In the
Religious Society of Friends
Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...
(Quakers), a monthly meeting, area meeting (UK),
[British ] or regional meeting (AU)
[Australian ] is the basic governing body, a congregation which holds regular
meetings for business for Quakers in a given area. The meeting is responsible for the administration of its congregants, including membership and
marriages
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
, and for the meeting's property. A meeting can be a grouping of multiple smaller meetings, usually called
preparative meetings, coming together for administrative purposes, while for others it is a single institution. In most countries, multiple monthly or area meetings form a
quarterly or general meeting, which in turn form
yearly meetings.
may refer to their congregation as a
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...
.
Management
Among Quakers, affairs are managed at a particular kind of
meeting for worship
A meeting for worship is what the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) call their church service. Quakers#Splits, Different branches of Quakers have different types of worship, primarily consisting of three types. A meeting for worship in Engl ...
, called a meeting for business, where all members are invited to attend. Decisions are made as a form of worship, where each individual sits in contemplative silence until moved to speak on a subject. At these meetings, Quakers attempt to reach unity on a subject, in a form of religious
consensus decision-making
Consensus decision-making is a group decision-making process in which participants work together to develop proposals for actions that achieve a broad acceptance. #Origin and meaning of term, Consensus is reached when everyone in the group '' ...
, to find "the sense of the meeting".
A monthly meeting is so called because it traditionally holds these meetings once a month, separate from the normal weekly meeting for worship.
Each meeting usually nominates members to serve in certain volunteer positions to facilitate administration, including:
* a
clerk
A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...
and assistant clerk or clerks
* a treasurer
* a registering officer
* a nominations committee
* a body of trustees
* a custodian of records or a committee for the purpose
A monthly meeting is usually associated with a particular place of worship; in many cases, the associated
meeting house
A meeting house (also spelled meetinghouse or meeting-house) is a building where religious and sometimes private meetings take place.
Terminology
Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist Protestant denominations distinguish between a:
* chu ...
has a distinctive style of architecture and interior design, to represent the
Quaker testimony of
Simplicity
Simplicity is the state or quality of being wikt:simple, simple. Something easy to understand or explain seems simple, in contrast to something complicated. Alternatively, as Herbert A. Simon suggests, something is simple or Complexity, complex ...
. Some meeting houses in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
are among the
earliest remaining religious structures in the country, and the oldest meeting house in America is likely the
Third Haven Meeting House in
Talbot County, Maryland
Talbot County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 37,526. Its county seat is Easton. The county was named for Lady Grace Talbot, the wife of Sir Robert Talbot, an Anglo- Irish statesma ...
, built between 1682 and 1684.
Notes
See also
*
Friends World Committee for Consultation
External links
QuakerMaps a resource for finding monthly meetings from across the spectrum of Quakerism, powered by Google Maps.
Quakerfinder a resource for finding
FGC monthly meetings in the United States.
Find a Quaker Meeting in England, Wales or Scotland
{{Religious Society of Friends
Quaker organizations