EPISTLE. A letter of serious import sent either by an individual or a group. Usually a formal letter sent annually by each yearly meeting to all Friends everywhere stating the condition, exercises, and experience of the yearly meeting.
EXERCISE. The exploration of a deep concern that has been brought to a meeting. The meeting may record this exploration as a "minute of exercise(s)."
FACING BENCHES. The benches or seats in the front of the meeting room, facing the body of the meeting, on which Friends' ministers and elders generally sat. In recent times, many meetings have adopted a circular or square arrangement to eliminate the facing-bench distinction.
GATHERED MEETING. The special occasion when the meeting for worship or business attains more than the usual sense of divine presence, which touches the worshippers and unites them in holy fellowship and shows in united themes of ministry. (See Thomas R. Kelly, "The Gathered Meeting," in A Testament of Devotion.)
GOOD ORDER. The procedures, found through Friends' experience, that facilitate our business and committee meetings as we seek to find and carry out God's will.
GOSPEL ORDER. A fellowship of the disciples of Christ that comes into being as the result of the preaching and experience of the Gospel. Our order, organization, testimonies, and closeness come from God through the relationships between people that Jesus described in parables and showed through his healing, counsel, and prophecy. Jesus lives amongst us, counsels and chastises, and leads us in living this order. Our fellowship is local, regional, national, and international at the same time, since we are a spiritual group that Christ heads rather than an episcopal, congregational, or bureaucratic system managed politically.