Table of Contents
How do Quakers greet each other?
In letter-writing, where others might use the phrase Dear Sir or Madam, many Quakers would instead write Dear Friend, and in such letters, rather than finishing yours faithfully would finish either yours in truth or yours in friendship.
What is a Quaker Meeting called?
A meeting for worship is what the Religious Society of Friends (or “Quakers”) call their church service. A meeting for worship in English-speaking countries typically lasts an hour.
Do Quakers shake hands?
Credit a bunch of religious radicals, the Quakers, for introducing the handshake as we know it today. Much as they are now, the Quakers in their 18th-century heyday were strict egalitarians and thus rejected the established gestures of deference, such as removing a hat and baring the head as a gesture of greeting.
What are Quakers actually doing in a meeting?
If pressed to say what they are actually doing in a meeting for worship, many Quakers would probably say that they are waiting – waiting in their utmost hearts for the touch of something beyond their everyday selves. Some would call it ‘listening to the quiet voice of God’ – without trying to define the word.
How many Quakers are there in the world?
There are about 210,000 Quakers across the world. In Britain there are 17,000 Quakers, and 400 Quaker meetings for worship each week. 9,000 people in Britain regularly take part in Quaker worship without being members of the Religious Society of Friends.
When did the Quakers come to America?
Fox spent much of the 1660s behind bars, and by the 1680s thousands of Quakers across the British Isles had suffered decades of whippings, torture and imprisonment. Quaker missionaries arrived in North America in the mid-1650s.
How does Quaker worship differ from other religions?
Quaker worship is very different to the worship of most Christian churches in that it doesn’t follow a set liturgy or code of rules – a service has no structure, and no one leads it. Quakers do…