Who are the Quakers?

You meet people called Quakers – or you worship with Friends in their church or meeting – or you join in a service project or witness sponsored by Friends. Naturally you ask, Who are these people? What do they believe? How do their beliefs affect their lives and activities?…And you seek answers.

Who are "the Quakers"? Are they the same as "the Friends"?
Friends or Quakers – either name will do as they have the same meaning – are most easily described as those persons who belong to Friends meetings and Friends churches. These make up the religious bodies that as a group are known as the Religious Society of Friends – called "the Society of Friends" or "the Friends Church."

"Quaker" was originally a nickname for those children of Light or Friends of Truth, as they thought of themselves, friends of Jesus (John 15:15). They were said to tremble or quake with religious zeal, and the nickname stuck. In time, they came to be known simply as "Friends."

Quakerism began in England about 1650 in the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation. It was a religious protest against the hollow formalism which, for many, marked the Established Church of that time. Seeking spiritual reality, these early Friends found that they could experience God directly in their lives without benefit of clergy or liturgy or steepled church.
What do Friends believe? Do they have a creed?
Quakers do not have a creed. No single statement of religious doctrine is accepted by all the overlapping regional bodies of Friends that together make up the larger Society. Each of the so-called Yearly Meetings, however, has its own Book of Discipline or Faith and Practice, which includes statements of belief or doctrine and the uniquely Quaker feature: Advices and/or Queries.

George Fox, a young man troubled by the religious turmoil of 17^th century England, underwent a profound religious experience that he described as a voice answering his need: "There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to Thy condition." Immediate, direct experience of God became the heart of his message and ministry, the beginning of the Quaker movement.

Friends are united in stressing that an inward, immediate, and transforming experience of God is central to their faith. They turn to an inner guide or teacher for continuing revelation and direction. Many Friends identify this "Inner Light," "Seed Within," or "Christ Within" (as it has been variously called) with the historic Jesus. Many affirm their acceptance of Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Others conceive of the inward guide as a universal spirit which was in Jesus in abundant measure and is in everyone to some degree – "that of God in everyone," as George Fox put it, "the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world." (John 1:9)
What forms of worship are practiced by American Friends?

Two rather different forms of worship characterize American Quakers.

Some groups of Friends, primarily on the East and West Coast, gather in silence and expectant waiting, without prearranged singing, Bible reading, prayers, or sermon. Their worship proceeds, rising above individual meditation to a sense of seeking as a gathered group, with spoken ministry only as Friends may feel led to share their insights and messages. Such unprogrammed worship is the usual practice in both the more liberal and the more traditionalist Friends meetings, and it continues in some measure the Quaker way of earlier times. These religious services are called "unprogrammed meetings."

Other congregations of Friends, generally in the central part of the United States, evolved to the form of worship practiced by Protestant and Evangelical churches . Such services for worship may include pastoral prayer and responsive reading, hymn singing and choral/organ music, Scripture and sermon. There may also be a significant open time of free worship based upon silent waiting, as among other and earlier Friends. Such programmed or semi-programmed worship is usual in Friends meetings or churches that employ the services of a pastor.

What are the principal "concerns" and activities of Friends?

The belief that there is that of God in all persons – as well as the capacity for good and evil – makes Friends sensitive to human degradation, ignorance, superstition, suffering, injustice, exploitation. Under a sense of concern – inner prompting, divine obedience, urgency – Friends are drawn to humanitarian callings and to programs of education and evangelism, to projects of service and constructive action.

Early Friends went out with the Good News of their quickened faith to the American Colonies, and they bore their message of Truth to Czar, Sultan, and Pope. With changed perspectives, this missionary witness for Christ continues under the Friends United Meeting and the evangelical Yearly Meetings – in Alaska, in Latin America, in Africa, in Asia. There is a new concern, too, for sharing of human resources with the developing peoples, and transnational programs are now encouraged by Friends World Committee for Consultation.

Friends today continue to be concerned with social change by nonviolent means; for reform of the present system of criminal justice; for real equality of opportunity in employment, housing and education; for elimination of prejudice and discrimination against minority groups and the underprivileged. The American Friends Service Committee plays an important part in furthering these Quaker concerns, which are indeed the continuing expression in action of historic Friends testimonies.

What is the meaning of "the Quaker Way" and "the manner of Friends"?

The Quaker Way is simply the way Friends at their best (and with all their differences) put into practice their deepest beliefs.

One example is the meeting for business conducted after the manner of Friends. Such a meeting proceeds in the spirit of worship and openness to Divine Leading. Questions are not decided by majority rule or vote, but by consensus. The presiding clerk tries to be sensitive to the meeting’s search for Truth and Unity. Strongly opposed views are often reconciled through suggestion of a Third Way; or in a period of silent worship differences are quietly resolved. When the clerk sees clearly that unity has been reached, he phrases and rephrases what he believes to be "the sense of the meeting" – approval is voiced or apparent – the minute is recorded.

In ministry and service to others, however disadvantaged, the Quaker Way is to identify with them, to share and work with them in dignity, to approach those who oppose them with openness and faith. When their witness and concern bring Friends face to face with illegal or repressive authority, nonviolence is an essential part of the way Friends approach the oppressors as persons.

How do people become members of the Society of Friends?

Each individual Friend holds membership in a particular Friends meeting or Church and in this way belongs to the Society of Friends.

Children born into Quaker homes and brought up in a Friends Meeting/Church may be considered birthright Friends or may elect to join their meeting as they grow older. Other persons, who are attracted to membership by the faith, witness, or fellowship of Friends – who feel themselves ready to become members of a Friends Meeting or Church by "convincement" or by transfer from another religious body – are encouraged to apply for membership.

There is such a wide range of conviction and belief within the Quaker framework that persons of quite dissimilar views may find somewhere within it their spiritual home, opportunity to worship and serve with others of the same persuasion. Speaking Truth to each other in love, as Christian neighbors, would be the Quaker Way for Friends – with all their variations – to feel themselves "members one of another" (Eph. 4:25).