Advices and Queries - Duty of reading
The advices and queries are intended for use in our meetings, for private devotion and reflection, as a challenge and inspiration to us as Friends in our personal lives and in our life as a religious community, and as a concise expression of our faith and practice readily available to enquirers and to the wider world.
Their use will vary in different meetings according to the needs of the members. Generally it will be helpful to arrange for the reading of the advices and queries in meetings for worship over a specified period, while taking care that such reading should not be carried out within too limited a time. Friends may wish to consider during the year one or more of the sections in their meetings for church affairs or to hold special meetings and discussion groups for their consideration.
The only duties laid down are as follows:
Area meetings
Area meetings, called monthly meetings until 2007, should consider regularly the use made of Advices and queries in their constituent meetings. This consideration should be undertaken annually or triennially as each area meeting determines. Local meetings should be asked to report on the use made of this document so that area meetings may be fully informed. It is hoped that out of such sharing of experience area meetings may be enabled to give advice and encouragement where necessary in order to ensure that this document is used to the best advantage.
Area meetings should also consider whether it would be helpful to arrange for the reading of sections of Advices and queries during their own periods of worship, and to make suitable arrangements for such reading. Some area meetings may also wish to arrange periodically for the discussion of appropriate sections.
Local meetings
Local meetings should give periodic consideration to the ways in which advices and queries can be used and they are to report to their respective area meetings annually or triennially, as directed, on the use made of them.
