Friends’ business meetings are quite unlike other business meetings you might have experienced. Their form differs from that of a debating society or a union or board meeting. Their form is also liable to vary in detail from one monthly meeting to another. There is a form to it, but it is a flexible one, sensitive to the needs of the individual meeting.

Perhaps a Friends’ business meeting can be described as an exercise in attentiveness, in listening to the promptings of the Spirit. The overriding need is to discern the will of God in the meeting, and business meetings should be conducted with that fundamental aim in mind.

The physical setting of the meeting reflects this worshipful atmosphere. Where possible, the members of the meeting sit in a semi-circle facing the Clerk. The Clerk is not in any sense a minister or priest but is there to help the meeting to articulate its decision in the form of an acceptable minute.

Making decisions in a spirit of worship

At business meetings Friends tend to adopt certain customs or modes of behaviour. The following are perhaps the most important in shaping form and atmosphere of a business meeting although not all will be present in every business meeting.

• everything from the initial silence to the final handshake is to be regarded as worship.
• we observe silence between individuals’ contributions. These silences are crucial, not only for the period of reflection they provide; but also, because they enable a meeting to proceed as a gathered body. They act as a brake against one or more individuals seizing control of the meeting through rhetorical display, appeal to emotions or other means.
• we try to come to meeting in a prayerful, open state of mind, so that we may be open to the Spirit. In the meeting, we strive to lay ourselves open to others’ arguments: no matter how much we may think truth is on our side we must consider the possibility that we may be mistaken. The true spirit of the business method is thus one of attentive listening.
• we should not speak until called upon to do so by the Clerk. The usual way to indicate that we wish to speak is to stand up. We do not attempt to speak while the Clerk is trying to draft a minute.
• we normally speak once only on a subject unless responding to a direct question or giving factual information. (We may speak on another subject if we want, however.) We speak plainly. We do not speechify, hector or attempt to filibuster. It is appropriate to speak with conviction or with passion, but not with prejudice.
• we may express contradictory views, but do not argue with one another in meeting. We state what we want to say frankly and briefly without belittling each other’s points. The meeting thus should never become a debating club; nor should the situation ever arise where we try to interrupt or shout down another’s contribution. Having spoken once to the issue, we must trust that if further valid points occur to us, others will raise them.
• if documents are brought to the meeting, they may be referred to but should not be read out unless the Clerk or meeting asks for them.

 [This comes from a description put together for new attenders in Scotland’s Quaker Meetings. This was very much the underpinning for Adwoa Burnley’s experience of being clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting (https://www.quakerscotland.org/businessmeetings ] as shared with 14 Australian Friends on Zoom on 30 December 2025.]