The monthly meeting is the fundamental unit of the Religious Society of Friends. It consists of a group of Friends who meet together at regular intervals to wait upon God in meeting for worship and meeting for business. Some groups use the traditional term “monthly meeting,” so named because meetings for business typically occur once a month, although other groups name themselves “Friends meetings” to be more generally descriptive.
The monthly meeting is the core of the community of Friends. It receives and records new members; terminates membership when necessary; provides spiritual and, when necessary and possible, material aid to those in its fellowship; counsels with members in troubled circumstances; oversees marriages; gives comfort at the time of death; collects and dispenses funds for its maintenance and work; owns or rents a place where worship is regularly held; witnesses to Friends testimonies; relates itself to its quarterly and yearly meetings and to other bodies of Friends and to other organizations with common concerns; and carries on any work or assumes any function consistent with the faith of Friends and not specifically the work of some other Friends body. Good records are kept of all its proceedings.