We Quakers love to welcome visitors/seekers to our meeting. Please come and worship with us anytime!
Once you arrive, somebody will probably introduce themselves to you and, if you're new to Quakers, tell you a little bit about silent worship. (See the Quaker Spirituality section under "About Quakers" on this webpage.)
Quaker worship is held in silence, although anyone might be moved to speak. During the hour-long worship, there may be one, several, or no spoken messages. With or without spoken messages, it is possible to experience the gathered silence and to have a sense of a deeper reality.
At Bennington Meeting, whoever is "closing meeting" that month will stand when the hour has passed, and all those present will also stand holding hands in a circle for just a short time before returning to our seats. Then, the Friend closing meeting will invite any who are present to share about their experience of the worship that morning. This brief sharing offers us a window into the worship experience and affirms the reality of the spiritual quest. When this after worship reflective time has ended, and there are visitors, everyone will be asked to introduce themselves. You might be asked to say a little about what brought you to meeting that morning.
On every Sunday, except potluck Sunday (the first Sunday of the month), there are coffee, tea, and light refreshments as Friends take time to visit and catch up. This will be a time when several Friends will likely strike up a conversation with you. We are always glad to learn of other persons' spiritual search.
You might wonder what you should wear. You can wear the sort of clothes you’d wear any other time of the week. Some might wear "business casual”, but you'll usually see Quakers at meeting in jeans and sneakers. The bottom line is that you should wear what’s comfortable for you.
The embedded video below offers a glimpse of how others experienced their first time at a Quaker meeting. Bennington Friends would be very pleased to welcome you to our meeting.
Six Quakers describe their experiences attending a meeting for worship for the first time. This short video is from the QuakerSpeak series.