Meeting for worship for business

"Being orderly come together… proceed in the wisdom of God, not in the way of the world… not deciding affairs by the greater vote… [but by] assenting together as one man in the spirit of truth and equity, and by the authority thereof."

... a Friends Meeting for Business is a Meeting for Worship in which business is conducted by seeking God’s will in the decisions that are to be made. The silent worship with which the Meeting for Business both opens and closes connects individuals to the Spirit. It prompts them to be sensitive to and grounded in the Love that binds the Meeting.

... Friends do not vote or act on the will of the majority. In Quaker experience, it is possible for all to unite in a decision, even when some have reservations. A united Meeting is not necessarily of one mind but it is all of one heart.

...Decisions made in unity are not victories or defeats when Friends remain faithful, preserving the loving unity and higher purpose of the Meeting. Business conducted as a corporate endeavor in a Meeting for Worship enables Friends to move forward with confidence and joy.

Source

Selections from Faith and Practice: A guide to Quaker discipline in the experience of Pacific Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, 2001 p. 31. Online

Information about business meetings on other websites

When Friends attend to business
"The basis upon which we hold our meetings for business...is that this is God's world, that God has unfinished business for us to do..."
Quaker business meetings : how Friends make decisions
An introduction to Quaker Business practice
"...the sense of being led into Unity with one another becomes a fundamental mark of the Divine work in the world."
How Friends (Quakers) conduct church business
"[Friends decision making] ... assumes that God speaks consistently to all and therefore that all who genuinely seek the will of God can find unity in what it is.