Centre Meeting: Members and Attenders

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Going Deeper

As you feel comfortable, we invite you to become more involved in the life of the community by attending a potluck, adult forum or Meeting for Worship for Business. You might also want to join a committee or consider formal membership.

Reading Quaker literature is another way of going deeper. The Quaker Information Center has compiled an excellent reading list for those interested in learning more about Quakerism that you will find by clicking here. Many of these books can be borrowed from the Meeting Library located in the East Horse Shed.

Faith and Practice is a particularly important resource. Faith and Practice is published by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, most recently in 1979. It describes Quaker beliefs, the structure of the Religious Society of Friends and guidelines for the operation of a Monthly Meeting. Copies of Faith and Practice and Howard Brinton’s Friends for 300 Years are available at no cost in the Meetinghouse kitchen. Selected Pendle Hill pamphlets are also available for $6.00 each.

Meeting for Worship for Business

All are welcome to attend and participate in monthly Meetings for Worship for Business. As the name implies, this is intended to be a Meeting for Worship where business is conducted in the same good order, peaceable spirit and attention to spirit characteristic of worship.

Everyone is encouraged to speak in business meetings. It is customary to raise one’s hand and wait to be acknowledged by the Clerk. Usually one speaks just once to an issue and briefly. Expressing a conflicting viewpoint is fine but argument or debate is discouraged. If one is speaking truth it will be recognized as such by others regardless of how often it is repeated or passionately argued.

Decisions are not made by voting or majority rule. Instead, after discussion of an issue the Clerk will attempt to discern the “sense of the meeting” or where unity lies and then ask for it to be confirmed by those present. If you believe that the Clerk has misread the sense of the meeting or that a resulting minute is off the mark, you are encouraged to make that known.

To learn more about Quaker decision-making see pages 21-28 in Faith and Practice.

Committee Work

Most of the business of the Meeting is carried out by committees.  Attenders and members are appointed to committees by the Nominating Committee. If you would like to be considered for an appointment please make your interest known to the Clerk or a member of Nominating.

The following are brief descriptions of the Meeting’s committees. For more thorough descriptions, please see the Meeting Handbook.

  • Contributions
    •  Recommends specific causes and organizations for Meeting contributions
  • Fellowship
    • Welcomes visitors and organizes social activities for attenders and members
  • Nominating
    • Nominates members and attenders to committees and other positions in the Meeting. The nominations are presented to Meeting for Worship for Business for approval by the entire Meeting
  • Oversight
    • Looks out for the physical needs of attenders and members, evaluates requests for membership and marriage, in general serves the pastoral role of the Meeting
  • Peace and Social Concerns
    •  Works on relating Quaker testimonies to the issues currently arising in the larger community and the world
  • Property
    • Manages the property maintenance and other issues related to the physical property of Centre.  The graveyard subcommittee sells grave plots and assigns specific burial sites when requested
  • Religious Education of Children
    • Members plan and teach First Day School
  • Trustees
    •  Oversees the endowment, plans the budget and serves as the legal agents of the Centre Meeting Corporation
  • Worship and Ministry
    • Focuses on improving worship of the Meeting, organizes adult education, and is mindful of the spiritual needs of attenders and members

Membership

As you become more familiar with Quakerism and Centre Friends Meeting we hope that you begin to feel at home. At that point you may feel moved to make your affiliation with the Meeting and the Religious Society of Friends more formal. Discern if you are ready to commit to regular attendance at Meeting for Worship, participation in business meetings, committee work and financial support of the Meeting, to the degree that you are able. When the time is right, send your letter of application to the Clerk. The Clerk will then read your letter aloud at a Meeting for Worship for Business. If the letter is accepted it, will be forwarded to Oversight which is the committee responsible for membership.

The Larger World of Quakerism

Centre Friends Meeting is considered a “Monthly Meeting” because we meet once a month to conduct business.

Centre belongs to a “Quarterly Meeting”.  Western  Quarterly Meeting  meets formally four times a year but provides support throughout the year to Meetings in the region. This website is hosted by  Western Quarterly Meeting. You can find out more about the organization by clicking on the blue tool bar above. The member meetings of Western Quarterly Meeting are listed to the right.

Centre is also a part of a “Yearly Meeting.” Philadelphia Yearly Meeting sponsors an annual gathering of people from all the Quarters in the region. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting also operates throughout the year through committees and working groups made up paid staff and volunteers.

Finally, there are “Associations of Yearly Meetings.” Friends General Conference is an association of Yearly meetings in the Hicksite tradition. It is a volunteer-led organization that seeks to deepen Quaker worship, spirituality and outreach.

There are many other Quaker organizations and publications to explore. This list of links provided by Friends Committee on National Legislation is a good place to start.

Resources

The following resources may be of interest to attenders and members:

History

Meeting Business

Spirituality