'A Quaker Meeting' sculpture

Representing a gathering of Friends, 'A Quaker Meeting' sculpture is a small bronze made by the artist Peter Laszlo Peri.

Quaker Meetings

Historically known as Meeting for Worship (MfW), a Quaker Meeting is where Quakers sit together in stillness for a period of time. With no ministers delivering a sermon or creed to be spoken, Friends settle into the silence and let The Spirit guide them into new insights and revelations.

These new insights and revelations come from a sense of connection with the other Friends present in the meeting. Often Friends experience both going deeper within themselves and a heightened sense of closeness to the wonder of creation.

Those Friends who believe in God often feel a Quaker brings them closer to Him.

A Quaker Meeting is possibly the space between prayer and meditation. An exact definition of what happens during a Quaker Meeting is immpossible as the experience cannot be defined by words alone.

Sometimes The Spirit moves a Friend to speak. This is called Ministry and is in accordance with the Priesthood of all Believers, where anyone present may let their voice be heard.

Traditionally, a Quaker Meeting lasts for around an hour and takes place on a Sunday morning. In addition, there are also some mid-week Quaker Meeting and these are usually between 30 - 45 minutes.

A Quaker Meeting doesn't necessarily have to take place in a formal setting or for a fixed time. Quaker Meetings can take place anywhere or anytime when three or more Friends gather.

Unprogrammed Meetings

Quaker Meetings where Friends gather in stillness with no spoken words are called unprogrammed Meetings. Some Quaker Meetings do have prepared speech and or hymns. These meetings are therefore called programmed and typically include a period of worship in stillness. Programmed Meetings are predominantly found in most African meetings as well as some meetings in the United States.

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