MEMBERS, ATTENDERS, CORRESPONDING FRIENDS

Member – a person who has established a mutual commitment with the Meeting, as recognized and recorded during Meeting for Business. Membership commits the Meeting to provide a spiritual home for its members and corporate support for their efforts to live in harmony with the faith and practice of Friends. Members participate in Meetings for Worship and for Business, provide financial support to the Meeting, and serve on Meeting committees. Members of Abington Meeting are also considered members of Abington Quarter and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. (See below for information on becoming a member.)
  
Associate Member – consistent with a Member, an Associate Member has established a mutual commitment with the Meeting, and this designation has been recognized and recorded during Meeting for Business. This is a 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 choose a different course, such as becoming an Attender or Corresponding Friend.   

Attender – community member who is active in the life of the meeting, but who has not initiated or completed the process of applying for membership.

Corresponding Friend (CF) - reserved for those who have had some connection with Abington Meeting and want to stay connected, but (generally) do not attend Meeting for Worship or other activities, usually due to distance. CF's are welcome to attend worship and events, if they wish. If the CF is able to attend fairly regularly, then their status might be changed to Attender. CFs are included in our database, for our Meeting's use only; they would receive mailings and information. CFs would not be expected to join committees or contribute to the Meeting, unless they feel led to do so. Corresponding Friends are not eligible to apply for financial assistance that is designated for members of Abington Meeting, Abington Quarter, or PYM support.

How to Become a Member

We encourage new attenders to participate in the activities at Abington 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 join in full membership with Abington Friends Meeting, an active attender would write a letter to the clerk of Meeting stating the intent to become a member. This letter is read at our Monthly Meeting for Worship to Attend to Business, and the letter is then passed to our Care of Members Committee for discussion and discernment.  The committee may set up a meeting for clearness with the potential member and a few Friends from this committee, after which the committee would bring a recommendation for membership to the next Meeting for Business, if appropriate.  If a recommendation for membership is made, the Meeting would have an opportunity to get to know the potential member prior to approving the recommendation at the following Meeting for Business.