Membership Questions and Queries

Chapel Hill Friends Meeting

1. What does the phrase “there is that of God in everyone” mean to you? How does this find expression in your life and in your relationships with other people?

2. Where are you now in your spiritual journey? What are you seeking? What are you leaving behind? How do you relate to other current or former religious affiliations?

3. Are you comfortable with the thought of relying on your own inner light as a guide on your spiritual journey, finding continual revelation within rather than relying on external authority? Do you find the collective experience and insights of Friends helpful in reaching your own understandings?

4. Do the teachings of Jesus and traditional Christian views of Jesus have a place in your religious life? Are you comfortable with the wide range of views in this regard among Friends?

5. Do you find the emphasis on the living silence in Friends worship helpful to your religious life? Do you find the messages in the spoken ministry of Friends helpful to you?

6. Do you understand the distinction between a programmed and an unprogrammed Friends meeting? Are you comfortable with the view that all participants in the Meeting are ministers who, through their words or actions, serve the spiritual needs of one another?

7. How does your family feel about your seeking membership in Friends Meeting? Does this present any problems for you?

8. Are you familiar with the historic testimonies of Friends, and to what extent do you try to exemplify them in your life?

• The testimony of peace or non-violence
• The testimony of respect for individuality
• The testimony of community
• The testimony of simplicity
• The testimony of honesty
• The testimony of equality

9. Does the idea of integrating your inner spiritual life to the outer world of your everyday life appeal to you? Does meditation play a part in joining inner and outer?

10. What does it mean that Friends Meetings for Business are conducted in a spirit of worship, and that decisions are reached by active search for unity?

11. What contributions and talents do you feel you can bring the Meeting community through membership? What gifts might you receive from others?

12. How would you characterize a vital meeting? What responsibilities do you feel the Meeting has towards its children? What are the greatest strengths and weaknesses of the Society of Friends as it faces the future?

13. What are your interests in the wider family of Friends as represented by such organizations as Piedmont Friends Fellowship, Yearly Meetings, Friends General Conference, American Friends Service Committee, Friends World Committee for Consultation, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Quaker House, Carolina Friends School and the like?

14. Are you familiar with Quaker publications such as the Friends Journal, Pendle Hill Pamphlet Series, etc.? Are you aware of the Meeting’s own resources (e.g., the library, various funds, clearness committees, adult and children’s religious education programs)?

15. What are your expectations of membership in the Meeting? How can the Meeting facilitate your integration into its membership?

16. What reservations, doubts, or unanswered questions do you have concerning membership in a Friends Meeting?

— Chapel Hill (NC) Meeting