Are You a Quaker?

You might be a Quaker and not even know it! Watch this video to find out. ►Find Friends Around the World! http://fdsj.nl/fwcc-find-friends ►What Kind of Quaker Are You? http://fdsj.nl/fwcc-areyouquaker ►SUBSCRIBE for a new video every week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-Subscribe ⇒⇒Find out more about Quakers: Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-Subscribe Learn more about the life and ministry of New England Quakers http://fdsj.nl/qs-neym Find out how Quakers are assisting military personnel across the US http://fdsj.nl/qs-quaker-house Learn about the rich diversity of Quakers worldwide http://fdsj.nl/qs-fwcc Work with Quakers for peace with justice http://fdsj.nl/qs-afsc ⇒⇒QuakerSpeak links & credits: Listen to the QuakerSpeak Podcast http://fdsj.nl/QS-Podcast Like us on Facebook http://facebook.com/QuakerSpeak Filmed and edited by Jon Watts: http://jonwatts.com Music from this episode: http://jonwattsmusic.com ⇒⇒Transcript: Norma Wallman: If you want a direct relationship with God, then you probably have a good chance of being a Quaker. A lot of it is based, I think, on that. Do you want the direct relationship with God? Are You a Quaker? Lidney Molnari: I think we’re all born Quakers. We just discover that in us. I think you’ll know you’re a Quaker when you visit a Quaker meeting. You’ll know you’re a Quaker when meeting for worship meets your condition. You’ll know you’re a Quaker when you come and visit and feel the love, feel the community, and feel the Spirit move. And in my experience, the spirit moved within the silence. How Do I Know I’m a Quaker? Cheryl Speir-Phillips: Oh my goodness, that’s a good question! How do I know if I might be a Quaker? Well, often Quakers have a sense of longing for peace and justice issues—for a spiritual connection. Ray Treadway: I think one way of knowing whether you’re a Quaker is whether it feels right for you, and whether it speaks to your condition. Julie Peyton: You might be a Quaker if you’ve tried a lot of spiritual paths or even one spiritual path and it wasn’t transformative. So you try something else and it’s not transformative. And maybe you get a whisper, “Hey, the Quakers are doing it differently.” And you’re willing to give yet another shot to find something that can be transformative. Sara Hernandez: Are you the kind of person who enjoys taking a moment of quiet to think through the issues in your life? Are you somebody who is committed to peace and caring for others and trying to make this a better world for all human beings? Brenda Cox: I think that if you wonder if you’re a Quaker, I think the best way to find that out would be to go to Quaker churches and see if you fit in. There, again, Quakers are so diverse that you could probably fit into a Quaker church somewhere. How to Find a Quaker Meeting Lidney Molnari: So if you’re thinking you’re seeking to be a part of a Quaker worship or part of a Quaker church, just Google it! Or go to Friends World Committee on Consultation, which has lists of Friends Meetings and Friends Churches around the country and around the world. Norma Wallman: When you look on the web and you see that there are different kinds of Quaker worship—we have programmed, unprogrammed—and you are puzzled by that, then we say, “Come and see!” Ray Treadway: If you came to our meeting, we would want to be sure you understood that while our meeting worships in silence and expectant waiting for those who wanted to share spoken ministry, that you might go down the street to another Friends meeting who might have hymns, someone who would give a pastoral message… so not all Quakers are alike, and you may find that you prefer ours, or you may find that you prefer some other form of worship. Sara Hernandez: So which one to pursue? I would say it’s a question of where you feel you are at in your own religious search. Perhaps the best thing to do would be to try both of them. Julie Peyton: The temptation’s to say, “Come and see” but I would say, try it. The fundamental thing of being a Quaker is, “Does it work?” If it doesn’t work, try something else, try it differently, but keep trying. More: http://fdsj.nl/are-you-quaker ___ The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.