Resources for clerks, conveners, and committees of LEYM’s monthly meetings and worship groups: how to stay connected with the Yearly Meeting, what LEYM asks of meetings each year, and tools for the life of your meeting.

• Staying connected
• What LEYM asks of meetings each year
• Clerking and business meeting
• When conflict arises
• Policies & Procedures · Annual Records · The Bulletin · Faith and Practice
• Your meeting online

Staying Connected

• Clerks’ email list. LEYM keeps an email list of monthly meeting clerks and worship group conveners. It is updated each summer from your meeting’s Statistical Report. If you have become clerk or convener, let the Digital Communications Facilitator know and you’ll be added.
• Other clerks and conveners. See the list of current meeting clerks and worship group conveners. For a map and details of every meeting, use the Meetings menu.
• Update your meeting’s information (worship times, location, contacts) by writing to the Database Manager.
• Share your news and events. Send a short notice to the Digital Communications Facilitator, or use the form on the LEYM Event Planning page. News is posted on leym.org and emailed to everyone who subscribes to LEYM news. On request, the DCF can also email meeting clerks, conveners, and representatives.
• Clerks’ Chats. LEYM’s Ministry & Nurture Committee hosts informal Zoom chats where clerks and conveners share and support one another. Dates are on the LEYM Calendar. See also Resources for Ministry & Nurture.

What LEYM Asks of Meetings Each Year

Due dates for the year are also listed in the calendar at the front of the Annual Records. Meetings are also asked to name two representatives to Representative Meeting and Annual Sessions.

Clerking and Business Meeting

• Guidelines for Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business (PDF, one page). Suitable for printing and sharing with your meeting; the same guidelines appear in Appendix B of LEYM’s Policies & Procedures.
• Monthly Meeting Clerks Book List (PDF): books and pamphlets on clerking, recording, discernment, and the life of the meeting.
• Notes from the 2009 LEYM Monthly Meeting Clerks Consultation (PDF): clerks’ reflections on Quaker business practice, deepening the spiritual life of the meeting, and conflicts meetings have worked through.

When Conflict Arises

Conflict is a normal part of community life, and can become an opening to deeper understanding. If your meeting is struggling, LEYM’s Ministry & Nurture Committee is available to listen and help you find support.

• Navigating Conflict in Quaker Meetings: LEYM’s interactive guide to levels of conflict in a meeting and Quakerly responses.
• Responding to Conflict in Meeting, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
• Conflict Transformation Committee, New York Yearly Meeting: workshops and resources for meetings.
• When Conflicts Arise, Friends Journal, 2013.
• Challenging Conflicts in Our Meeting, Friends Journal, 2017.
• Quakers and Conflict, Sara Keeney, Western Friend, 2020.
• Some Helpful Resources for Managing Conflict (PDF, 2020): a longer reading list gathered by LEYM’s Ministry & Nurture Committee.

Policies & Procedures

LEYM’s Policies & Procedures manual sets out how the Yearly Meeting does its business, including how it relates to monthly meetings and worship groups. Sections of particular interest to meetings:

• Constituency: monthly meetings, preparative meetings, and worship groups, and changes in a meeting’s status (Section I)
• Representation at Annual Sessions and Representative Meeting (II.A–B)
• Bringing leadings and concerns to the Yearly Meeting (II.D)
• Financial support, scholarships, and remittances from monthly meetings (IV.A)
• Guidelines for Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business (Appendix B)
• Suggested Guidelines for State of the Meeting Reports (Appendix C)
• Scholarships and financial assistance (Appendix D)
• Monthly meetings and individual membership (Appendix G)

Annual Records

Each year after Annual Sessions, LEYM’s Publications & Archives Committee publishes the Annual Records. It includes the year’s calendar and due dates; minutes of Representative Meeting and Annual Sessions; the epistles, plenary, and workshop summaries; the history of LEYM; State of the Meeting reports; membership statistics; each meeting’s worship times and officers; and the slate of LEYM officers, committees, and representatives.

• Printed edition: includes a full contact directory. A copy goes to each monthly meeting and worship group. For more copies, contact the Publications & Archives Committee.
• Web edition: the same records without personal contact information, to protect Friends’ privacy. See LEYM Annual Records.

The Bulletin

LEYM’s newsletter, The Bulletin, comes out three times a year. The winter issue prepares for Representative Meeting, the spring issue for Annual Meeting (including registration), and the fall issue looks back at Annual Meeting. Printed copies are mailed to each meeting and worship group, and every issue is posted online. Meetings are asked to send a copy of their own newsletters to the Bulletin editor, and news from your meeting is always welcome.

Faith and Practice

LEYM has not written its own book of Faith and Practice. It recommends that meetings either develop their own discipline as a guide to good order, or use the Faith and Practice of another yearly meeting affiliated with Friends General Conference, such as Philadelphia or Baltimore Yearly Meeting. LEYM has its own Book of Advices & Queries (2012), and its Ministry & Nurture Committee offers an annual query to meetings each year.

Your Meeting Online

• Help with a web presence. LEYM no longer hosts web pages for individual meetings, but the Digital Communications Facilitator is glad to consult with your meeting about options for a website or other online presence.
• Creating & Maintaining a Meeting Web Site (PDF, 2012): queries and advices for deciding what your site is for, what to include, and who will keep it up to date. Some technical details have aged, but the questions still hold.
• For outreach materials, see Resources for Outreach. For other Quaker organizations, see Links to Outside Quaker Resources.

Updated September 2026.