preparation for
membership
An
attender may wonder how to discern readiness for membership.
Typically, one first becomes acquainted with a particular Meeting
through regular attendance, at both Meeting for Worship and
Meeting for Business, often for a year or more. Familiarity with the
Meeting’s aspirations and ways may lead one to want to share
in the
responsibilities, difficulties and joys of its community. It is also
important to become familiar with the history, principles and
testimonies of the Religious Society of Friends, and with Pacific
Yearly Meeting’s book of discipline, Faith and Practice.
Attenders
realize that it is time to apply for membership in various ways.
One may discover that the faith of Friends and their
ways have become central to her or his life. A spiritual leading
which
becomes clear and strong tells some that it is time, while many
others report that it is the sense of having found their true place,
of
being “at home” after long seeking. For some, there may
be a feeling
of identification with and a responsibility for the Meeting and the
Religious Society of Friends. Such realizations may indicate a readiness
for membership. Attenders who are not yet members are urged
to attend to such leadings as to any other guidance in the Light.