What Is Membership in the Meeting?

". . . membership is a way of saying to the meeting that you feel at home, and in the right place. Membership is also a way of saying to the meeting, and to the world, that you accept at least the fundamental elements of being a Quaker: the understanding of divine guidance, the manner of corporate worship and the ordering of the meeting’s business, the practical expression of inward convictions and the equality of all before God. In asking to be admitted to the community of the meeting you are affirming what the meeting stands for and declaring your willingness to contribute to its life."

—From Britain Yearly Meeting, 1999, quoted in Baltimore Yearly Meeting's Faith and Practice, 2012

How Can I Become a Member?

• Come to Meeting for Worship and Meeting for Business frequently and attend some social gatherings.
• Read some Quaker books and talk with Meeting members about what Quakers believe and how Quakers try to live.
• Listen for God's leadings and act on them insofar as you can.
• Decide if:
• you feel in agreement with Quaker fundamentals of belief, witness, and process;
• you feel enriched and challenged by Meeting for Worship; and
• you feel ready to share in the responsibility of sustaining the Meeting spiritually and materially.

If your answers are "yes", send a letter to the Clerk of Ministry and Counsel Committee asking for membership:

Clerk, Ministry and Counsel Committee
Frederick Monthly Meeting
723 N. Market St.
Frederick, MD 21701

If you are already a member of another Meeting, ask that Meeting to write to transfer your membership here.

For questions to consider addressing in your letter and additional information about what will happen after you send your letter, see the Resources section.