by Rhiannon Grant I am a Quaker both by accident and by design. I didn’t set out to be born into a Quaker family (although perhaps my parents had it in mind!), but nevertheless I was, as it happened, a cradle Quaker. Later in life, I made a few half-hearted attempts to leave the Quaker…
by Sheila Hancock (from a radio interview, not written for Nayler) After I had cancer myself, I began to feel a lack of a spiritual element in my life… I went to a meeting of the Society of Friends – a Quaker meeting. I went for a weekend – they have weekend retreats. Instantly it…
By Hayley and Mia Hayley: We have been attending Quaker meetings for about a year and a half now. Mia has made friends and I often stay in the family room for the first part of the meeting to play games with the young ones. I found out about Quakerism through reading and researching on…
By Stephanie Grant Why am I a Quaker? because it’s where God wants me to be, because it’s a place I can work out how to follow the teachings of Jesus without the rituals and creeds that troubled me in other churches, because I feel it’s where I belong, because it gives me a safe…
by Eleanor Coss Quaker Meetings for Worship are one of the things I find hardest to explain to people who have never experienced them. It sounds so dull: you sit in silence for an hour and try very hard not to think about what you’re going to have for lunch. Then someone stands up and…
by Simon Colbeck To answer this question like a Quaker I’ll start by saying “It depends what you mean by “why””. No single answer is enough. In one sense I’m a Quaker because my parents made the decision for me. They were quite religious people and when I was about ten they decided that the…
by Wess Daniels I found old school Quakerism in a place that may surprise my liberal unprogrammed F/friends, in an Evangelical Friends college that had largely forgotten its historical Quaker roots. I grew up a nominal Catholic and in my early teens my family began attending a charismatic Evangelical church. It was there that I…
By Sam Barnett-Cormack On my bag, I have a badge, and on social media, I have an avatar, and both say “I’m a Quaker – ask me whyâ€; that last one was just for Quaker Week, though. People are still slow to ask, but every little helps when letting people know what Quakers are really…
By Paul Levy For me being a Quaker is about thinking about others and the world when I make decisions, not something I find easy, I think that in me there is a very selfish person whom Quakerism helps keep in check. I found Quakerism because of spending a life changing two weeks with a…
How and Why I am a Quaker by Ben Jarman I first came to Quakers because of a crisis. In 2005, a friend fell victim to a serious crime, and in the aftermath her life fell apart. Those of us around her tried to help pick up the pieces, but we were powerless and our…