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WHEN CHURCHES JOIN - 6. General Documents

Local Ecumenism Information Kit
- Developed by the Local Ecumenism Working Group, NSW Ecumenical Council, October 2000
Phone (02) 9299 2215 for more information.

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Appendix 2. Understanding the Member Churches of the NSW Ecumenical Council

2.7 The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

An English Friend called George Fox founded the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in the mid-17th century, which was a period of great religious ferment in England. Currently, membership of the Society is world-wide and consists of about 250,000 Friends. About 1,500 live in Australia, some of whom are called 'birth right' Friends, and others, Friends 'by convincement'.

Quaker church government involves gender equality and no hierarchy of spiritual authority. Friends meet annually for the Australian Yearly Meeting, a meeting for worship, business and Society government. The Society also holds bi-monthly regional and local business meetings. Friends functions in a democratic way without paid ministers. They hold business meetings in a spirit of worship, which means that voting is inappropriate. Friends seek a united view, before it is recorded in a Minute, which is read out by the Meeting Clerk and accepted, or modified, at the time. The local meetings also appoint elders who have responsibility for Quaker worship, and overseers to undertake pastoral work.

Friends believe that each individual ultimately must find his/her own way to religious truth, and that this is attained through direct personal experience of God. When Friends speak about 'that of God in every person' and one's 'inner light', they mean that each individual carries within some fragment of the nature of God, providing potential for growth in relationship with God. Quakers also believe in guidance by the Holy Spirit, the importance of the gathered meeting for worship and the need to follow the way of life which Jesus of Nazareth left them in the Beatitudes. Following the way of Jesus, Australian Friends have been guided by rich overseas traditions in 'hungering and thirsting after justice' and in being 'peace makers'. Over the years, Australian Friends have engaged in prison reform like Elizabeth Fry and in promoting world peace as practised by the American Friend John Woolman.

Quaker worship is also guided by traditions enshrined in pamphlets such as 'Advices and Queries'. Typical advices are "Take heed, dear Friends, to the promptings of love and truth in your hearts, which are the leadings of God. Resist not God's strivings within you. It is God's light which shows us our darkness and leads to true repentance … as his (Jesus) disciples, we are called to live in the life and power of the Holy Spirit", and "Seek to know one another in the things which are eternal. Live in love as Christians, entering with sympathy into the joys and sorrows of each other's daily lives". The Queries challenge Quakers. For example: "Do you cherish that of God within you, that God's love and power may grow in you and rule your life?" and "Do you walk in love as Christ also hath loved us?".

Each Sunday's meeting for worship is the core of Quaker spiritual life, and it has been described by a Friend in the following way: "Unprogrammed silent meetings for worship offer me both worship with others and time for private search and immediate communion with God. The silence is a ministry, freeing, refreshing and peaceful. Peace is not instantaneous nor inevitable. Centring down takes time. Confronting worry in silence may bring pain but also insight and resolution. I like the variety, unpredictability and lack of presciption. Meetings vary; beliefs vary. Spoken ministry may be profound to one, trivial to others. It requires discipline to examine manner and content, to recognise meaning or that this ministry must simply be let go".

Quakers believe that religious life is inseparable from everyday life and that all of life is, or can be, sacramental. So they believe that their spiritual life should influence everything they do. Also, it is basic to the Quaker way to be open to new insights from whatever source, whether they be other religions or secular sources. Quaker prayer usually takes the form of silent prayer and spontaneous spoken Ministry, rather than a formally worded spoken prayer. However, there is no objection to formal spoke prayer, and Quakers value many examples of such prayers that are of great beauty.

The Religious Society of Friends has been a member of the NSW Ecumenical Council for many years.