Quaker Meeting for Worship with Attention to Worship. A new way to welcome newcomers

Описание: Visitors often arrive at an unprogrammed Quaker meeting for worship with no clear sense of what is happening—or how to enter into the silence. This video introduces Meeting for Worship with Attention to Worship, a gentle, welcoming variation on traditional Quaker worship designed especially for newcomers, first-time attenders, and those learning the rhythms of silent worship.

Rather than explaining Quaker worship instead of worshiping, this format allows people to experience it while briefly naming what is happening internally—how Friends settle into silence, listen, and discern when to speak.

This approach uses the same time, space, and structure as a regular meeting for worship, while making the invisible visible. Meetings may find it especially useful as a quarterly practice or as a way to welcome visitors, neighbors, and curious seekers.

Below you’ll find a step-by-step outline for meetings interested in trying this themselves.

How to Hold a Meeting for Worship with Attention to Worship

1. Preparation

-The meeting selects a date in advance.
-Two Friends volunteer to serve as opening and closing guides for worship.
-You don't need any additional resources, time, or space beyond a regular meeting for worship.

2. Opening Silence

-The meeting begins at the usual time.
-Everyone settles into silence together for approximately five minutes.

3. Naming the Practice

-The two designated Friends rise from the silence.
-One Friend briefly welcomes those gathered and names the purpose of the meeting:
-That this is Meeting for Worship with Attention to Worship
-That it is an unprogrammed meeting designed to gently illuminate what happens inwardly during silent worship

4. Modeling How Friends Settle into Worship

Each of the two Friends briefly shares:
-How they personally center themselves
-How they find stillness
-What helps them listen inwardly
-This sharing is short and grounded in lived experience, not instruction.

5. Entering Full Worship

One Friend explains:
-The meeting will now sit in worship for approximately 45 minutes
-Anyone who feels led to speak may rise and offer ministry
-Worship will conclude when one of the guides begins greeting others

6. Closing the Worship

-When the silence ends, the two guides speak first.
-They briefly describe:
What the worship was like for them
-Where their minds went
What they noticed in their bodies
-Moments of distraction, clarity, or deep listening

7. Introductions and Optional Sharing

-Everyone is invited to introduce themselves.
-Participants may share a sentence or two about their worship experience, but are not required to do so.
-The emphasis remains on welcome, not performance.

8. Announcements and Fellowship

Announcements follow introductions.
-A shared meal or potluck is encouraged.
-Committees may set up tables or displays to help newcomers learn about the life of the meeting.

Why Meetings Use This Format

-It preserves the heart of unprogrammed Quaker worship
-It supports experiential learning rather than explanation alone
-It reduces anxiety for first-time attenders
-It invites intergenerational participation
-It makes Quaker practice visible without formalizing it

Meetings often find this format works well on a quarterly basis, creating a rhythm of invitation and hospitality without altering regular worship.