Being Surprised
I love Yearly Meeting and go whenever it is possible. I find that it is part of the foundation of my grounding and rootedness in British Quakerism. It helps me to reconnect to the community as a much wider group. I see and am together with my regular Meetings for Worship (online and in person) and those people who are Friends or family.

Friday evening is often not well attended. It’s where we as a community do the ‘housekeeping’. We appoint clerks and elders and set in motion all the various parts that will weave throughout our time together. An attendee told me they felt that Quakers didn’t have any liturgy, and I laughingly told them to attend Friday’s first session. Afterwards, I wasn’t surprised when they said the patterns of offering of service and acceptance of agenda, plans, names etc felt so much like a liturgy.

No Observers
Item 6 doesn’t even have a description. It’s the slot where members of the Eldership and the Pastoral Care committee explain what their role is. They deliver an overview of who they are, what colour their sash is and where you can find them.
The introduction from Elders had me dashing off notes to myself, and I was so pleased that the introduction became available to download. It’s not long and I do recommend it to you if you’re interested in what should happen during a Meeting for Worship for Business (no matter the length)!
"There are no observers in Quaker worship and discernment: we are all participants, each called, first of all, to be faithful to the promptings of the inward Guide and to listen tenderly as that Guide speaks through our Friends in often unexpected ways."
YM Elders
The quote above was one of the phrases I typed quickly as the Elders spoke. It caught something I’ve found worrying when I talk to Friends about decisions made in a Meeting for Worship for Business. Group discernment doesn’t mean we all agree, but often, people seem to dismiss any discussion or decision that:
- they weren’t part of
- doesn’t align with their own beliefs or feelings
- they don’t understand and therefore dismiss as unimportant
Part of the discipline of the Quaker Business Method is trusting the process, and that the Spirit will speak and discernment will happen even if you aren’t personally present or called to speak.
I was pleased to see in the preparation material for Yearly Meeting a set of Advices and Queries to help
encourage ministry that is faithful, loving, and deeply rooted in the Spirit’s gathering and guiding presence among us
I hope they are more widely circulated and discussed as we all work together to ensure our Meetings for Worship for Business are spirit-led. No matter how large or small the group gathered.
Quakers are a Do-It-Together Religion
In the 2014 Swarthmore Lecture ‘Open for Transformation,’ Ben Pink Dandelion explained this statement as we are waiting for G-D to transform us, and then we go out to transform the world. I felt led to read through this again. The book is still in print and available from Quaker Meeting House libraries, or the Quaker Book Shop. The quote below resonated with my musings.
You can watch the lecture on YouTube or listen to the audio at Woodbrooke.
Out of this ongoing experience of being Friends, we can identify four core Quaker insights or what Quaker faith & practice lists as ‘fundamental elements’ (2013: 11.01). (1) We know we can encounter the Divine directly. This being so, (2) we choose a form of worship to nurture that experience. (3) We have developed practices that enable us to recognise and understand what this experience asks of us, and we root our business method in that experience and discernment of direct encounter. (4) We find that intimacy with the Divine transforms us and our approach to the rest of humanity, and calls us to a distinct way of life: our testimony.These four core insights have remained the basis of Quaker faith across our 360-year history, in all our incarnations, and are shared amongst Friends worldwide. These core insights represent, at their most basic, our heart-understanding of what it is to be a Quaker – the underlying narrative of how we have striven to be a prophetic people (that is, a people who act out of their faith) over the last three-and-a-half centuries. It is a short list, a straightforward one, but a powerful one,
Mindful Business Services Ltd regularly runs free online workshops to support you with practical advice for your charity role. We are passionate about knowledge sharing to ensure that valuable processes, techniques and teachings help us come together to elevate the success of our charities. Learn more by visiting our MBS Classroom or events page. We would be delighted to welcome you and your colleagues.

Wendrie Heywood
MBS Founder