Short answer
to: What is the special "Quaker
business
method"?
This answer is about how Quakers make decisions and conduct what
they call "meetings for worship for business". The question about
Quakers getting involved in business (in the world, as it were) is
addressed in another answer
here.
Quaker business meetings were and are held on the basis of
silent
consideration of verbal contributions in an attempt not to achieve
consensus, but to discern the will of God.
At the table, as opposed to 'in the chair', the clerk - a servant
of the meeting - listened to the discussion and 'weighed' what was said
in an attempt to get the 'sense' of the meeting. It was not
'democratic'.
From John Punshon Portrait in Grey:
a short history of the Quakers, Quaker Books 2006
The unity we seek depends on the willingness of us all
to seek the truth in each other's utterances; on our being open to
persuasion; and in the last resort on a willingness to recognise and
accept the sense of the meeting as recorded in the minute, knowing that
our dissenting views have been heard and considered.
We do not vote in
our meetings because we believe that this would emphasise the divisions
between differing views and inhibit the process of seeking to know the
will of God. We must recognise, however, that a minority view may well
continue to exist. When we unite with a minute offered by our clerk, we
express, not a sudden agreement of everyone present with the prevailing
view, but rather a confidence in our tried and tested way of seeking to
recognise God's will. We act as a community whose members love and
trust each other. We should be reluctant to prevent the acceptance of a
minute which the general body of Friends present feels to be right...
In a meeting
rightly held a new way may be discovered which none present had alone
perceived and which transcends the differences of the opinions
expressed. This is an experience of creative insight, leading to a
sense of the meeting which a clerk is often led in a remarkable way to
record. Those who have shared this experience will not doubt its
reality and the certainty it brings of the immediate rightness of the
way for the meeting to take.
Back to full page of common questions
From Advices
& Queries 14 on meetings for church affairs:
"Remember that we do not seek a majority decision nor even consensus.
As
we wait patiently for divine guidance our experience is that the right
way will open and we shall be led into unity."
See more on the Britain Quaker
website about
How
Quaker
Meetings
Take
Decisions
