Posted on 10/31/2025 4:21:03 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — At the Arch Street Meeting House in Philadelphia’s Old City, more and more young people are seeking respite from a clamorous technological age in the silent worship of a centuries-old faith.
Like other Quaker houses of worship, it follows values of simplicity and equality. There’s no clergy, pulpit or altar. No statues of saints, no stained-glass windows. No one sings or chants, burns incense or lights candles. They simply sit in silence in 200-year-old wooden pews — and wait for a message from God to move through them until they speak.
“This feels different in that it’s so simple. It’s set up in a way that makes you feel like your internal world … is equally as important as the space that you’re in,” says Valerie Goodman, a pink-haired artist reading her Bible outside the meeting house on a recent Sunday before going inside. Goodman, 27, grew up Southern Baptist but left the evangelical church in college.
“It feels like I can have a minute to breathe. It’s different than having a moment of meditation in my apartment because there’s still all of the distractions around,” Goodman says. “And it’s crazy being in a room full of other people that are all there to experience that themselves.”
It has been called the “Westminster Abbey of Quakerism.” Yet for years, attendance at Arch Street was so low, and its historic 300-seat West Room felt so empty, that the few people present began to meet in a smaller room. But recent years have produced an unprecedented surge in the number of attendees at Sunday worship — from about 25 before the coronavirus pandemic to up to 100 today.
“One of the things that I’m very excited about is the number of people that we have coming to meeting, and...
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
I really miss the traditional Silent Service. The Meeting where I live now is programed, as well as liberal as all get up, so I do not partake. Even the programed Meetings I attended as a child had a 15 minute silent service which was better than nothing.
I don’t really understand the Quaker denomination. The Bible clearly says God gives Apostles, evangelists, pastors, teachers (Ephesians 4:11), so how are they in God’s will?
Also, in before the storm. Friends trend towards being very Liberal, but in my experience respect all views. In the 60’s when people were spitting on “Baby Killers” returning from Vietnam, our meeting had a large contingent of Vets who were welcomed with open hearts.
Quakers believe that God is in everyone and that you accept God which enables your inner light to shine. Pastors, Priests, evangelists and you all have the same potential.
Do they believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior?
Yes
You can do some research here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quakers but like many things in Wikipedia, not everything is 100% accurate. They are quite a small community with many fractures these days. The Quarterly and annual meetings try to get more cohesion in the community, but their weakness is in their lose affiliations IMHO. I am both Birthright and Convinced but currently no longer active in the society of friends community.
I am partial to the Amish away of silent prayer, even saying “grace” before meals.
Considering how raucous *worship* has gotten in the least several years, a trend towards more quiet and reverence is welcome.
God spoke to Elijah in a still, small voice, one that could not be heard with all the clamor today.
*Be still and know that I am God* is a lost practice.
Ugh. Sounds like those “quiet moments” during Pentecostal services...you’re just on edge waiting for someone to pierce the silence. God’s word is not revealed through personal revelation. It is revealed by the Word. This is how you get heresies like Mormonism and Plymouth Brethren.
Good question. I used to attend a Quaker Church as a young child & never understood it one bit. Now, I am starting to understand why. Not saying it’s bad or wrong, just not quite understanding their way. The group DID have some mighty good cooks, though.
Who needs doctrine, or for that matter, the Bible? You can sit in silence and listen to whatever comes to mind, which reminds me of a truism from Bible college:
“An empty mind will be filled with whatever bad theology a sinful mind can produce.”
No guardrails. Whatever feeling or utterance interpreted as “the Holy Spirit told me” cannot be tested by any objective standard. So what happens with the 2nd Jim Jones comes a calling?
In the words of Jonestown survivor Hyacinth Thrash, “If we had studied the Bible, we would not have been fooled by his (Jim Jones’) lies.”
Good question. I used to attend a Quaker Church as a young child & never understood it one bit. Now, I am starting to understand why. Not saying it’s bad or wrong, just not quite understanding their way. The group DID have some mighty good cooks, though.
Catholics can experience a similar thing. It’s called Eucharistic Adoration, and it happens in small chapels all over the country and world. People go there to have absolute silence in a holy setting where they can meditate and contemplate the life of Jesus and his sacrifice for humanity.
Unless things have changed recently, Benjamin Franklin’s grave is in the Arch Street Meeting House’s front yard. May he rest in peace.
Christ Church's congregation included 15 signers of the Declaration of Independence. American Revolutionary War leaders who attended Christ Church include George Washington, Robert Morris, Benjamin Franklin and Betsy Ross after she had been read out of the Quaker meeting house to which she belonged for marrying John Ross, son of an assistant rector at Christ Church.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.