Many Friends view relationships within the local Meeting as similar to partial relationships established with people met regularly at work, at play, and in the neighborhood. It is perhaps too much to expect that we all will make the Meeting central to our lives. But unless the Meeting fellowship can be made to speak to something deep in our lives, our Society falls short of fulfilling the true spiritual needs of its members. Typically Friends come together in meetings for worship from diverse neighborhoods, seeing one another rarely except on First Day or on special occasions. Many Meetings find it helpful to encourage groups to meet in one another's homes for worship, recreation, study or fellowship.
Committees provide opportunities for other kinds of relationships within the Meeting.
But all too often these contacts fail to satisfy our yearning for community. Sometimes a glimpse of the meaning of community comes as Friends work together in projects of social service, peace education, religious education or pastoral care for fellow members. Each Meeting should have as an active concern before one or more of its standing committees the nurture of the Meeting community in whatever ways may open. Within the Society of Friends Friends who restrict their experience of the Society to their local Meeting are missing rich experiences of fellowship in the wider community. Attendance at such larger Meetings should be seriously considered by each of us as a benefit of membership, an opportunity for spiritual nourishment and a means of widening our community.