Introduction to Quakerism
and Toronto Monthly Meeting
by Raja Rajagopal
Welcome to Meeting for Worship
Quakers are united in an awareness of the "Inward Light" or "that of God in everyone". This means that God reveals a way of life in truth and love to every human being of every race and religion, directly, without any intermediary. But it is not what is missing, but what is present that makes the plain Quaker form of corporate renewal natural. Quakers have carried that understanding into their worship, their church government and their relationships with others.
A Quaker Meeting for Worship is based on silence. It is a stillness based on expectancy and inner listening. During the Meeting for Worship the expectant waiting is an attempt to bring us nearer to God and to each other. Meeting for Worship starts as soon as the first person enters the room and sits down.
A Meeting for Worship is a public event, to which anyone is welcome and may share. In Meeting everyone has a part to play in actively joining in the inward reaching. The visitor is welcomed, the regular attender and the member feel at home. All are part of the quiet waiting upon God: anyone present is free to minister verbally when moved by the Spirit, or continue in silent worship.
Quakers describe this form of worship as "unprogrammed", which means that there is no one who leads the meeting through a set form. Therefore the practice of silence places responsibility for any outcome on each person present. The stillness provides everyone with a chance to discern, and open and search one's heart. Do not be anxious about distracting thoughts. Give way quietly to your awareness of God's presence in us, among us, and in the world.
Sometimes a worshipper may be moved to stand up and speak briefly from his or her experience. This is called "spoken ministry" and it can deepen and enrich the worship. Listen to what is said in an open-minded, charitable spirit. Each contribution may help somebody, but our needs are different and can be met in different ways. Each of us brings our own life's experiences to the Meeting for Worship, and leaves with a spirit of openness, love, and trust.
After about an hour someone in the meeting shakes hands with the person next to him or her, and the "rise" of the meeting has come. Newcomers are welcomed and announcements are made by a Friend appointed for that Meeting. We then share a cup of tea; please join us and mingle with us. If you have any questions please feel free to ask the person who made the announcements.
After your first Meeting, reflections
Coming to Meeting for Worship, to join us in silent worship shows that every one does reflect, meditate, and even say a prayer, and want to join with others in doing so. Whether one uses God-language or not, we express appreciation for all that surrounds us and uplifts us; express deepest remorse for our mistakes; offer sincerest gratitude for each gift that comes to us through sources that transcend our abilities; and acknowledge and convey our deepest desires to one another. These are the contemporary equivalents of what caused us to kneel in the past. We are capable of building a deep and abiding awareness of who we are and how we are inter-connected, inter-dependent and inter-inspirational; we are capable of responding to people around us and our environment; it is that intentional reach into the depths of the heart/soul/mind that grounds us in the truths of these things. This faith is an inner quality that unfolds as we learn to trust our own deepest experience. It is a choice we make to open ourselves to possibilities that are unseen and unknown. Truth is a good word for it; some use the word "God" for it. Wherever the word "God" occurs please fill in your description of that which gives you faith. (It is useful to think of faith as a verb, "to faithe" if you prefer.)
We need to reflect on diverse ways in which we experience God, or the movement of the Spirit, and the different language we use to talk about it. In many ways Quakers were distinctive not so much for embracing ideas that were gaining traction in the religious and intellectual communities of the time as for taking them more seriously than others did. Putting into practice the conviction that there is that of God in everyone led them to practice the equality of all, treated men and women as equal, working for honesty in dealing with each other, and later work on the abolition of slavery made them the most modern people around. Often Quakers are described for things they do not have or which they dispensed with. The emphasis on the experiential nature of revelations from the Light within also made them easily adapt to the nascent interest in natural science. But the most important thing they identified was "the Light Within" which enables one to be guided by the Inward Teacher, if only one heard that voice over and above the din of egoism and busy-ness. Quaker stillness can engender radical change.
We believe that there is something of God in every person. When we wait expectantly and become inwardly still, we can experience the presence of the Light Within and, if we willingly pay attention, we receive guidance for the way to live. In worship we try to still ourselves so that we could be attentive to the guidance of the Inward Teacher within us. Our Faith is that this Inward Teacher or Light Within is available to us, and if we pay attention we will be shown a path we should follow. Learn to faithe, pay attention, place my trust and confidence in the Inward Teacher, whom I can hear if I am attentive. Do this repeatedly and often in order to learn or become more proficient.
Suggestions for reading
There is a Library in the House. The series of pamphlets titled "Twelve Quakers and ..." is a good entry into what present-day Quakers have to say on various topics. They are published by Quaker Quest, an outreach project of Britain Yearly meeting. There are eight pamphlets (about 40 pages each) and some of the topics are Worship, Pacifism, Equality, Jesus, Simplicity. Each pamphlet contains twelve short expressions by Quakers; all of them have been published between 2004 and 2011. Seven of them are collected in New Light: 12 Quaker Voices. Now there is eighth pamphlet on Faith.
The Amazing Fact of Quaker Worship (158pp; 1973) by George Gorman is a f/Friendly introduction to the central activity of Friends, the Meeting for Worship. Even after forty years it remains one of the best description of what Quaker Worship is; I read it from time to time to remind myself.
Quaker by Convincement (253 pp; 1985) by Geoffrey Hubbard has sections on faith, testimonies, and history of Quakers; it forms a good companion to Gorman. George Fox and Margaret Fell were contemporaries of Isaac Newton. Spinoza, a continental Jewish philosopher (who believed that the whole universe in which humans live is a tiny part of the infinite reality of God) translated one of Margaret Fell's pamphlets. Believing that experience and reasoning are more important than tradition and authority Quakers have been in the forefront of work in science; this has continued, over the centuries, to keep Friends in the advancing fronts of modernity. A short section on history in this book gives a sense of this.
Organization and Procedure of Canadian Yearly Meeting (March 2007) contains a 30-page history of Friends in Canada. It also includes a description of the work of the committees of the CYM. (There is a similar compilation of the terms and references for all committees and officers of the Toronto Monthly Meeting, usually available in the Library.)
We call Quaker Faith and Practice our book of discipline. "Discipline" is a forbidding word and I wish there were an alternative, but its meaning is clear. Discipline contains waiting, openness and listening with heart and mind. Without discipline there would be no Quakerism. While the word does not appear much in the index the whole book is about discipline (from the word disciple). It is not a rule book but it does do a lot of insisting.
Faith and Practice, Canadian Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (250 pp, 2011) is an anthology of writings on faith and witness and includes passages from the witness of Canadian Friends; Quaker Faith and Practice of the Britain Yearly Meeting (697pp; 1994) is an anthology of writings on the faith and witness of Friends; the excerpts in both books are from writings of Friends going back to the beginnings of the Society (350 years ago); they continue to be sources of inspiration.
"Advices and Queries" is one of the chapters in the Faith and Practice (both British and Canadian); for over three centuries it has served as a pocket guide to the Quaker way of life. It has been revised from time to time to take into account the guidance of continuing revelation, as well as bring it into contemporary idiom.
The Canadian Friend is the magazine of the Canadian Yearly Meeting; five issues a year. Friends Journal is an independent magazine serving the Religious Society of Friends, and is published in Philadelphia (monthly.) The Friend (weekly), Quaker Monthly, and Friends Quarterly are British publications.
The Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), was organized by George Fox, who lived in the mid-17th century in England. He grew up in a society in which religious unrest was accompanied by social and political ferment. George Fox was a deeply committed Christian who did not intend to start a movement, a sect or a church. He was very critical of the big gap between the life that was preached from the pulpit and the life that was led by those who professed to be Christians. He called people to return to the way of Jesus which was followed by the Apostles; he said that people had forgotten that obvious message for sixteen hundred years. Many who were seeking for an authentic way of life that was in accordance with the teachings of Jesus joined him. He taught that we can have direct communion with God, without the intervention of another human being (a minister), an institution (the church), or a book (the Bible). His teachings have been the basis for the Society of Friends for over three hundred years. We continue to sit together in unprogrammed worship, without clergy, liturgy, or sacraments (all of life is sacred). Each of us has 'that of God' within us. Rank, race, religion, political persuasion - all these things become unimportant. We are all equal and can speak to 'that of God' in others. We struggle with the noise of the world and the noise of passions within us which hinder us from hearing the still small voice of the Inward Teacher. We must listen with an attentive heart.
The implications of these ideas were, and still are, far-reaching. Experience and reasoning are better instructors than tradition and authority; all persons are equal; egalitarian forms of government; Spirit-led worship leading to ethical life; looking to openings of Friends from earlier generations for guidance; reluctance to separate private from public; a high degree of individualism combined with a high degree of emphasis on community and both held together as mutually supporting; and take all these seriously as the way of life to live up to rather than held as passive creeds.
To early Friends, the term 'Friend' was a short form of 'Friends of the Truth', and it linked with the Biblical command given by Jesus to his disciples in John 15: 14 - 17 to be friends and love one another. Calling ourselves 'Friends' constantly reminds us of this. "There will be diversity of experience, of belief and of language. Friends maintain that expressions of faith must be related to personal experience. Some find traditional Christian language full of meaning; some do not" says the Advices and Queries (page 3). Some Friends are born and raised in Quaker families, but many are convinced Friends and have come into the Society with Christian, Jewish, Hindu or other religious and cultural backgrounds. Expressions of non-theist Quakerism and secular Quakerism are also heard from time to time. We cherish the peace testimomy. We are against violence. The worst form of violence, poverty, we work to alleviate in our fight for social justice. We practice simplicity, witnessing to the concerns for environment, and equality.
Testimony is the term used to describe the living expression of the collective experience of Quaker faith, the experience of the group as it tries to remain faithful. Often it is used as a convenient shorthand to refer to simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, stewardship (acronym SPICES). Quaker worship and Quaker conduct of business are also testimonies. The witness of Friends has responded to challenges of changing society. Quakers were in the forefront of the abolition of slavery in the nineteenth century. The witness to peace testimony led Friends to recognise that in times of war many on both sides were affected and needed help. After the second world war Quaker service in Europe was recognised by the award of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1947. Quakers have been active in working with refugees. The concern for "the worst form of violence, poverty" has been recognised by us, though it is sometimes subsumed under social justice. Concern for the earth, stewardship, is one we have come to recognise towards the end of the last century.
Quakers in North America
The first Quakers in Canada came from the American colonies in the late 18th century. They settled in the Maritimes and in many counties of what is now southern and south-eastern Ontario. More Friends came from Britain in the 19th century, and by the 1870s there were 7,000 Quakers in Canada, mostly in rural areas of Ontario. Then our numbers declined. We were weakened by schisms that divided rival Quaker groups, by evangelical revivals that wooed many away, and by the fact that the close pioneer communties began to be diffused as the shift to urban centres began. By the beginning of the twentieth century Friends have increasingly tended to be urban, educated, and middle class. Most of our members are 'convinced' Friends (who joined because they were convinced that the Quaker way is what they wish to live in), rather than 'birthright' Friends (born to Quaker parents.) .
Membership is in a Monthly Meeting; there are twenty seven Monthly Meeetings in Canada (and several Worship Groups associated with them). According to the summary of the last Census of Canada there were more than 4,000 Quakers in Canada! We assume that many associate themselves with our work and believe that they are Quakers and say so, but have not taken the step towards applying for membership in a Monthly Meeting. About thirty-two percent are in the West, fifty-six percent are in Ontario, two percent in Quebec and ten percent in the Atlantic Provinces. Monthly Meetings are autonomous, independent bodies. They are concerned with the spiritual and pastoral care of their members. They provide the home for support of members in their witness to Quaker testimomies. They are also constituent parts of Half-Yearly Meetings or Regional Gatherings and of Canadian Yearly Meeting. In Summer, Friends have the opportunity to meet with Friends from across Canada for the sessions of Canadian Yearly Meeting. At the Yearly Meeting there is worship, business, special interest groups, and Friendly fellowship.
Monthly Meetings are independent, autonomous bodies (each is an "one-congregation church".) Friends in Canada are spread across the country, and are members of different Monthly Meetings. The meetings are members of a voluntary body called the Canadian Yearly Meeting (CYM), whose office is in Ottawa. Friends from around Canada get together once a year, for about a week, during August to meet as the Canadian Yearly Meeting. It is an opportunity for Friends from across the country to get to share the "State of the Society" reports as well as discuss matters of mutual interest. The August 2012 meeting was the 59th as a united meeting. (Before 1955 there were several Yearly Meetings and so the August 2012 meeting is referred to as the 179th Annual Meeting and 59th as a United Meeting.) The chapter on history in the in Organization and Procedure (cited in the readings) contains a brief summary about the meetings in the past and the union in 1955. In addition to organizing a yearly Meeting, CYM also oversees the publication of a journal (The Canadian Friend). It has put together a book called Organization and Procedure of the CYM; the contents of this book provide a framework for the Monthly Meetings to adopt and adapt. It includes chapters about Friends`marriages, burials, as well as about Spiritual Welfare and Pastoral Care (see below about Ministry and Counsel). Canadian Friends use the Quaker Faith and Practice of the Canadian Yearly meeting but also benefit from the Faith and Practice of the Britain Yearly Meeting as a spiritual resource. (There are two of them, which we refer to as the Blue Book and the Red Book).
The Toronto Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
(to give the full title) had its beginning in 1880; the Meeting was in other locations before moving to Friends House (60 Lowther Avenue) in 1949. In 2011 there were 135 people involved in the Monthly Meeting; of those 121 are members and the others are involved in the Meeting. Only about 80 members are active in the Meeting. We have no designated pastors or ministers. The work of the Meeting (Social Testimonies, administration, and giving witness to concerns) is carried out by those who are nominated to serve on Meeting committees. A list of Meeting committees (and their terms of reference) is in the Library. Two Friends reside in the House to maintain the premises and provide a Quaker presence; a part-time office person cares for the secretarial and bookkeeping work; there is a refugee and resettlement worker and one person minds the upkeep of the House. These five are employees of the Meeting. Financial support for the Meeting comes from trust funds, as well as donations by individuals. TMM is a registered charitable organization. Confusing though it may be, the word Meeting can refer to the Meeting for Worship, the Monthly Meeting for Business, and the scheduled meeting of a committee. Sometimes it means the usual "gathering", as in "They are meeting in the lobby".
Monthly Meeting for Business : This is the Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business for Toronto Quakers. Usually it meets once a month, on the third Sunday, at 12.45 p.m. Business Meetings are conducted by a Clerk who tries to ensure that the business is conducted in a worshipful way. The Clerk is assisted by a Recording Clerk who drafts the minutes, but unlike most secular business meetings, they are read aloud to the Meeting until everyone is in agreement on the wording of the minute. This is a testimony and gives witness to the belief that the Light is given to everyone. Copies of the minutes of the business meeting are in the Library.
Local groups: There are smaller local groups which meet for worship and sharing. All the groups welcome newcomers. (If a group also involves shared food they will tell you.) All lead to good conversations and fellowship. Information about groups can be found in the Monthly Newsletter of the Toronto Monthly Meeting.
Testimonies: Toronto Friends actively bear witness to their hope for a just and compassionate society, involving themselves in jail visitation, earthcare, helping refugees, assisting war-resisters, arranging workshops on non-violence, biotechnology and genetically modified organisms, working with First Nations.
Meeting of Ministry and Counsel: Quakers do not have designated priests or pastors, since we believe in the ability of all to have direct access to the Divine. However nurturing the spiritual life of the group as a whole and of its individual members needs attending to. Right holding of meetings for worship also needs care. The care of the Meeting for Worship includes concern for religious education of all and activities that sustain this. The outward aspects of pastoral care, with building a community in which all members find acceptance, loving care and opportunities for service is also part of its concern. These concerns are met by the Meeting of Ministry and Counsel and its subcommittees. Some are shared with other members of the Meeting. Since all members are "priests and pastors" the care of the Meeting devolves on all of us, and so one must beware of "commons syndrome" (thinking that someone else is minding it.")
It is worth reminding ourselves that the Meeting for Worship, the Meeting for Ministry and Counsel, and the Meeting for Worship for Business are the three pillars of the Meeting.
Children and Young People: There is a First Day School which usually takes place at the same time as the Meeting for Worship (between 11 a.m. and 12 noon.) (see the Newsletter for details.)
Gay and Lesbian Concerns: There are contact persons for Gay and Lesbian Concerns who are appointed by the Monthly Meeting. Please ask the person who made the announcements (after Meeting for Worship) for the names of the people currently responsible for this.
Friends House in Toronto is a meeting place. It is supported by donations from the Samuel Rogers Memorial Trust, which draws from funds left by the Rogers family, who were a successful business family in earlier times. These funds are also used, indirectly, to support activities of the Yearly Meeting. Support for the House comes from individual donations and from contributions from many cognate non-Quaker bodies who use the House. The offices of the Toronto Monthly Meeting and its committees (Refugee, Peace and Social Concerns, Library) are all in the House. Many Yearly Meeting committees meet here. The Canadian Friends Service Committee (now an incorporated body) has its office in the House.
Friends around the World
There are about 340,000 Friends around the World (in 2011). They are members of Monthly Meetings which have joined together in about 85 Yearly Meetings. About 43% of the membership is in the Americas (26% in North America and 17% in the Caribbean and Latin America). 46% are in Africa, 7% in Europe and the Middle East, and 4% in Asia and the West Pacific. A third of a million Friends are spread around the world - share some essentials of Quakerism. Our goal is not personal enlightenment so much as a communal search for God's will. We do not withdraw from the world but instead translate our mysticism into action for the betterment of the society in which we live. We believe in the necessity of being continually guided by the Light Within. We have a common core of testimonies which are shared perspectives on the world: peace, integrity, equality, and simplicity. We have no creed. There is a wide range of beliefs among Friends, and discovering what it truly means to be a Quaker means struggling with differing viewpoints. Quaker faith has Christian roots, but Friends in the silent, "unprogrammed" tradition may be nurtured by many spiritual traditions.
To promote better understanding among Friends the world over by means of joint conferences, intervisitation, and the collection and circulation of information about Quaker literature the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) was set up in 1938. The following year, it was agreed to set up sections in Europe and America, and to publish Friends World News which would have a wide international circulation. The growth among Friends is in the global South, but the FWCC World Office is still in London as it is a world hub and is seen as the most cost effective solution. The Section of the Americas office is in Philadelphia. Asia West Pacific and Europe and the Middle East Sections do not have permanent locations. The Africa section has an office in the Friends Center in Nairobi. There are triennial meetings of FWCC; the twenty-second was held in Dublin in 2007. The fifth World Conference, in 1991, was held in three sites: Holland, Honduras and Kenya.
The Sixth World Conference of Friends took place in April 2012, at Kabarak University near Nakuru in Kenya. About 850 Friends, from 112 Yearly Meetings and groups in 51 countries gathered in Nakuru to consider the theme "Being Salt and Light: Friends Living in the Kingdom of God in a Broken World". Concern for ecological justice has recently been included along with concern for peace and the Conference ended with the Kabarak Call for Peace and EcoJustice.
Dorothy Janes, Gerda von Bitter, Jeff Field, Jane Sweet, Wanda Forsythe, Dan Cooperstock, Kwame Barko, Judith Amundsen, Ed Abbott, Suprabhat Dey, Harvey Braun and Dagmar Rajagopal contributed to the 2008 version of these pages. Judith Amundsen, Dagmar Rajagopal, Richard Lush, Ben Bootsma, Charlie Diamond, and Jane Sweet helped with this revision.
Raja Rajagopal, November 2012
and Toronto Monthly Meeting
by Raja Rajagopal
Welcome to Meeting for Worship
Quakers are united in an awareness of the "Inward Light" or "that of God in everyone". This means that God reveals a way of life in truth and love to every human being of every race and religion, directly, without any intermediary. But it is not what is missing, but what is present that makes the plain Quaker form of corporate renewal natural. Quakers have carried that understanding into their worship, their church government and their relationships with others.
A Quaker Meeting for Worship is based on silence. It is a stillness based on expectancy and inner listening. During the Meeting for Worship the expectant waiting is an attempt to bring us nearer to God and to each other. Meeting for Worship starts as soon as the first person enters the room and sits down.
A Meeting for Worship is a public event, to which anyone is welcome and may share. In Meeting everyone has a part to play in actively joining in the inward reaching. The visitor is welcomed, the regular attender and the member feel at home. All are part of the quiet waiting upon God: anyone present is free to minister verbally when moved by the Spirit, or continue in silent worship.
Quakers describe this form of worship as "unprogrammed", which means that there is no one who leads the meeting through a set form. Therefore the practice of silence places responsibility for any outcome on each person present. The stillness provides everyone with a chance to discern, and open and search one's heart. Do not be anxious about distracting thoughts. Give way quietly to your awareness of God's presence in us, among us, and in the world.
Sometimes a worshipper may be moved to stand up and speak briefly from his or her experience. This is called "spoken ministry" and it can deepen and enrich the worship. Listen to what is said in an open-minded, charitable spirit. Each contribution may help somebody, but our needs are different and can be met in different ways. Each of us brings our own life's experiences to the Meeting for Worship, and leaves with a spirit of openness, love, and trust.
After about an hour someone in the meeting shakes hands with the person next to him or her, and the "rise" of the meeting has come. Newcomers are welcomed and announcements are made by a Friend appointed for that Meeting. We then share a cup of tea; please join us and mingle with us. If you have any questions please feel free to ask the person who made the announcements.
After your first Meeting, reflections
Coming to Meeting for Worship, to join us in silent worship shows that every one does reflect, meditate, and even say a prayer, and want to join with others in doing so. Whether one uses God-language or not, we express appreciation for all that surrounds us and uplifts us; express deepest remorse for our mistakes; offer sincerest gratitude for each gift that comes to us through sources that transcend our abilities; and acknowledge and convey our deepest desires to one another. These are the contemporary equivalents of what caused us to kneel in the past. We are capable of building a deep and abiding awareness of who we are and how we are inter-connected, inter-dependent and inter-inspirational; we are capable of responding to people around us and our environment; it is that intentional reach into the depths of the heart/soul/mind that grounds us in the truths of these things. This faith is an inner quality that unfolds as we learn to trust our own deepest experience. It is a choice we make to open ourselves to possibilities that are unseen and unknown. Truth is a good word for it; some use the word "God" for it. Wherever the word "God" occurs please fill in your description of that which gives you faith. (It is useful to think of faith as a verb, "to faithe" if you prefer.)
We need to reflect on diverse ways in which we experience God, or the movement of the Spirit, and the different language we use to talk about it. In many ways Quakers were distinctive not so much for embracing ideas that were gaining traction in the religious and intellectual communities of the time as for taking them more seriously than others did. Putting into practice the conviction that there is that of God in everyone led them to practice the equality of all, treated men and women as equal, working for honesty in dealing with each other, and later work on the abolition of slavery made them the most modern people around. Often Quakers are described for things they do not have or which they dispensed with. The emphasis on the experiential nature of revelations from the Light within also made them easily adapt to the nascent interest in natural science. But the most important thing they identified was "the Light Within" which enables one to be guided by the Inward Teacher, if only one heard that voice over and above the din of egoism and busy-ness. Quaker stillness can engender radical change.
We believe that there is something of God in every person. When we wait expectantly and become inwardly still, we can experience the presence of the Light Within and, if we willingly pay attention, we receive guidance for the way to live. In worship we try to still ourselves so that we could be attentive to the guidance of the Inward Teacher within us. Our Faith is that this Inward Teacher or Light Within is available to us, and if we pay attention we will be shown a path we should follow. Learn to faithe, pay attention, place my trust and confidence in the Inward Teacher, whom I can hear if I am attentive. Do this repeatedly and often in order to learn or become more proficient.
Suggestions for reading
There is a Library in the House. The series of pamphlets titled "Twelve Quakers and ..." is a good entry into what present-day Quakers have to say on various topics. They are published by Quaker Quest, an outreach project of Britain Yearly meeting. There are eight pamphlets (about 40 pages each) and some of the topics are Worship, Pacifism, Equality, Jesus, Simplicity. Each pamphlet contains twelve short expressions by Quakers; all of them have been published between 2004 and 2011. Seven of them are collected in New Light: 12 Quaker Voices. Now there is eighth pamphlet on Faith.
The Amazing Fact of Quaker Worship (158pp; 1973) by George Gorman is a f/Friendly introduction to the central activity of Friends, the Meeting for Worship. Even after forty years it remains one of the best description of what Quaker Worship is; I read it from time to time to remind myself.
Quaker by Convincement (253 pp; 1985) by Geoffrey Hubbard has sections on faith, testimonies, and history of Quakers; it forms a good companion to Gorman. George Fox and Margaret Fell were contemporaries of Isaac Newton. Spinoza, a continental Jewish philosopher (who believed that the whole universe in which humans live is a tiny part of the infinite reality of God) translated one of Margaret Fell's pamphlets. Believing that experience and reasoning are more important than tradition and authority Quakers have been in the forefront of work in science; this has continued, over the centuries, to keep Friends in the advancing fronts of modernity. A short section on history in this book gives a sense of this.
Organization and Procedure of Canadian Yearly Meeting (March 2007) contains a 30-page history of Friends in Canada. It also includes a description of the work of the committees of the CYM. (There is a similar compilation of the terms and references for all committees and officers of the Toronto Monthly Meeting, usually available in the Library.)
We call Quaker Faith and Practice our book of discipline. "Discipline" is a forbidding word and I wish there were an alternative, but its meaning is clear. Discipline contains waiting, openness and listening with heart and mind. Without discipline there would be no Quakerism. While the word does not appear much in the index the whole book is about discipline (from the word disciple). It is not a rule book but it does do a lot of insisting.
Faith and Practice, Canadian Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (250 pp, 2011) is an anthology of writings on faith and witness and includes passages from the witness of Canadian Friends; Quaker Faith and Practice of the Britain Yearly Meeting (697pp; 1994) is an anthology of writings on the faith and witness of Friends; the excerpts in both books are from writings of Friends going back to the beginnings of the Society (350 years ago); they continue to be sources of inspiration.
"Advices and Queries" is one of the chapters in the Faith and Practice (both British and Canadian); for over three centuries it has served as a pocket guide to the Quaker way of life. It has been revised from time to time to take into account the guidance of continuing revelation, as well as bring it into contemporary idiom.
The Canadian Friend is the magazine of the Canadian Yearly Meeting; five issues a year. Friends Journal is an independent magazine serving the Religious Society of Friends, and is published in Philadelphia (monthly.) The Friend (weekly), Quaker Monthly, and Friends Quarterly are British publications.
The Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), was organized by George Fox, who lived in the mid-17th century in England. He grew up in a society in which religious unrest was accompanied by social and political ferment. George Fox was a deeply committed Christian who did not intend to start a movement, a sect or a church. He was very critical of the big gap between the life that was preached from the pulpit and the life that was led by those who professed to be Christians. He called people to return to the way of Jesus which was followed by the Apostles; he said that people had forgotten that obvious message for sixteen hundred years. Many who were seeking for an authentic way of life that was in accordance with the teachings of Jesus joined him. He taught that we can have direct communion with God, without the intervention of another human being (a minister), an institution (the church), or a book (the Bible). His teachings have been the basis for the Society of Friends for over three hundred years. We continue to sit together in unprogrammed worship, without clergy, liturgy, or sacraments (all of life is sacred). Each of us has 'that of God' within us. Rank, race, religion, political persuasion - all these things become unimportant. We are all equal and can speak to 'that of God' in others. We struggle with the noise of the world and the noise of passions within us which hinder us from hearing the still small voice of the Inward Teacher. We must listen with an attentive heart.
The implications of these ideas were, and still are, far-reaching. Experience and reasoning are better instructors than tradition and authority; all persons are equal; egalitarian forms of government; Spirit-led worship leading to ethical life; looking to openings of Friends from earlier generations for guidance; reluctance to separate private from public; a high degree of individualism combined with a high degree of emphasis on community and both held together as mutually supporting; and take all these seriously as the way of life to live up to rather than held as passive creeds.
To early Friends, the term 'Friend' was a short form of 'Friends of the Truth', and it linked with the Biblical command given by Jesus to his disciples in John 15: 14 - 17 to be friends and love one another. Calling ourselves 'Friends' constantly reminds us of this. "There will be diversity of experience, of belief and of language. Friends maintain that expressions of faith must be related to personal experience. Some find traditional Christian language full of meaning; some do not" says the Advices and Queries (page 3). Some Friends are born and raised in Quaker families, but many are convinced Friends and have come into the Society with Christian, Jewish, Hindu or other religious and cultural backgrounds. Expressions of non-theist Quakerism and secular Quakerism are also heard from time to time. We cherish the peace testimomy. We are against violence. The worst form of violence, poverty, we work to alleviate in our fight for social justice. We practice simplicity, witnessing to the concerns for environment, and equality.
Testimony is the term used to describe the living expression of the collective experience of Quaker faith, the experience of the group as it tries to remain faithful. Often it is used as a convenient shorthand to refer to simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, stewardship (acronym SPICES). Quaker worship and Quaker conduct of business are also testimonies. The witness of Friends has responded to challenges of changing society. Quakers were in the forefront of the abolition of slavery in the nineteenth century. The witness to peace testimony led Friends to recognise that in times of war many on both sides were affected and needed help. After the second world war Quaker service in Europe was recognised by the award of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1947. Quakers have been active in working with refugees. The concern for "the worst form of violence, poverty" has been recognised by us, though it is sometimes subsumed under social justice. Concern for the earth, stewardship, is one we have come to recognise towards the end of the last century.
Quakers in North America
The first Quakers in Canada came from the American colonies in the late 18th century. They settled in the Maritimes and in many counties of what is now southern and south-eastern Ontario. More Friends came from Britain in the 19th century, and by the 1870s there were 7,000 Quakers in Canada, mostly in rural areas of Ontario. Then our numbers declined. We were weakened by schisms that divided rival Quaker groups, by evangelical revivals that wooed many away, and by the fact that the close pioneer communties began to be diffused as the shift to urban centres began. By the beginning of the twentieth century Friends have increasingly tended to be urban, educated, and middle class. Most of our members are 'convinced' Friends (who joined because they were convinced that the Quaker way is what they wish to live in), rather than 'birthright' Friends (born to Quaker parents.) .
Membership is in a Monthly Meeting; there are twenty seven Monthly Meeetings in Canada (and several Worship Groups associated with them). According to the summary of the last Census of Canada there were more than 4,000 Quakers in Canada! We assume that many associate themselves with our work and believe that they are Quakers and say so, but have not taken the step towards applying for membership in a Monthly Meeting. About thirty-two percent are in the West, fifty-six percent are in Ontario, two percent in Quebec and ten percent in the Atlantic Provinces. Monthly Meetings are autonomous, independent bodies. They are concerned with the spiritual and pastoral care of their members. They provide the home for support of members in their witness to Quaker testimomies. They are also constituent parts of Half-Yearly Meetings or Regional Gatherings and of Canadian Yearly Meeting. In Summer, Friends have the opportunity to meet with Friends from across Canada for the sessions of Canadian Yearly Meeting. At the Yearly Meeting there is worship, business, special interest groups, and Friendly fellowship.
Monthly Meetings are independent, autonomous bodies (each is an "one-congregation church".) Friends in Canada are spread across the country, and are members of different Monthly Meetings. The meetings are members of a voluntary body called the Canadian Yearly Meeting (CYM), whose office is in Ottawa. Friends from around Canada get together once a year, for about a week, during August to meet as the Canadian Yearly Meeting. It is an opportunity for Friends from across the country to get to share the "State of the Society" reports as well as discuss matters of mutual interest. The August 2012 meeting was the 59th as a united meeting. (Before 1955 there were several Yearly Meetings and so the August 2012 meeting is referred to as the 179th Annual Meeting and 59th as a United Meeting.) The chapter on history in the in Organization and Procedure (cited in the readings) contains a brief summary about the meetings in the past and the union in 1955. In addition to organizing a yearly Meeting, CYM also oversees the publication of a journal (The Canadian Friend). It has put together a book called Organization and Procedure of the CYM; the contents of this book provide a framework for the Monthly Meetings to adopt and adapt. It includes chapters about Friends`marriages, burials, as well as about Spiritual Welfare and Pastoral Care (see below about Ministry and Counsel). Canadian Friends use the Quaker Faith and Practice of the Canadian Yearly meeting but also benefit from the Faith and Practice of the Britain Yearly Meeting as a spiritual resource. (There are two of them, which we refer to as the Blue Book and the Red Book).
The Toronto Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
(to give the full title) had its beginning in 1880; the Meeting was in other locations before moving to Friends House (60 Lowther Avenue) in 1949. In 2011 there were 135 people involved in the Monthly Meeting; of those 121 are members and the others are involved in the Meeting. Only about 80 members are active in the Meeting. We have no designated pastors or ministers. The work of the Meeting (Social Testimonies, administration, and giving witness to concerns) is carried out by those who are nominated to serve on Meeting committees. A list of Meeting committees (and their terms of reference) is in the Library. Two Friends reside in the House to maintain the premises and provide a Quaker presence; a part-time office person cares for the secretarial and bookkeeping work; there is a refugee and resettlement worker and one person minds the upkeep of the House. These five are employees of the Meeting. Financial support for the Meeting comes from trust funds, as well as donations by individuals. TMM is a registered charitable organization. Confusing though it may be, the word Meeting can refer to the Meeting for Worship, the Monthly Meeting for Business, and the scheduled meeting of a committee. Sometimes it means the usual "gathering", as in "They are meeting in the lobby".
Monthly Meeting for Business : This is the Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business for Toronto Quakers. Usually it meets once a month, on the third Sunday, at 12.45 p.m. Business Meetings are conducted by a Clerk who tries to ensure that the business is conducted in a worshipful way. The Clerk is assisted by a Recording Clerk who drafts the minutes, but unlike most secular business meetings, they are read aloud to the Meeting until everyone is in agreement on the wording of the minute. This is a testimony and gives witness to the belief that the Light is given to everyone. Copies of the minutes of the business meeting are in the Library.
Local groups: There are smaller local groups which meet for worship and sharing. All the groups welcome newcomers. (If a group also involves shared food they will tell you.) All lead to good conversations and fellowship. Information about groups can be found in the Monthly Newsletter of the Toronto Monthly Meeting.
Testimonies: Toronto Friends actively bear witness to their hope for a just and compassionate society, involving themselves in jail visitation, earthcare, helping refugees, assisting war-resisters, arranging workshops on non-violence, biotechnology and genetically modified organisms, working with First Nations.
Meeting of Ministry and Counsel: Quakers do not have designated priests or pastors, since we believe in the ability of all to have direct access to the Divine. However nurturing the spiritual life of the group as a whole and of its individual members needs attending to. Right holding of meetings for worship also needs care. The care of the Meeting for Worship includes concern for religious education of all and activities that sustain this. The outward aspects of pastoral care, with building a community in which all members find acceptance, loving care and opportunities for service is also part of its concern. These concerns are met by the Meeting of Ministry and Counsel and its subcommittees. Some are shared with other members of the Meeting. Since all members are "priests and pastors" the care of the Meeting devolves on all of us, and so one must beware of "commons syndrome" (thinking that someone else is minding it.")
It is worth reminding ourselves that the Meeting for Worship, the Meeting for Ministry and Counsel, and the Meeting for Worship for Business are the three pillars of the Meeting.
Children and Young People: There is a First Day School which usually takes place at the same time as the Meeting for Worship (between 11 a.m. and 12 noon.) (see the Newsletter for details.)
Gay and Lesbian Concerns: There are contact persons for Gay and Lesbian Concerns who are appointed by the Monthly Meeting. Please ask the person who made the announcements (after Meeting for Worship) for the names of the people currently responsible for this.
Friends House in Toronto is a meeting place. It is supported by donations from the Samuel Rogers Memorial Trust, which draws from funds left by the Rogers family, who were a successful business family in earlier times. These funds are also used, indirectly, to support activities of the Yearly Meeting. Support for the House comes from individual donations and from contributions from many cognate non-Quaker bodies who use the House. The offices of the Toronto Monthly Meeting and its committees (Refugee, Peace and Social Concerns, Library) are all in the House. Many Yearly Meeting committees meet here. The Canadian Friends Service Committee (now an incorporated body) has its office in the House.
Friends around the World
There are about 340,000 Friends around the World (in 2011). They are members of Monthly Meetings which have joined together in about 85 Yearly Meetings. About 43% of the membership is in the Americas (26% in North America and 17% in the Caribbean and Latin America). 46% are in Africa, 7% in Europe and the Middle East, and 4% in Asia and the West Pacific. A third of a million Friends are spread around the world - share some essentials of Quakerism. Our goal is not personal enlightenment so much as a communal search for God's will. We do not withdraw from the world but instead translate our mysticism into action for the betterment of the society in which we live. We believe in the necessity of being continually guided by the Light Within. We have a common core of testimonies which are shared perspectives on the world: peace, integrity, equality, and simplicity. We have no creed. There is a wide range of beliefs among Friends, and discovering what it truly means to be a Quaker means struggling with differing viewpoints. Quaker faith has Christian roots, but Friends in the silent, "unprogrammed" tradition may be nurtured by many spiritual traditions.
To promote better understanding among Friends the world over by means of joint conferences, intervisitation, and the collection and circulation of information about Quaker literature the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) was set up in 1938. The following year, it was agreed to set up sections in Europe and America, and to publish Friends World News which would have a wide international circulation. The growth among Friends is in the global South, but the FWCC World Office is still in London as it is a world hub and is seen as the most cost effective solution. The Section of the Americas office is in Philadelphia. Asia West Pacific and Europe and the Middle East Sections do not have permanent locations. The Africa section has an office in the Friends Center in Nairobi. There are triennial meetings of FWCC; the twenty-second was held in Dublin in 2007. The fifth World Conference, in 1991, was held in three sites: Holland, Honduras and Kenya.
The Sixth World Conference of Friends took place in April 2012, at Kabarak University near Nakuru in Kenya. About 850 Friends, from 112 Yearly Meetings and groups in 51 countries gathered in Nakuru to consider the theme "Being Salt and Light: Friends Living in the Kingdom of God in a Broken World". Concern for ecological justice has recently been included along with concern for peace and the Conference ended with the Kabarak Call for Peace and EcoJustice.
Dorothy Janes, Gerda von Bitter, Jeff Field, Jane Sweet, Wanda Forsythe, Dan Cooperstock, Kwame Barko, Judith Amundsen, Ed Abbott, Suprabhat Dey, Harvey Braun and Dagmar Rajagopal contributed to the 2008 version of these pages. Judith Amundsen, Dagmar Rajagopal, Richard Lush, Ben Bootsma, Charlie Diamond, and Jane Sweet helped with this revision.
Raja Rajagopal, November 2012