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Quaker Beliefs |
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Views of God |
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| Quakers believe that an element of the divine exists in us all and that we all can know God through personal experience. This spiritual experience can be a source of growth, enlightenment and love. Quakers began as a radical Christian sect, but they do not believe inspiration is confined to the Bible or other sacred texts. Many Quakers see Jesus as an example of life guided by God, and find that Jesus can show us how to live and love. Quakers will express their spiritual experience in many different ways and some may not be comfortable in using the term 'God'. However many will often speak of the 'Inner Light' and 'the Spirit': by these phrases they mean the operation of the divine within us, the promptings of that spark, energy or force which illuminates our lives and underpins all our relationships with the world around us. Quakers share and test their spiritual insights with others because they find that the insight of the group is more reliable than that of the individual. |
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| The Meeting for Worship is central to the Quaker way of life. Quakers usually hold a public Meeting for about an hour on Sundays but they may gather at any time. The Meeting for Worship begins when people sit together in silence. They settle into a time of quiet worship as daily concerns fall away and stillness gathers all over as they allow themselves to be guided by the Spirit. There are no programmed hymns, prayers or sermons during a Meeting for Worship. Sometimes an individual may feel guided to speak in order to share a particular insight or experience. The words emerge from the promptings of the Spirit and are spoken in a sense of worship, not debate or lecture. Quakers may also supplement attendance at Meeting for Worship with other spiritual activities such as prayer and healing. |
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Quaker Testimonies |
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| At a time of political and religious turmoil, early Friends as a people were gathered, guided and ordered by God. From their experience of the immediacy of the presence of Christ sprang the form of worship and the way of life which became the distinctive testimonies of Friends, and which were upheld with courage in the face of great persecution. Gradually the Testimonies have become explicitly recognised, the earliest being the Peace Testimony in a Declaration presented to Charles II in 1660. Following this, most Friends will not fight 'with outward weapons, for any end, upon any pretense whatsoever'. The other traditional Testimonies which govern Friends' lives are to Truth, Equality and Simplicity. During the 20th century, from the adoption of the eight 'Foundations of a true social order' by Yearly Meeting in 1918, what is now known as Friends' Social Testimony has evolved. |
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Organisation |
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| Quakers are members of the Religious Society of Friends - the formal name of the group. The society began in the mid seventeenth century through the life and preaching of George Fox in England and has since spread worldwide. Fox laid the template on which the structure of the Society of Friends is based today. In most geographical regions where there is a Quaker community a Yearly Meeting has been set up, generally including Quarterly and Monthly Meetings. In Britain Yearly Meeting the Area Meeting (formerly known as Monthly Meeting) is the primary meeting for church affairs - 'Meeting for Worship for Business'. Monthly meetings were an important part of the gospel order established by George Fox, which played a large part in ensuring the survival of the young Society of Friends. From 1659 onwards monthly meetings were set up, first for men only, then for women and finally joint; they combined business with social ties, caring for the poor and prisoners, education and ministry. By 1676 they were the unit of authority for membership, marriages, property, records, the recognition of ministers (until 1924) and the recognition and laying down of local meetings; most of these functions continue today. So too does their formal responsibility, completed by 1789, for the appointment of elders and overseers. Local meetings generally hold a Meeting for Worship for Business known as Preparative Meeting shortly before each Area Meeting, to which representatives are appointed, although all Friends are entitled and encouraged to attend. Britain Yearly Meeting in session is the final constitutional authority of the Religious Society of Friends in England, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Its membership consists of all those who belong to the several area meetings in Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. All members of the yearly meeting have the right to attend and to take part in its deliberations. |
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