Green Country Friends

We believe that every person is loved and guided by God. Broadly speaking, we affirm that “there is that of God in everyone.” Everyone is known by God and can know God in a direct relationship. We are called to attend to this relationship and to be guided by it. Quakers use many words to describe the Divine. Some of them include: God, the Light Within, Christ, Spirit, Seed, and Inward Teacher.

Quaker worship is based on silent waiting, where we expect to come into the presence of God. In this living silence, we listen for the still, small voice that comes from God through the Inward Light. Worshiping together in silence is a way for a community to be brought together in love and faithfulness.

During silent worship, anyone—adult or child—may feel inspired to give vocal ministry (speak out of the silence).

After the person speaks the message, the silence resumes. Such messages may be offered several times during a meeting for worship, or the whole period of worship may be silent.

Unprogrammed Quakers call their congregations “meetings” and Worship is done in silence.

Programmed Quakers sometimes use the word “meeting” and sometimes call their congregation a “church”. Worship is pastor-led with a shorter amount of silence, or none, depending on the group.

They can also be called pastoral (Programmed) or non-pastoral (Unprogrammed) Quakers

Yes! You are welcome to attend Quaker worship. There are Quakers of all ages, religious backgrounds, races and ethnicities, sexual orientations, gender identities, abilities, and classes. All are welcome.

Dress comfortably. In general, Quakers wear everyday clothes to meeting. This may range from what you would wear at work in an office to jeans and a t-shirt. You are welcome to join us for worship as you are!

Peace has always been a very important expression of how Quakers are guided by the Spirit. We wrestle with our understanding of what God requires of us. We are asked to consider if we are called to be pacifists, but this determination is left to the individual as conscience dictates.

For many, it has meant a commitment to nonviolence and conscientious objection to participating in war. Some Quakers, however, have served in the military. Quaker institutions, such as meetings, generally hold to a pacifist position.

Quaker and Amish are both “peace churches,” but otherwise they are distinct and trace themselves to separate roots in England (Quakers) and Switzerland (Amish). Today, the majority of Quakers no longer practice “plain dress,” whereas the Amish do.

Quakers find compatibility in our longing for spiritual understanding and in our desire to understand the workings of the natural world. Many Quakers have been leaders in science, including some who have won the Nobel Prize in a variety of fields.

We understand that people evolved over millennia, and we stand in awe of the creation. Many Quakers feel called to help protect and heal the world that we are blessed to inhabit.

It began during a period of much religious upheaval in England during the mid-1600s, as people questioned the established church and sought new ways to understand Christianity. The emerging faith community gathered around the leadership of George Fox and others who encouraged people to be guided by a direct, firsthand encounter with the Spirit. These Quakers were seeking an authentic return to “primitive Christianity,” as practiced by the followers of Jesus in the first century.

The term “Quaker” arose as a popular nickname used to ridicule this new religious group when it emerged in seventeenth century England. Since the term was so widely recognized, members began using it informally, so people would know what they were talking about.

Formally, we call ourselves the Religious Society of Friends. Today, we use “Friend” and “Quaker” interchangeably.

The Quaker way has deep Christian roots that form our understanding of God, our faith, and our practices. Many Quakers consider themselves Christian, and some do not. Many Quakers today draw spiritual nourishment from our Christian roots and strive to follow the example of Jesus.

Many other Quakers draw spiritual sustenance from various religious traditions, such as Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and the nature religions.

Green Country Friends Meeting has a practice of reading a Quaker testimony each week before silent worship – we call these our ‘weekly reading’ – a backlog of which is available on the Weekly Reading page.

Quakers find that attending to the Light Within influences the ways we act in our personal lives, as well as the changes we work for in the wider world. We have noticed that certain values seem to arise more or less consistently when we try to stay close to the guidance of the Inward Teacher, and we call these principles our “testimonies.”

They are not so much rules that we try to obey as the outcomes of our efforts to live in harmony with the Holy Spirit. Some commonly recognized testimonies include simplicity,peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship for the earth.

Also sometimes called SPICE or SPICES

SPICE or SPICES is an acronym used in recent years as a mnemonic for the 6 core principles of Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Stewardship which are generally recognized to be at the core of Quaker Testimony – however as with any Quaker belief there is no one correct answer and the concept of SPICE is not universal to all Friends.

Quakers have evolved and diverged into several different varieties over our three and one-half centuries of history. The kind of Quaker belief and worship described here represents just one variety (Unprogrammed or non-pastoral).

Other branches of Quakers do have pastors and more structured worship, and have a more Bible-centered emphasis in their beliefs.

In the United States, those branches are more likely to be affiliated with the umbrella organizations Friends United Meeting or Evangelical Friends Church International, rather than Friends General Conference of which we are a part.

Nope! The company Quaker Oats and the Quakers do not have any connection.

The story goes that after learning about Quakers and our reputation for integrity the founders of the oatmeal company decided to incorporate ‘quaker garb’ into their logo.