Caroline E Stephen, 1890
Most local Quaker meetings hold a meeting for worship at 10.30am every Sunday morning. To find your local meeting click here. Some also hold mid week evening or lunch-time meetings.
You will be welcomed at the door of the meeting house by a Friend (the term Quakers prefer to use for one another), who will be able to answer any questions you may have. You will enter a room with seats more or less in a circle, so that everyone can see one another. If there are already people in the room, they will be silent. They may smile at you, but they won't speak.
When the time is right, the door is closed, and the gathering starts to settle into stillness. The whole hour might pass in silence, apart from the usual shuffling and coughing, or individuals might feel moved to speak briefly, from their hearts. Someone will say 'thank you Friends' at the end of the hour.
You will then be invited to stay for tea and coffee, and you will find that, for people who choose to worship in silence, Quakers can be very chatty.
For more on Quaker worship, click here.
Our friend Antonia Swinson from Richmond Quaker Meeting wrote a very useful note for a friend of hers who was attending a Quaker meeting for the first time. You can read the note here.