Within the

Religious Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

, a

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...

is someone responsible for various administrative functions within a meeting for worship for church affairs or meeting for worship with attention to business. The clerk is responsible for recording the discernment which is arrived at during such a meeting, in a

minute The minute is a unit of time usually equal to (the first sexagesimal fraction) of an hour, or 60 seconds. In the UTC time standard, a minute on rare occasions has 61 seconds, a consequence of leap seconds (there is a provision to insert a neg ...

, and is responsible for sending and receiving correspondence on behalf of the meeting. Within some branches of the Religious Society of Friends, the clerk may also create an agenda and may

facilitate Facilitation may refer to: * Facilitation (business), the designing and running of successful meetings and workshops in organizational settings * Ecological facilitation, the process by which an organism profits from the presence of another, suc ...

the meeting. Friends record minutes contemporaneously, with each minute written during the meeting for worship for business. At the end of each item, the clerk will present a draft minute and ask the meeting if the minute is acceptable. The final minute will only be recorded when all Friends present feel that the minute is an accurate record of what the "sense of the meeting" was. In

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

, when members of the meeting wish to indicate their approval of a minute, they will sometimes say "hope so". In some Quaker groups, there may be more than one person performing clerking roles, for example the role of facilitating the meeting may be separate from recording minutes. In this case different names may be given to the different clerks - e.g. co-clerk, recording clerk, presiding clerk, assistant clerk, reading clerk, epistle clerk, or correspondence clerk. Some Friends groups, particularly ones who do not have regular minuted meetings for worship for business, may have some of the roles usually carried out by a clerk carried out by a correspondent (who is responsible for sending and receiving correspondence on behalf of the meeting) or a convenor (who is responsible for bringing people together for a meeting - this is a term often used for someone who co-ordinates a committee). In Quaker meetings, there are often committees and temporary working groups that perform duties and oversee activities of the meeting. Most committees will have their own clerk or convenor who will convene meetings and record minutes.

Bibliography

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External links

Description of clerk's role in Britain Yearly Meeting's ''Quaker Faith and Practice'', Chapter 3, §12
{{Religious Society of Friends Quakerism