Yearly Meeting is a term used by members of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, to refer to an organization composed of a collection of smaller, more frequent constituent meetings within a geographical area. These constituent meetings go by various names such as Quarterly Meetings, which meet four times a year, Monthly Meetings, Area Meetings or Regional Meetings. Quarterly meetings, in Yearly Meetings where they exist, are organizations usually composed of a group of Monthly Meetings.
Yearly Meetings derive their name from annual gatherings of members and attendees of the Religious Society of Friends—from constituent meetings—in order to transact the business of the Yearly Meeting.
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Yearly Meeting gatherings are times for Friends from a wide geographical area to come together to worship, to discuss their concerns, and to seek God's guidance on issues facing Friends in that region. Yearly Meetings also oversee the constituent meetings, and publish the guiding principles, organizational processes and collected expressions of faith of Friends in that geographical area. These publications are often called (Quaker) Faith and Practice books, or are known by other titles.
Like many aspects of Quakerism the concept of the Yearly Meeting arose gradually. English Friends began to meet as a large group starting in the 1650s. However, the oldest Yearly Meeting in Britain, Britain Yearly Meeting (originally the London Yearly Meeting), considers the year 1668 its official founding. New England Yearly Meeting dates its founding from 1661. In the early days the business of the meeting was to receive answers to the Yearly Meeting's queries to the Quarterly Meetings, to read epistles from traveling Friends, and to discuss current events and issues. They also proposed and planned the establishment of Quaker institutions, such as schools.
As the Religious Society of Friends grew and spread around the world, new Yearly Meetings were established. While often influenced by the activities of other Yearly Meetings, each of the Yearly Meetings is autonomous.
A Yearly Meeting, as with all Quaker meetings, is considered a time of worship and contemplation, even when dealing with matters of business. The Friends who are gathered wait in silence, listening to the leading of God's spirit within them. Those who feel led to do so share their insights, while the others listen. Ideally a member takes time to listen to the Friend who spoke previously, before sharing his or her thoughts. Eventually a 'sense of the meeting' begins to emerge. The clerk of the meeting—a type of facilitator—tries to formulate a minute that reflects the sense of the meeting, and then more discussion follows. When it is clear that there is agreement, the sense of the meeting is recorded in the minute developed by the clerk. Some Friends at the meeting may have reservations about the matter but choose to defer to the others. Friends believe and hope that the minute is God's will on the matter. However, nothing is considered a permanent and inviolable law among Friends and every matter is open to future changes.
Before the close of a yearly meeting, Friends will agree on an epistle that will summarise the workings of the gathering. Yearly meetings publish the epistles that they receive from other yearly meetings, before their annual gathering. It is the custom to read out selections from these epistles during yearly meeting sessions.
All Friends who are members of a constituent Meeting are members of the corresponding Yearly Meeting and may attend and participate on an equal basis—there is no hierarchy within the Religious Society of Friends. Many specific issues of concern to Quakers are dealt with by committees selected by Yearly Meetings.
Yearly Meetings are named for a nation (e. g., Canadian Yearly Meeting), a region within a nation (e. g., New England Yearly Meeting), a state (e. g. Illinois Yearly Meeting), or a large city that serves as a hub (e. g., Philadelphia Yearly Meeting). The entire name of a Yearly Meeting usually includes the words 'of the Religious Society of Friends' (e. g., New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends) although some do not (e.g. Evangelical Friends Church-Mid America Yearly Meeting).
Many Yearly Meetings are part of larger groups. In the United States and a few other countries the three main groups of Friends are the Friends General Conference, the Friends United Meeting, and Evangelical Friends International. A broader group that crosses theological, organizational and national lines is the Friends World Committee for Consultation.
See also Quakers in Kenya
See also Quakers in Latin America
See also Quakers in Europe
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