The Monthly Meeting
Annapolis Friends Meeting is an independent religious entity and is incorporated as such. It makes its own decisions about spiritual and business matters. Annapolis Friends Meeting is a monthly meeting, so called because business matters are considered once a month.
Yearly Meeting
Independent monthly meetings within a geographic area are affiliated through a Yearly Meeting, which, as the name suggests, meets annually to consider business. We are part of Baltimore Yearly Meeting. www.bym-rsf.org. Annual sessions are held for six days in late July/early August. Between Annual sessions, Friends gather on a Saturday three times a year at Interim Meeting to conduct business.
Baltimore Yearly Meeting (BYM) publishes a compendium of Quaker beliefs and practices called Faith and Practice. It is a guide and reference for individual Friends and monthly meetings. It is not a rule book, but it offers insight into the organization of Friends’ meetings and how that structure reflects and expresses our beliefs and testimonies. Copies of Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s Faith and Practice are for sale on the literature table. (https://www.bym-rsf.org)
Quarterly Meeting
Baltimore Yearly Meeting is divided into a number of subdivisions called Quarterly Meetings. Annapolis Friends Meeting is part of Chesapeake Quarterly Meeting, which meets the Second First Day (Sunday) of March, June, and December.
National and International Quaker Organizations
Quakerism encompasses a broad spectrum of beliefs and interests, and many groups have emerged to demonstrate our diversity.
Friends General Conference, (FGC) Friends United Meeting (www.fum.org) and Evangelical Friends International (www.evangelical-friends.org) are three prominent Quaker organizations whose orientations range from the least to the most Christocentric and Biblically-based, although there is considerable overlap. (https://www.fgcquaker.org)
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) was founded by Quakers to promote peace and justice. It is entirely separate from the monthly and yearly meetings, although many of these provide support for its projects. Many members of AFM have been active in AFSC activities. (www.afsc.org.org)
Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) and Quaker United Nations Office (www.geneva.quno.info) are independent bodies which seek to provide a Quaker perspective on national and international issues. (https://www.fcnl.org)
Quaker camps and schools may be independent and run according to Quaker principles, or they may be under the care of a particular meeting.
Pendle Hill is an educational center near Philadelphia, offering Quaker spiritual enrichment and study. (https://pendlehill.org)