Friends meeting house
Encyclopedia
A Friends meeting house is a meeting house
of the Religious Society of Friends
(Quakers), where meeting for worship
may be held.
should take place in any special place. They believe that "where two or three meet together in my name, I am there among them" (Revised English Bible
, Matthew
, Ch 18, v 20). Therefore meeting for worship
may take place in any place. Early Quakers often met for worship outdoors or in local public buildings. However, when the Religious Society of Friends
began to grow there became a need for buildings to house their meetings.
Quakers have always reserved the word church to mean the body of people who make up the worshiping community: Quakers do not use the word church to refer to the bricks and mortar of a worshiping community. George Fox
, an early Quaker, spoke of places of worship that have steeples as steeple houses, and those that do not as meeting house
s. This practice is shared by a number of other non-conformist Christian denominations, including Unitarian
s, Christadelphians, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Mennonite
s.
Some Friends meeting houses were adapted from existing structures, but most were purpose-built. Briggflatts Meeting House
is an example of the latter. The hallmark of a meeting house is extreme simplicity and the absence of any liturgical symbols. More specifically, though, the defining characteristics of the Quaker meetinghouse are simplicity, equality, community, and peace. Though never explicitly written or spoken about, these tenets (or “Testimonies”) of Quakerism were the basic, and only, guidelines for building a meetinghouse, as was seen through the continuity of the use of Testimonies within meetinghouse design. While meetinghouse design evolved over time to a standardization of the double-cell structure without explicit guidelines for building, the meetinghouse’s reflective architecture revealed a deeper meaning. The meetinghouse design manifested and enhanced Quaker Testimonies and the cultivation of the Inner Light that was essential to Friends. Quakers easily moved from one place of meeting to another, but when given the opportunity to design and construct their own place of meeting, Friends infused their Testimonies in the planning, design, and construction of the building.
Meeting Houses built in a traditional style usually had two meeting rooms: one for the main meeting for worship, and another where the women's business meeting may be held (often referred to as the women's meeting room). Meeting houses of this style usually have a minister's gallery at one end of the meeting room, where traditionally those traveling in the ministry would have sat, with an elders bench immediately in front of this. Wooden benches facing this occupy the rest of the room, often with a gallery for extra seating. Meeting houses of this style usually have high windows so that worshippers sitting in meeting for worship
cannot see outside.
Meeting houses built in a more modern design will usually consist of: a large meeting room, smaller rooms for committees, children's classes, etc., a kitchen and toilets.
The meeting room itself is a place for Friends to withdraw from the world. The windows are set sufficiently high that worshippers will not be distracted by the activities of the world's people outside, or in some cases they provide a view into the meeting house garden. The seating was originally long, hard and wooden. Today it is usually separate chairs but the layout remains the same — a square or rectangle facing inwards to a central table.
Meeting house
A meeting house describes a building where a public meeting takes place. This includes secular buildings which function like a town or city hall, and buildings used for religious meetings, particularly of some non-conformist Christian denominations....
of the Religious Society of Friends
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
(Quakers), where meeting for worship
Meeting for worship
A meeting for worship is a practice of the Religious Society of Friends in many ways comparable to a church service. These services have a wide variety of forms, creating a spectrum from typical Protestant liturgy to silent waiting for the Spirit .A Meeting for Worship may start with a query;...
may be held.
History
Quakers do not believe that meeting for worshipMeeting for worship
A meeting for worship is a practice of the Religious Society of Friends in many ways comparable to a church service. These services have a wide variety of forms, creating a spectrum from typical Protestant liturgy to silent waiting for the Spirit .A Meeting for Worship may start with a query;...
should take place in any special place. They believe that "where two or three meet together in my name, I am there among them" (Revised English Bible
Revised English Bible
The Revised English Bible is a 1989 English language translation of the Bible and updates the New English Bible, of 1970. As with its predecessor, it is published by the publishing houses of both Oxford University and Cambridge University....
, Matthew
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
, Ch 18, v 20). Therefore meeting for worship
Meeting for worship
A meeting for worship is a practice of the Religious Society of Friends in many ways comparable to a church service. These services have a wide variety of forms, creating a spectrum from typical Protestant liturgy to silent waiting for the Spirit .A Meeting for Worship may start with a query;...
may take place in any place. Early Quakers often met for worship outdoors or in local public buildings. However, when the Religious Society of Friends
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
began to grow there became a need for buildings to house their meetings.
Quakers have always reserved the word church to mean the body of people who make up the worshiping community: Quakers do not use the word church to refer to the bricks and mortar of a worshiping community. George Fox
George Fox
George Fox was an English Dissenter and a founder of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers or Friends.The son of a Leicestershire weaver, Fox lived in a time of great social upheaval and war...
, an early Quaker, spoke of places of worship that have steeples as steeple houses, and those that do not as meeting house
Meeting house
A meeting house describes a building where a public meeting takes place. This includes secular buildings which function like a town or city hall, and buildings used for religious meetings, particularly of some non-conformist Christian denominations....
s. This practice is shared by a number of other non-conformist Christian denominations, including Unitarian
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
s, Christadelphians, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Mennonite
Mennonite
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
s.
Some Friends meeting houses were adapted from existing structures, but most were purpose-built. Briggflatts Meeting House
Briggflatts Meeting House
Briggflatts Meeting House is a Friends Meeting House of the Religious Society of Friends , near Sedbergh in Northwest England, built in 1675.It is the subject of Basil Bunting's poem “At Briggflatts meetinghouse” ....
is an example of the latter. The hallmark of a meeting house is extreme simplicity and the absence of any liturgical symbols. More specifically, though, the defining characteristics of the Quaker meetinghouse are simplicity, equality, community, and peace. Though never explicitly written or spoken about, these tenets (or “Testimonies”) of Quakerism were the basic, and only, guidelines for building a meetinghouse, as was seen through the continuity of the use of Testimonies within meetinghouse design. While meetinghouse design evolved over time to a standardization of the double-cell structure without explicit guidelines for building, the meetinghouse’s reflective architecture revealed a deeper meaning. The meetinghouse design manifested and enhanced Quaker Testimonies and the cultivation of the Inner Light that was essential to Friends. Quakers easily moved from one place of meeting to another, but when given the opportunity to design and construct their own place of meeting, Friends infused their Testimonies in the planning, design, and construction of the building.
Meeting Houses built in a traditional style usually had two meeting rooms: one for the main meeting for worship, and another where the women's business meeting may be held (often referred to as the women's meeting room). Meeting houses of this style usually have a minister's gallery at one end of the meeting room, where traditionally those traveling in the ministry would have sat, with an elders bench immediately in front of this. Wooden benches facing this occupy the rest of the room, often with a gallery for extra seating. Meeting houses of this style usually have high windows so that worshippers sitting in meeting for worship
Meeting for worship
A meeting for worship is a practice of the Religious Society of Friends in many ways comparable to a church service. These services have a wide variety of forms, creating a spectrum from typical Protestant liturgy to silent waiting for the Spirit .A Meeting for Worship may start with a query;...
cannot see outside.
Meeting houses built in a more modern design will usually consist of: a large meeting room, smaller rooms for committees, children's classes, etc., a kitchen and toilets.
The meeting room itself is a place for Friends to withdraw from the world. The windows are set sufficiently high that worshippers will not be distracted by the activities of the world's people outside, or in some cases they provide a view into the meeting house garden. The seating was originally long, hard and wooden. Today it is usually separate chairs but the layout remains the same — a square or rectangle facing inwards to a central table.
Examples
United Kingdom
- Briggflatts Meeting HouseBriggflatts Meeting HouseBriggflatts Meeting House is a Friends Meeting House of the Religious Society of Friends , near Sedbergh in Northwest England, built in 1675.It is the subject of Basil Bunting's poem “At Briggflatts meetinghouse” ....
, CumbriaCumbriaCumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in... - Jordans Friends Meeting House, BuckinghamshireBuckinghamshireBuckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
- LeicesterLeicesterLeicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
Friends Meeting House - Osmotherley Friends Meeting HouseOsmotherley Friends Meeting HouseOsmotherley Friends Meeting House is a Friends Meeting House of the Religious Society of Friends , situated in the village of Osmotherley in North Yorkshire, England...
, North YorkshireNorth YorkshireNorth Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
United States
- Abington Friends Meeting House
- Amesbury Friends Meeting HouseAmesbury Friends Meeting HouseThe Amesbury Friends Meetinghouse is a Friends Meeting House in Amesbury, Massachusetts. The building was constructed in 1850, with poet John Greenleaf Whittier serving on the building committee. From 1851 to 1962, the meetinghouse hosted the Salem Quarterly meeting. The Amesbury Monthly Meeting of...
- Arch Street Friends Meeting HouseArch Street Friends Meeting HouseArch Street Friends Meeting House, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a Friends Meeting House of the Religious Society of Friends . It is the oldest meetinghouse of the Religious Society of Friends still in use in the United States and the largest in the world.Pennsylvania founder and Quaker...
, Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to... - Benjaminville Friends Meeting House
- Cornwall Friends Meeting HouseCornwall Friends Meeting HouseThe Cornwall Friends Meeting House is a historic meeting house located on a parcel of land at the junction of Quaker Avenue and US 9W in Cornwall, New York, United States, near Cornwall-St. Luke's Hospital. It is both the oldest religious building in the town, and the first one built...
- Frankford Friends Meeting HouseFrankford Friends Meeting HouseFrankford Friends Meeting House is a historic Quaker meeting house in the Frankford neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its oldest parts having been built in 1775–1776, it is significant as the oldest surviving meeting house in Philadelphia.Located at the corner of Unity and Waln Streets,...
, Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to... - Friends Meetinghouse (Jamestown, Rhode Island)Friends Meetinghouse (Jamestown, Rhode Island)The Friends Meetinghouse is a historic Quaker meeting house in Jamestown, Rhode Island in the Windmill Hill Historic District.The church was built in 1786 to replace the original meeting house destroyed by the British prior to the Battle of Rhode Island. The building was added to the National...
- Friends Meetinghouse (Uxbridge, Massachusetts)Friends Meetinghouse (Uxbridge, Massachusetts)The ' is an historic Friends Meeting House of the Religious Society of Friends located at the junction of Routes 146A and 98 in Uxbridge, Massachusetts. On January 24, 1974, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.-History:The Friends Meeting House is one of the last crude brick...
- Friends Meeting House and CemeteryFriends Meeting House and CemeteryFriends Meeting House and Cemetery is a historic Quaker meeting house and cemetery at 234 W. Main Road in Little Compton, Rhode Island. It is operated by the Little Compton Historical Society....
, Little Compton, Rhode IslandLittle Compton, Rhode IslandLittle Compton is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. Its population was 3,492 at the time of the 2010 census. Little Compton is located in southeastern Rhode Island, between the Sakonnet River and the Massachusetts state border... - Great Friends Meeting HouseGreat Friends Meeting HouseGreat Friends Meeting House is a meeting house of the Religious Society of Friends built in 1699 in Newport, Rhode Island. The meeting house, which is part of the Newport Historic District, is currently open as a museum owned by the Newport Historical Society...
- Oblong Friends Meeting HouseOblong Friends Meeting HouseThe Oblong Friends Meeting House is a late 18th-century Friends Meeting House of the Religious Society of Friends in the hamlet of Quaker Hill, in the town of Pawling, Dutchess County, New York, USA listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1973....
- Nine Partners Meeting House and CemeteryNine Partners Meeting House and CemeteryThe Nine Partners Meeting House and Cemetery is located at the junction of NY state highway 343 and Church Street, in the village of Millbrook, New York, United States...
, MillbrookMillbrook, New YorkMillbrook is a village in Dutchess County, New York, United States. It is often said to be a "low-key version of the Hamptons" and one of the wealthiest towns in New York State. Millbrook's estimated town population was 1,551 in 2008. Millbrook is located in the Hudson Valley, an hour and thirty...
, New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east... - Portsmouth Friends Meetinghouse Parsonage and CemeteryPortsmouth Friends Meetinghouse Parsonage and CemeteryPortsmouth Friends Meetinghouse, Parsonage, and Cemetery is a historic Friends Meeting House and cemetery of the Religious Society of Friends , at 11 Middle Road and 2232 E...
- Race Street Friends MeetinghouseRace Street Friends MeetinghouseThe Race Street Friends Meetinghouse is a historic and still active Quaker meetinghouse located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The meetinghouse, at 1515 Cherry Street, served as the site of the Yearly Meeting of the Hicksite sect of the Religious Society of Friends from 1857 to 1955...
, Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to... - Sandy Spring Friends MeetinghouseSandy Spring Friends MeetinghouseThe Sandy Spring Friends Meetinghouse is a historic building located at Sandy Spring, Montgomery County, Maryland. It is a large, Flemish bond brick, Federal-style Quaker Meeting House built in 1817. The meetinghouse is on two acres deeded by James Brooke in the 1750s, for the use of the Quaker...
- Smith Clove MeetinghouseSmith Clove MeetinghouseThe Smith Clove Meeting House is a Quaker place of worship in Highland Mills, New York, United States, a short distance from NY 32 on Smith Clove Road...
, Highland MillsHighland Mills, New YorkHighland Mills is a hamlet in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 3,468 at the 2000 census, at which time it was a census-designated place...
, NY - Smithfield Friends Meeting House, Parsonage & CemeterySmithfield Friends Meeting House, Parsonage & CemeterySmithfield Friends Meeting House, Parsonage and Cemetery, is a Friends Meeting House of the Religious Society of Friends , rebuilt in 1881. It is located at 108 Smithfield Road in Woonsocket, Rhode Island...
- South River Friends MeetinghouseSouth River Friends MeetinghouseThe South River Friends Meetinghouse, or Quaker Meeting House, is a historic Friends meeting house located at Lynchburg, Virginia. It was completed in 1798. It is a rubble stone structure, approximately , with walls 16 inches thick, and 12 feet high. The building ceased as a Quaker meeting house...
, Lynchburg, VirginiaLynchburg, VirginiaLynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 75,568 as of 2010. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills" or "The Hill City." Lynchburg was the only major city in... - Third Haven Meeting HouseThird Haven Meeting HouseThe Third Haven Meeting House is generally considered the oldest surviving Friends meeting house of the Religious Society of Friends, and a cornerstone of Quaker history in Talbot County, Maryland.-History:...
- Upper Dublin Friends Meeting HouseUpper Dublin Friends Meeting HouseThe Upper Dublin Friends Meeting House is a Quaker meeting house located at the intersection of Fort Washington Avenue and Meetinghouse Roads in Upper Dublin Township, Pennsylvania in the United States....
- Yardley Friends Meeting House, Yardley, PennsylvaniaYardley, PennsylvaniaYardley is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The small community of Yardley is bordered by the Delaware River and Ewing, New Jersey on the east, and by Lower Makefield Township on the north, west, and south...