What is a Member? An Attender?
Member – A member is a person who has established a commitment to the Meeting, that has been formally recognized and recorded during a meeting for business. The Meeting is committed to providing a spiritual home for our members and to supporting their efforts to live in harmony with the faith and practice of Friends. Members participate in meetings for worship and meetings for business, provide financial support to the Meeting, and serve on Meeting committees. Members of Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting are also considered members of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. (See below for information on becoming a member.)
Associate Member – Associate member is the designation parents/caregivers can choose for minors. This designation concludes when the associate member turns 21. At that time, the adult can choose to solidify the relationship and become a member or discontinue their membership relationship with the Meeting.
Attender – An attender is a person who is active in the life of the Meeting, but who has not completed the process of applying for membership. Attenders participate in meetings for worship and meetings for business, often provide financial support to the Meeting, and serve on some Meeting committees.
How to Become a Member
We encourage new attenders to participate in the activities at Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting for a period of time to get to know us and to become familiar with the work of Friends in our community.
In order to become a member, an active attender writes a letter to the clerk of Meeting expressing the desire to become a member and explaining what led to this decision. This letter is then passed to our Care and Counsel Committee for discussion and discernment and read at our monthly meeting for worship for business. The Care and Counsel Committee sets up a “clearness committee” of Friends who know or are interested in the attender.
The clearness committee meets with the potential member to explore their leading about membership. If appropriate, a recommendation for approval of membership is then brought to the next meeting for business.
If a recommendation for approval of membership is made, the Meeting is given time (usually one month) to get to know the potential member before the recommendation is taken to a subsequent meeting for business for approval.
