Resource
Frequently Asked Questions (PDF)
As well as giving more detail about what is happening you can find out how to share your suggestions for any of the preparation work going on.
What's happening?
Once there is a continuing Yearly Meeting then Yearly Meeting will meet four times each year, rather than just once as it does now. There will be one longer meeting and three shorter ones. From time to time there will be residential meetings along the lines of the Yearly Meeting Gatherings held in 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2017.
Yearly Meeting will still be the meeting where Quakers from across Britain make the most important decisions about issues that matter to us. The four meetings of Yearly Meeting will all be open to any Quaker who wants to come.
Meeting for Sufferings will not be held any more as all our important Quaker business will be done at Yearly Meeting.
Why are we doing this?
We hope that the change to a continuing Yearly Meeting will:
- allow all Friends to participate in Quaker discernment on important issues – although meetings will appoint representatives, any Quaker will be welcome
- give us the time we need to reflect on big decisions without causing too much delay – if an item of business needs more time then it can be put back on the agenda later in the year and we won't have to wait 12 months for a decision
- give more opportunities for all of us (including children and young people) to meet, build our community and worship together
- make it easier to understand our Quaker structures – it will be clear that the most important decisions are made at Yearly Meeting
When will this happen?
The first continuing Yearly Meeting sessions will happen after May 2026. Yearly Meetings are already planned for 23–26 May 2025 and 1–4 May 2026. Meeting for Sufferings will continue to meet until spring 2026.
Dates for Yearly Meetings after May 2026 haven't been set yet but we expect that on 4 May 2026 Yearly Meeting will be adjourned to a date in summer 2026.
What's next?
Minute 37 of Yearly Meeting 2024 sets out some steps that need to be taken to prepare for these changes. These include:
- working on the details of how a new agenda committee will work, including how it will deal with minutes received from area meetings and other Quaker communities
- nominations to the agenda committee
- thinking about whether and how we might retain the historic name 'Meeting for Sufferings' once the body itself stops meeting
- working through the changes that will need to be made to our book of discipline
- working to ensure that there is adequate financial support for Friends attending
How can I find out more?
The new set of Frequently Asked Questions (PDF) contain lots of helpful information. As well as giving some more details about what is happening you can find out how to share your suggestions for any of the preparation work going on.