractical. Except in unusual circumstances, a member of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting belongs to a particular monthly meeting and should not hold membership in any other religious body, including another monthly meeting. Termination of membership Resignation by the individual Members may find that they are not in accord with the faith and practice of Friends or do not feel led to be involved actively in a monthly meeting over a significant period of time. They should seek the advice of the overseers or of others in the Meeting in whom they have confidence and try with their help to examine their own beliefs and practices and the reasons for disagreement or uninvolvement with Friends. If no resolution results, they may resign from the Religious Society of Friends in a letter to the clerk of their Meeting. When a member resigns, the Meeting is not absolved from further care. A committee appointed either from overseers or from the Meeting at large should visit the Friend, inquire in love and forbearance into the cause of the resignation and, if appropriate, endeavor to bring the member back into the fellowship of Friends. A resignation may be accepted without appointing a committee when the Meeting is already well acquainted with the case and is satisfied that the member's decision will not be altered by friendly efforts. When the Meeting accedes to a member's decision to resign, a minute should be made stating that this Friend is released at his/her own request. The individual should be informed of this action and is no longer a member of the Religious Society of Friends. Letters written in acceptance of a resignation should always manifest a considerate regard for the person leaving membership. Release by the monthly meeting When a member disregards the obligations of membership and exhibits lack of interest or responsibility, fails to reply to communications from the overseers or others, or passes out of the knowledge of the Meeting, then being part of the Meeting is obviously of little value to that member. In such cases it is normally the task of overseers to attempt to restore interest and involvement. Under exceptional circumstances the monthly meeting may appoint a special committee for this purpose. If continued efforts prove unavailing, the monthly meeting should make a minute noting the circumstances and recording removal of the individual from membership. The clerk of the Meeting should promptly send written notice of this action to the individual. Such notice should also remind the released individual that an appeal to quarterly meeting is possible; in such a case the quarterly meeting may be able to play a mediating role. It is, however, the monthly meeting's responsibility to make the final decision. In the case of a Friend whose actions seem out of harmony with the standard of conduct appropriate to the Religious Society of Friends, the Meeting, primarily through the overseers, may seek to renew the commitment of the member to Friends' practice. If these efforts fail, and if the overseers believe that they can accomplish nothing further, they should report this to the monthly meeting, which may appoint a special committee to make further attempts to reach a satisfactory solution. If all these efforts are to no avail, the monthly meeting should take steps toward removal of the Friend from membership. The overseers or a special committee should present in writing a proposed minute recommending such action. When the minute is received by the monthly meeting, a copy should be given promptly to the person involved, and action should be deferred to a future meeting. Friends toward whom the monthly meeting has acted in this way should be advised that they may explain their position to the monthly meeting in person or in writing. If the monthly meeting subsequently believes that the membership of the Friend in question should be discontinued, the minute of removal should be adopted and the Friend notified of the action and of the potential mediating role of quarterly meeting. All dealings involving removal from membership should be handled with the utmost patience, forbearance, and consideration, for the sake of both the individual and the Meeting. A person whose membership has been ended either by resignation or by action of the monthly meeting, and who desires to rejoin either the same or a different monthly meeting, may do so by following the procedure outlined earlier for application for membership. Some persons may wish to retain membership in the Religious Society of Friends when, over a period of many years, they are not active in any monthly meeting. At its discretion, a monthly meeting may carry inactive persons on its membership rolls, while recognizing its obligation to report them as part of the basis for financial assessment by the quarterly and yearly meeting. Long-term nominal membership is generally discouraged, however, except when active Meeting participation is not possible because of poor health, residence far away from any Meeting (so that transfer of membership or sojourning membership is not feasible), or some other compelling factor. Membership records Accurate information on the membership status of each member is kept by the recorder of each monthly meeting and shared with the quarterly meeting and yearly meeting as requested. Friends and Education Since its beginnings in the mid-seventeenth century, the Religious Society of Friends has emphasized the importance of education both for its members and for society generally. Friends have held that all persons are potential channels for the Inner Light and that all can benefit from education. Such benefit is more likely if education is spiritual in its nature and objectives, if it draws people ever nearer to a concern for others and strengthens their commitment to live in accordance with spiritual principles. For guidance in word and deed, we look first to the Spirit as revealed in ourselves and in others. We recognize as did George Fox that education in itself does not necessarily lead to a deeper spiritual sensitivity and that there are many who lack extensive formal education yet who bring pure water from the spiritual springs of life. But we also know from experience that the perspective provided by sound education, which includes the development of skills in listening and communicating, helps us to identify what is faithful to the Light in our own leadings, to interpret and communicate those leadings, and to weigh the leadings of others. Friends regard spiritual growth as an essential component of sound education. Such growth occurs when our receptivity to the Inner Light, the Seed of Christ, the Teacher Within is nurtured by studying the Bible and other religious literature. While Friends emphasize spiritual maturation, we do not neglect the acquisition of intellectual and practical skills and of aesthetic appreciation. Whether within the family, monthly meeting, Friends schools and colleges, or the various levels of public education, Friends are committed to an educational experience that balances heart, mind, and hand in spiritual wholeness. Many Friends today are called to careers in education of every kind and at every level, public and private, and see their service in these vocations as a form of religious witness. Responsibilities of monthly meetings Monthly meetings have a special responsibility to bring children and adults under their care into full participation in the life of the Meeting and into an understanding of the beliefs and practices of the Religious Society of Friends. Meetings are expected to offer religious education programs for their members and attenders. Such programs can include special study groups, worship sharing opportunities, service projects, and Meeting libraries, but the cornerstone of religious education for most Meetings is a thriving First Day School program for children, youth, and adults. These efforts will succeed only if members actively support them by full participation, rather than leaving parents to cope alone with the religious education of their children. While recognizing the limitations of their spiritual, personal, and financial resources, Meetings should actively welcome every opportunity to nurture the spiritual growth of their members and attenders. A Meeting may be asked to assist individuals who seek financial and other practical support in order to attend a Friends school or a college/university. It may be asked to support individuals who are involved in continuing education, whether at a weekend conference or for a term at a Quaker study center. It may be asked to help individuals with special needs to attend public or private schools that have been established with those needs in mind. Occasionally, it may be asked to provide oversight for families that choose to instruct their children at home. A Meeting may consider the challenge of forming and sustaining its own Friends school, should the children of its members and attenders not have access to an existing Friends school. In all of these ways, and in others besides, Meetings may have the opportunity to support the educational needs and objectives of the children and adults under their care. A periodic review of these responsibilities may be stimulated and focused by the following queries: 1 What is our Meeting's vision of Friends witness in the world with regard to education? 2 In what ways does our Meeting demonstrate support for Friends education? 3 How do our Meeting and its members support education beyond Friends schools? 4 If this Meeting has a school under its care, how does it exercise spiritual oversight and governance of the school? 5 How does our Meeting's school define itself as a Friends school? Friends Schools and Colleges Friends are the owners and managers of a substantial number of educational institutions. In the region served by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting there are three colleges, a study/retreat center, and some forty schools which have been founded and continue to be sustained by Friends and Friends Meetings. Though the original purpose of most of the schools was to provide an education for Friends' children that would shelter them from the temptations of the larger society, they now welcome non-Friends and seek to engage that society. Indeed, in all of its educational institutions, the Religious Society of Friends primarily serves not itself, but the larger community. At the same time, these institutions seek to provide a kind of community life and experience that is founded upon and guided by Friends' beliefs. Ideally, the experience of a Friends school or college, like the experience of a meeting for worship, is a withdrawal from the world into a spirit-led community, followed by a return to everyday life, nourished and prepared for a more truthful engagement with it. Those who have experienced Friends' concern for simplicity, equality, justice, and compassion in our educational institutions often have significant and positive influence in their wider communities. Friends as individuals and as Meetings have a special responsibility to support Friends educational institutions. These institutions are an important Quaker outreach to the larger world, insofar as they embody our ways of worship, our social testimonies, and our commitment to service. Thus, Friends seek to incorporate spiritual values throughout the entire program of our schools and colleges. We acknowledge there the cogency of George Fox's admonition that we "be patterns, be examples...that [our] carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people, and to them," so that both students and staff "will come to walk cheerfully over the earth, answering that of God in everyone." This religious orientation includes meeting for worship and the study of the Bible and other religious literature, and of Quakerism and other faiths. The intent is to deepen the religious awareness and growth of students and staff rather than to proselytize. A Friends educational institution is more likely to fulfill its mission if there is a solid core of students, parents, and graduates who understand and actively support our Quaker beliefs and practices. The effectiveness of a Quaker witness in our schools and colleges especially depends upon the spiritual depth and commitment to Friends beliefs and practices of the members of the governing body, the administrators, and the staff. That commitment requires careful attention not only to the processes and structures of governance but also to preventing any form of discrimination or disempowerment based on age, gender, race, sexual orientation, economic status, or religion while assuring that prime importance be accorded to the students' welfare and proper education. Friends schools and colleges today seek to include students and staff from widely varied economic and ethnic backgrounds. Such increasing diversity in our educational communities can both challenge and strengthen them. Bringing different traditions, experiences, and perspectives together in a common search for truth requires time, thought, and a genuine willingness to change, but offers the rewards of deeper understanding and a vital and inclusive community. Friends and Public Education Friends have a responsibility, as do all citizens, to be informed, concerned, and active contributors to the public educational system and hence to the quality of life in our communities. Whether as parents, teachers, administrators, school board members, consultants, or taxpayers, Friends can make an important witness. We should also give informed, active support to those Quaker children who attend public schools and to those Friends who devote themselves as teachers and administrators in the public educational system at whatever level. Such support is of particular importance to those children and adults who, through their commitment to truth and through the quality of their relationships, seek to maintain a Quaker witness in situations where our testimonies are unpopular. Quaker Marriage Procedure Marriage is a sacred commitment of two people to love one another in faithful partnership with the expectation that the relationship will mature and be mutually enriching. Friends know that marriage depends on the inner experiences of the couple who marry and not on any external service or words. Thus, the ceremony in which the couple enter into this commitment is performed by the couple alone, in the presence of God, the families, and the worshiping community. Both the solemnity and the joy of the occasion are enhanced by its simplicity. The Meeting extends its loving care through its oversight of clearness for the couple and, upon approval of the Meeting, through careful attention to a meeting for worship for marriage. In addition, care is given to assure that any applicable legal requirements are addressed. Securing Meeting approval The couple intending marriage writes to the Meeting or Meetings under whose care they would be married. Any date the couple is planning for the wedding should be far enough in the future to allow the Meeting time to fulfill its responsibilities. When the clerk receives the request, the letter is customarily read at meeting for business, often after preliminary consideration by overseers. The Meeting then appoints a committee of clearness. Some Meetings have standing committees for this purpose, chosen from Friends of proven abilities. The method of securing approval varies with circumstances. a When only one Meeting is being asked for the oversight, the couple simply forwards the request to the Meeting, which then appoints the clearness committee. b When the two belong to separate Meetings, they must allow time for both Meetings to consider the request. The Meetings may each name committees for clearness, or they may decide to name a joint committee. If one Meeting is at a distance, a correspondent may be assigned to confer with the clearness committee where the marriage will take place. Whatever the process, approval is granted by both Meetings before the couple proceeds with the wedding. A Meeting may offer assistance to Friends wishing to be married under its care, even though they live too far from their home Meeting to be married there. c When one of the couple is not a member of the Religious Society of Friends, the clearness committee endeavors through consultation with the couple and the family and friends of the non-member to discover whether obstacles exist. d If the Meeting agrees to consider a marriage under its care when neither party is a member of a Meeting, the clearness committee takes the necessary steps to become familiar with the couple and their circumstances before recommending approval. It should encourage the couple to take ample time to attend meetings for worship and offer themselves and the members of the Meeting the opportunity to come to know each other. Only so will non-members feel at home in the Meeting, and only so will the Meeting be able to grant clearness in good conscience. In the case of non-members, the Meeting also assures that any additional applicable legal requirements are met. (See also Marriage not under the care of the Meeting, p. 52) Clearness: the process The term clearness referred originally to clearness from other marriage commitments. Today, within a broader sense of clearness, the committee explores areas of understanding with the couple, considering what it takes to achieve the permanence and satisfaction of a committed, loving relationship, and the extent to which the couple is prepared for the dedication and constancy such a relationship requires. Knowledge of available resources for the couple and the committee is essential for any Meeting, including Quaker literature on the subject. The purpose of clearness is well served when members of the committee ask thoughtful questions and listen attentively, leaving space for worship in the exchange. Potential difficulties-and the role of Divine assistance in this process as well as in the future development of the relationship-can be carefully and openly explored. A committee under the weight of the couple's future success knows that failure to speak truth in kindness is to risk possible suffering. Such truth is best shared from the actual experience of Friends. The committee can be guided by these suggested queries for the couple: ¥ How did the couple meet? What values and beliefs do they hold in common? On what matters do they differ? Can they meet differences with humor and respect? Are they open to considering outside help if such guidance seems warranted? ¥ Do they both see marriage as sacred? Are they open to seeking divine assistance? What are their plans for nurturing the spiritual basis for their marriage? ¥ Do they each see themselves and their partner as equal and trusted, sharing responsibilities and decisions? Do they communicate feelings, needs, dreams and fears? ¥ Are they aware of the need for other friendships that contribute to both individual growth and the marriage relationship? ¥ Have they thought about children, and the joys and the challenges families create, including consideration of how the work is shared? ¥ If there are children in either relationship to consider, has the couple broached the subject of this change of relationship with them? ¥ How do they view their relationships to their extended families? to their community? to society as a whole? ¥ Are there prior obligations-legal or financial or other-that need to be met? ¥ What are the views of the parents concerning this relationship? (Parents may send a letter.) ¥ What other questions does the couple have? The clearness committee does its best to confirm that the intended partners follow a true leading in seeking marriage. Since occasionally obstructions do appear, it is considered wise to treat all applications with the same degree of care. The focus for the committee is the two people being married and attention to their responsibilities to each other and to their families. Particularly with young people, the Meeting seeks from the parents of the couples their expressions of unity with this intention, usually in the form of a letter. When either of the couple brings children to this union, their well-being must be considered; but whether the children should be consulted regarding their feelings about their parent's marriage is a question to which there is no generally accepted answer. If the clearness committee and the couple feel that it would be helpful, it is appropriate to include the children in the clearness process. While most Friends' marriage ceremonies conform to civil law, couples who do not want, or are not eligible to contract, a legal marriage occasionally ask for a ceremony of commitment or a wedding under the care of the Meeting. The Religious Society of Friends has long asserted its freedom to conduct under divine leading marriage ceremonies not conforming to civil law. If the clearness committee is satisfied that there is no obstacle to the proposed marriage, it so reports to the monthly meeting at its next business session. If the Meeting finds no objection with the proposed marriage, it will approve holding an appointed meeting for worship for marriage, in accordance with the couple's wishes. Wedding invitations should be sent out only after the Meeting's approval is granted. Overseeing the preparation When the Meeting has given its approval for the wedding to take place under its care, it appoints an oversight committee from among its members, usually two men and two women, to oversee the arrangements. The parties to be married should be asked whether there is anyone they would like particularly to serve on this committee. Members of another Meeting may be included if so desired. The oversight committee provides guidance to the couple as the marriage ceremony is arranged, including the obtaining of the applicable legal license and the Quaker marriage certificate. Oversight continues through the ceremony and afterwards, to assure that details are completed in right order. The oversight committee ordinarily assumes responsibility for the certificate and for the license until it is signed by the couple after the wedding. It keeps track of the process of obtaining and safeguarding the two documents through the completion of the signing, and the transferal to the appropriate parties. It also oversees the presentation of the certificate at the wedding. Because in some places the proper license form may not be immediately available, it is important to allow enough time for obtaining the license. The Quaker marriage certificate also requires preparation well ahead of time. The couple arranges for the certificate and may need assistance in the details necessary to accomplish this. In addition, any contemplated changes from the traditional text deserve thoughtful and careful consideration, in consultation with the oversight committee. Conducting a Quaker wedding A Quaker wedding is a meeting for worship in which a marriage takes place. As the meeting for worship begins, some designated person may rise to explain, for the benefit of those new to Quaker worship, the absence of clergy, the role of the gathered, and the solemnity of the occasion. Printed information also has been found useful. Following a period of silence, as long or as short as the couple is led to observe, the two rise and, each in turn taking the other by the hand, make their promises to each other, in the words from their marriage certificate, in tones clear enough to be heard throughout the meeting. When they are seated again, the marriage certificate is brought to them for their signatures. The certificate is then read to the meeting by a person asked in advance to do so. The meeting then continues and offers an opportunity to those present to share in the ceremony through prayer, meditation, and other spoken messages. The person chosen to close the meeting may, if desired, first allow the wedding party to withdraw. At the close of the meeting, all those who have been present are asked to sign the certificate as witnesses. Friends are urged to consider carefully the intrusion into the spirit of worship that recording of any kind can present. Photographing, visible audio taping, and videotaping during the ceremony are often discouraged. Following the wedding Both sections of the marriage license obtained from the county or municipality are signed by the couple and by members of the oversight committee as witnesses. The proper section of the license thus signed is then returned within the legal time limit to the office from which it has been obtained. The marriage certificate is handed to the Meeting's recorder to be entered in the records of the monthly meeting. When this has been done, the recorder sends the certificate to the newly married couple. At the next business meeting the oversight committee reports to the monthly meeting that the wedding has taken place in accordance with Friends' practice, and that the requirements of the law have been properly observed. Ongoing care and nurture of Friends married under a Meeting's care continues as long as the couple is in the community of the Meeting. If the couple relocates, the Meeting may maintain an informal relationship with them and stay open to requests for support or help, but the actual nurture is best carried out by the Meeting to which the couple transfers. Marriage not under the care of the Meeting Marriage of members apart from the Meeting community Members who marry outside the Meeting should promptly inform the Meeting of their marriage. It is then the task of the Meeting to assign overseers to visit the newly married couple-or, if they live far away, to write to them-and to express the Meeting's continuing interest and care. Non-member marriage partners should be made welcome and invited to attend meetings for worship and business if they live within reach of the monthly meeting. Meetings may offer a place of worship and other assistance at the request of Friends from a distance who wish to be married there but under the care of their home meeting. Communication between Meetings assures the proper clearness process and help in the oversight of the wedding. Marriage of non-members There are occasions when non-members request marriage with the help of a Meeting, using the Friends marriage ceremony. Since Friends do hold marriage to be under divine guidance, the couple should be fully aware and agreeable to the context of marriage for Friends. Meetings are encouraged to consider in advance what services they can offer, and to look into the legal aspects of marriage of non-members, so that when such requests are made, they can be considered realistically and in a timely fashion. Review of responsibilities required for the good order of a Quaker marriage ceremony A review of the duties and responsibilities of those concerned: To promote clarity and understanding, the duties and responsibilities of the persons to be married, of the clerk, and of the committees of the monthly meeting are separately outlined here. These should be reviewed in conjunction with the previous text. Responsibilities of the persons to be married: 1 To present to the monthly meeting under whose care they wish to be married the following written communications, usually directed to the clerk's attention: _ a letter signed by both parties stating their intention of marriage and their desire that the monthly meeting have oversight of the wedding. Whenever possible or appropriate it should be accompanied by letters from parents or guardians assuring the Meeting of their interest in, and approval of, the plans under consideration. _ upon approval for marriage, the request for permission to be married in a regular or, the usual practice, a specially appointed meeting for worship. The request should include the date of marriage and the time of day desired. _ suggested names of Friends whom the couple would like to have serve as an oversight committee for the wedding. 2 To meet with a clearness committee to explore the leading to marry. 3 To mail out invitations only after approval has been granted by the monthly meeting or Meetings involved. 4 To meet with the oversight committee named to oversee the wedding, at a time and place suggested by the committee, to discuss plans for the wedding, including the choice of persons to read the marriage certificate and to open and close the meeting for worship. 5 a