Meeting for Business, sometimes called a Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business, is central to the practice of Friends in discerning God’s will for the Meeting ... A Meeting for Business that is well grounded in worship will feel very different from the type of secular process in which individuals are arguing in order to ensure their view prevails. Friends approach decisions in Meeting for Business in a spirit of searching and listening rather than a determination to be heard as an individual voice. In each decision, we are seeking to discern the will of God for us as a community. This causes us to listen to each other as we do in Meeting for Worship, knowing that each of us may be given some of the light that will help us see our way forward. We further believe that as Truth emerges we will have substantial unity in recognizing it, for Truth is undivided and that of God within each person responds to its presence (BYM Faith & Practice, 1988).
Charlottesville Friends Meeting holds Meeting for Business monthly on the First Sunday of the month following the later Meeting for Worship. This is the time when the business of running the meeting occurs, including reports of the work of the various committees, care for the finances of the meeting, and other such necessary functions.