Quakers

==Governance and organisation==
===Organisational government and polity===
<!-- [[Meeting for Business]] redirects to this section -->
{{Main|Quaker decision-making}}
[[File:Meeting in York.JPG|alt=|thumb|Quaker business meeting in [[York]]]]
[[Ecclesiastical polity|Governance]] and decision-making are conducted at a special meeting for worship – often called a ''meeting for worship with a concern for business'' or ''meeting for worship for church affairs'', where all members can attend, as in a [[Congregationalist polity|Congregational]] church. Quakers consider this a form of worship, conducted in the manner of meeting for worship. They believe it is a gathering of believers who ''wait upon the Lord'' to discover God's will, believing they are not making their own decisions. They seek to understand God's will for the religious community, via the actions of the Holy Spirit within the meeting.<ref name=QuakersinScotland/>

As in a meeting for worship, each member is expected to listen to God, and if led by Him, stand up and contribute. In some business meetings, Friends wait for the [[Clerk (Quaker)|clerk]] to acknowledge them before speaking. Direct replies to someone's contribution are not permitted, with an aim of seeking truth rather than debate. A decision is reached when the meeting as a whole feels that the "way forward" has been discerned (also called "coming to unity"). There is no voting. On some occasions Friends may delay a decision because they feel the meeting is not following God's will. Others (especially non-Friends) may describe this as [[consensus decision-making]]; however, Friends in general continue to seek God's will. It is assumed that if everyone is attuned to God's spirit, the way forward becomes clear.

===International organization===
{{Main|Friends World Committee for Consultation}}
[[Friends World Committee for Consultation]] (FWCC) is the international Quaker organization that loosely unifies the different religious traditions of Quakers; FWCC brings together the largest variety of Friends in the world. Friends World Committee for Consultation is divided into four sections to represent different regions of the world: Africa, Asia West Pacific, Europe and Middle East, and the Americas.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Friends World Committee for Consultation/About |url=http://fwcc.world/about-fwcc |website=Friends World Committee for Consultation, World Office. |access-date=26 May 2020}}</ref>

Various organizations associated with Friends include a United States' lobbying organization based in [[Washington, D.C.]] called the [[Friends Committee on National Legislation]] (FCNL); service organizations such as the [[American Friends Service Committee]] (AFSC), the [[Quaker United Nations Office]]s, [[Quaker Peace and Social Witness]], Friends Committee on Scouting, the Quaker Peace Centre in Cape Town, South Africa, and the [[Alternatives to Violence Project]].

===Yearly meetings===
{{Main|Yearly Meeting}}
Quakers today are organised into independent and regional, national bodies called [[Yearly Meetings]], which have often split from one another over [[doctrinal]] differences. Several of such unite Quakers who share similar religious beliefs – for example [[Evangelical Friends Church International]] unites [[evangelicalism|evangelical Christian Friends]];<ref>{{Cite web |title=Friends Beliefs |url=http://www.evangelicalfriends.org/6 |publisher=Evangelical Friends Church International}}</ref> [[Friends United Meeting]] unites Friends into "fellowships where Jesus Christ is known, loved and obeyed as Teacher and Lord;"<ref>{{Cite web |title=Friends United Meeting – About Us |url=http://fum.org:80/about-us/ |publisher=Friends United Meeting |access-date=5 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150228204503/http://fum.org/about-us/ |archive-date=28 February 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and [[Friends General Conference]] links Quakers with non-creed, liberal religious beliefs. Many Quaker [[Yearly Meeting]]s also belong to the [[Friends World Committee for Consultation]], an international fellowship of Yearly Meetings from different Quaker traditions.

===Membership===
A Friend is a member of a Yearly Meeting, usually beginning with membership in a local monthly meeting. Means of acquiring membership vary. For example, in most Kenyan yearly meetings, attenders who wish to become members must take part in some two years' adult education, memorising key Bible passages, and learning about the history of orthodox Christianity and of Christian Quakerism. Within the Britain Yearly Meeting, membership is acquired through a process of [[peer review]], where a potential member is visited by several members, who report to the other members before a decision is reached.

Within some Friends Churches in the Evangelical Friends Church – in particular in Rwanda, Burundi, and parts of the United States – an adult believer's baptism by immersion in water is optional. Within Liberal Friends, Conservative Friends, and Pastoral Friends Churches, Friends do not practise [[baptism|water baptism]], [[infant baptism|Christening]], or other initiation ceremonies to admit a new member or a newborn baby. Children are often welcomed into the meeting at their first attendance. Formerly, children born to Quaker parents automatically became members (sometimes called birthright membership), but this no longer applies in many areas. Some parents apply for membership on behalf of their children, while others allow children to decide whether to be a member when they are ready and older in age. Some meetings adopt a policy that children, some time after becoming young adults, must apply independently for membership.