id: quaker-meeting-for-worship-with-attention-to-business
title: Quaker Meeting for Business
description: >-
  A Quaker meeting for conducting business through worshipful listening and
  discernment of the "sense of the meeting," without voting. Practised by
  the Religious Society of Friends since the 17th century.
source: Britain Yearly Meeting, "Quaker Faith and Practice"
source_url: https://www.quaker.org.uk/
tags: [quaker, business, discernment, consensus]
forked_from: null
image: null
steps:
  - headline: Settle into worship
    description: >-
      The meeting opens with silence, settling the group into a worshipful
      state before any business is conducted.
  - headline: Present the matter
    description: >-
      The clerk introduces the item with relevant facts and any minute from
      a prior meeting, then pauses for reflection.
  - headline: Speak as led
    description: >-
      Participants rise to speak only as they feel led by the Spirit,
      one at a time, with pauses between contributions.
  - headline: Discern the sense
    description: >-
      The clerk listens for the emerging "sense of the meeting" and drafts a
      minute reflecting it, reading it back for the meeting's unity.
  - headline: Record the minute
    description: >-
      When the meeting unites on the minute, it is recorded. If unity is not
      reached, the matter is held over or laid aside.
outcome: >-
  A decision is recorded that the meeting can unite behind, reached through
  worshipful discernment rather than majority rule.
practice: >-
  The clerk serves, not leads — drafting the minute is the work of
  discernment. If two strongly held positions remain, the clerk lays the
  matter down rather than forcing a vote.