{"id":19444,"date":"2020-04-11T13:37:53","date_gmt":"2020-04-11T13:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.richmondfriendsmeeting.org2019\/?page_id=19444"},"modified":"2026-04-03T13:42:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T13:42:44","slug":"about-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/richmondfriendsmeeting.org\/dev\/about-us\/","title":{"rendered":"About Us"},"content":{"rendered":"
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About Our Meeting<\/h3><\/div><\/div>\n\n
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Who We Are<\/h3><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Richmond Friends Meeting is located in the City of Richmond, Virginia. We are a diverse community of seekers united in dedication to testimonies, but not bound by any creed. We are \u201cun-programmed\u201d meaning there is no conventional program to our worship. We have no designated minister, pre-arranged prayers, sermons, or hymns. We gather in silence awaiting an ever deepening awareness of the Spirit. \u00a0At times individuals may have thoughts and feelings that are strong, clear, and Spirit-led. These are sometimes spoken aloud, yet an entirely silent meeting is common and cherished.<\/p>\n

Our meeting operates with Quaker Process. With no minister, community members do all of the work of meeting. Committees handle areas of responsibility, and on the third First Day (Sunday) of each month, the entire community joins in the Monthly Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business. The person who convenes and reports on each is the \u201ccommittee clerk.\u201d The person facilitating monthly Business Meeting is the \u201cclerk of meeting\".<\/p>\n

Richmond Friends Meeting is a part of Baltimore Yearly Meeting and and affiliated with Friends General Conference and Friends United Meeting.<\/p>\n

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What we Believe - Our Testimonies<\/h3><\/div><\/div>\n\n

\u201cTestimony\u201d is used by Friends to describe actions and attitudes based on the realization that there is \u201cthat of God in everyone,\u201d that all human beings are equal, and that all life is interconnected. \u00a0\u00a0It is affirmative but may lead to action that runs counter to practices common in society at large. \u00a0Shunning conventional dogma, Quakers look to the testimonies to reflect our beliefs, wherever individual Friends may be on their personal spiritual journeys.\u00a0 Many use the acronym \u201cSPICE\u201d as a reminder of our testimonies.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Simplicity (and Stewardship)<\/h4>

Simplicity means seeking to focus our attention on what is essential and eternal, without distraction by the transitory or the trivial. \u00a0\u00a0Plain and honest speech is an expression of simplicity. \u00a0\u00a0Respect for God\u2019s creation and, therefore, concern for the environment and the right use of the world\u2019s resources is another obvious expression of this testimony. Extravagance, wastefulness and artificially stimulated wants is seen to be a fundamental violation of the testimony of simplicity.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

Peace<\/h5>

The Peace Testimony leads Quakers to avoid war and violence, while also encouraging efforts to ease suffering of victims of war on all sides. It means efforts to be or to seek a reconciling force between peoples and nations in conflict. It means a constant search for nonviolent means of conflict resolution.\u00a0 It means a continuing search for peace and social justice through personal and group nonviolent techniques for mediation and social change.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

Integrity<\/h5>

Quakers try to live according to the deepest truth we know, and we connect most deeply to this in the stillness of worship. This means speaking the truth at all times, including to people in positions of power. As we are guided by integrity, so we expect to see it in public life.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

Community<\/h5>

Since there is \u201cthat of God in everyone\", all human beings are brothers and sisters, one human family, no matter how great our differences of experience, of culture, of age, of understanding. Friends have found that the Light may illuminate a gathered group as well as an individual heart and bind the group together in a community of faith, conscience and experience.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

Equality<\/h5>

If God is within and directly accessible to all persons, then all persons are to be equally valued. \u00a0This has been manifest in many ways, from opposition to slavery and the death penalty to our early incorporation of same-sex marriage within meeting.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Some Friends also include other testimonies, such as Unity, Compassion, Justice, and Truth, all consistent with our shared understanding and experience in silent worship.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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About Quakers in Richmond<\/h3><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Richmond Friends Meeting was organized in 1795, and built its first Meeting House at 19th and Cary Street in Church Hill. This was the second\u00a0 \u201cchurch\u201d established in Richmond. We have a long history of religious observance and social justice within the Richmond community.\u00a0 There is more\u00a0 Richmond Friends Meeting History HERE<\/span><\/a>.<\/a><\/strong> Additional documents and photographs related to Richmond Friends Meeting's history can be viewed HERE<\/a><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

See also:\u00a0 Overview of Quaker histor<\/span>y,<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0 George Fox\u2019s biography<\/strong><\/span><\/a> and A brief history of Quakers According to the young friends of Richmond Friends Meeting (YouTube Video, 2013).<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Historical Highway Marker<\/h6>\n
East Main and 20th Street<\/h6>\n
Richmond , VA<\/h6>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-19444","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/richmondfriendsmeeting.org\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/richmondfriendsmeeting.org\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/richmondfriendsmeeting.org\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richmondfriendsmeeting.org\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richmondfriendsmeeting.org\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19444"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/richmondfriendsmeeting.org\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29710,"href":"https:\/\/richmondfriendsmeeting.org\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19444\/revisions\/29710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/richmondfriendsmeeting.org\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}