What is a Quaker?
I will describe the pre-divison beliefs of the Religious Society of Friends as they have been conserved through the Friends of Ohio Yearly Meeting and the work of New Foundation Fellowship. More information can be found on their websites.
Friends belief is rooted firmly in the message of the everlasting gospel. We hold the understanding that God maintains an indwelling immediate presence within every human being through his Spirit, often called inward light, and that following in faithful obediance of what God directly teaches to us will lead us to grow in knowledge of him. Christ himself is the only way to drive us from our sins.
For the Quaker, Christ is the center of our lives and he is always there with us. Growth in Christ will lead us from our sins. This was the message of Fox and the valiant sixty. This was the message that propelled Quaker faith and resulted in the radical inward transformation of those men and women from before.
“There is One, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition.” — George Fox
Friends hold that the holy scriptures were written by people who were moved by the Spirit and that they are profitable for instruction and correction of our experiences with the inward experience of Christ. The holy scriptures provide an accurate description of the record of man, how man has experienced God, and the plan for salvation.
Since Christ is the immediate teacher of the Church (body of believers) we do not have pastoral worship. Christ is there in our midst, there is no need to come with a prepared sermon since Christ is the sole authority. Our worship instead is founded on the practice of waiting upon the Lord in communal worship. This is achieved by a gathered outward silence together in a circle of seating, where each person centers themselves into an inner stillness and state of contemplation. This is an exepectant waiting for a message from the Lord, this inner stillness allows us to hear, with our spiritual ears, the voice of the Lord.
If Christ desires to have verbal ministry spoken, he will call upon a person at the meeting to speak his message. Verbal ministry is not a free-for-all of whoever wants to give ministry, it is a calling from the Lord. When one is receiving a message from Christ and they understand that they are being told to share it, they are expected to stand and verbally speak that message.
Not all meetings result in verbal ministry, this does not mean that the meeting has failed in worship. Christ internally ministers to us messages that do not need to be shared with the broader group of Friends. The silence itself may also serve as a solemn reverance which is in itself, acceptable spiritual worship.
“We are in the presence of the infinite, the unbounded, the unfathomable. We are face to face with the unspeakable, the transcendent, the eternal. How ireverent to voice whatever platitudes come into our minds! How unbecoming to start religious chatter. Nay, better far to be reverentially silent.” — Max Reich, Congregational Silence
There exist three groups of Friends today,
Evangelical Friends (Gurneyites) Historically have diminished the emphasis of the inward work of Christ as well as waiting worship and in its replacement are found great methodist low-church influence. They are most likely to have programmed worship with a pastor and church ordinances. There is sometimes a brief period of waiting worship before or after service. The largest group of Evangelical Friends today is Evangelical Friends Church International
Liberal Friends (Hicksites) Have left the importance of Christ and his sacrifice, oftentimes being incorporating various other religious backgrounds. Liberal Friends do make waiting worship the center of their meetings, but the ministry given at waiting worship is often spoken from the ego “I feel, I believe, &c” instead of the words being from Christ. I find it important to state that although Liberal Friends are commonly associated with Hicksites as a blanket label, I would fit them more into “Post-Hicksite” as their beliefs proceed from the Hicksite tradition but have overtime become much more Liberal in theology. The Largest group of Liberal Friends today is Friends General Conference
Conservative Friends (Wilburites) represent the pre-division beliefs of the Religious Society of Friends. We maintain the stance that the Christian foundations are necessary as well as the inward obediance to the Spirit which is itself a Christian teaching. The obediance to Christ that leads to profound inward change is inseparable from the gospel. The roots of Conservative Friends belief are firmly in the truly primitive Christian belief rediscovered and preached by Fox and the valiant sixty. The Largest group of Conservative Friends today is Ohio Yearly Meeting