Our Quaker Community


Organizational Structure of Quakers

  • Monthly Meetings- local faith community who gather for worship once a week (or more) and Meetings for business once per month
  • Quarterly Meeting--gathering of multiple Monthly Meetings from a geographical region for a Meeting for business and fellowship once per quarter
  • Yearly Meeting- Gathering of regional Quarterly Meetings for business and fellowship once (or more) per year 
  • Quaker affiliation organizations - affiliations of Yearly Meetings by similarities of practice and discipline for fellowship, support and sharing of resources
  • Worldwide Quaker Organizations - create opportunities for dialogue and understanding between the many branches of Friends Meetings and Churches

Abington Quarter

Byberry Quaker Meeting is one of the 9 Quaker Monthly Meetings that make up Abington Quarterly Meeting (Abington Quarter). The Monthly Meetings in Abington Quarter are primarily located in Montgomery County, with the exception of Richland (Bucks Co.) and Byberry (Northeast Philadelphia) -see map below. Surrounding Quarterly Meetings are Philadelphia Quarter, a Bucks Quarter, a Salem Quarter, a Caln Quarter and others.

Purpose of Quarterly Meeting:
"The Quarterly Meeting is designed to bring together a larger group of Friends for inspiration and counsel and to consider more varied interests than a Monthly or Preparative Meeting can undertake.  It is composed of constituent Monthly Meetings, each of which shall appoint representatives to attend it."
"... Its more helpful function should be to aid and encourage its constituent Monthly Meetings to greater interest and service and to give its members an increasing vision of Truth."  (Source: Faith and Practice of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting)

 

Links to Meetings of Abington Quarter and their Locations

Each of these Monthly Meetings has their own distinctive flavor: small or large membership, varying diversity of age groups and ethnic, social, economic backgrounds and theology. Monthly Meetings are the composite of all its members as they jointly express their faith.
MeetingsofQuarterMap Final
 
 Meeting Street Address Website & Email
(1) Abington 520 Meetinghouse Rd
Jenkintown, PA 19046

AbingtonQuakers.org

amm@abingtonfriends.net
(2) Byberry          


3001 Byberry Road
Philadelphia PA 19154

ByberryQuakers.org

office@byberryquakers.org
(3) Gwynedd 1101 DeKalb Pike
Gwynedd, PA 19454
GwyneddMeeting.org

office@gwyneddmeeting.org
(4) Horsham 500 Easton Rd
Horsham, PA 19044
Horshamquakers.org 

office@horshamquakers.org  
(5) Norristown 20 Jacoby St.
Norristown, PA 19401           
NorristownFriends.org

office@norristownfriends.org
(6) Plymouth 2150 Butler Pike
Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462
PlymouthMeetingQuakers.org

office@plymouthmeetingquakers.org
(7) Richland 206 South Main St
Quakertown, PA 18951
RichlandQuakers.org

communications@richlandquakers.org
(8) Unami Macoby St. and 5th St.
Pennsburg, PA 18073
UnamiQuakers.org

communications@unamiquakers.org
(9) Upper Dublin


1506 Ft Washington Ave
Maple Glen, PA 19002

UpperDublinQuakers.org

office@upperdublinquakers.org

 

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

Abington Quarter is one of 14 Quarters that make up Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting consists of over 100 Quaker meetings located in:

  • Central and Eastern PA
  • Western and Southern NJ
  • Delaware and Eastern Shore Maryland

For Information about the Yearly Meeting: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM)

Wider Quaker Community                         

Pie Chart FWCC poster 2017

The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) have established Meetings around the world. There are about 400,000 Quakers worldwide. The most numerous Meetings and Friends Churches are in the Americas and Africa. There are 55 regional Yearly Meetings in the Americas (north, central and south). These organizations have affiliated themselves with one another by similarities of practice and discipline. In the United States there are three organizations from which most Yearly Meeting have associated with one for fellowship and sharing of resources. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is a member of Friends General Conference which has 15 affiliated Yearly Meetings from around the Americas.

The Americas' Quaker affiliation organizations are:
  • Friends General Conference (FGC)
  • Friends United Meeting (FUM)
  • Evangelical Friends Church (Eastern EFCER, Mid America EFCMA and International EFCI )
Additionally some Yearly Meetings have chosen to not be associated. For example, Conservative Friends have no single unifying association, and those Yearly Meetings include: Ohio Yearly Meeting Conservative, Iowa Yearly Meeting Conservative, North Carolina Yearly Meeting Conservative.
 
The Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) fosters fellowship among all the branches of the Religious Society of Friends around the world. Their website is a good resource about the many branches of Quakerism and to find Friends Meetings in the Americas and around the world.
Hello
Hello and welcome to our meeting. If you are a new visitor, we have a page for you to get to know us and learn more about planning a visit.
Click here to see more.

Planning your Visit

 

New to Meeting for Worship? 


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If you've never attended a Meeting for Worship, we hope you will come worship with us -- give it a try.   

Many have found help in viewing the "introductory" videos (below) to answer questions that might arise in expectation of a Quaker Meeting for Worship.   



Most Quaker meetings, at least in this part of country, are so-called "unprogrammed" meetings.
This means that our meetings for worship are not led by a minister, but are largely conducted in silence.  Typically, a Clerk or other Member of the Meeting will close worship with a simple "Good morning friends" but otherwise the meeting may be completely silent. 

Members and attenders are always invited to speak out of the silence with a message about their spiritual journey, although messages are not responded to directly .

ripples

A message has been described as a pebble tossed into a pond.  The resulting ripples are received by others in the meeting and may contribute to their own spiritual journeys. 



Videos for Newcomers


 

Glossary of Common Terms
https://youtu.be/QnmvTa8HPpg quaker-glossary-terms-FB3
9 Core Quaker Beliefs    https://youtu.be/3H08cyXVYDw 9-core-quaker-beliefs-TITLE
The Difference Between Quaker Meeting and other Services     https://youtu.be/sfK3z481jvE difference-between-quaker-meet
What Attracts Newcomers to Quakerism     https://youtu.be/eQeWrvhRIVI what-attracts-newcomers-quaker
What Do Quakers Believe     https://youtu.be/YyTP512bEQk what-do-quakers-believe-FB3
Leaving Quakerism Better Than We Found It    https://youtu.be/5azFBqyEthQ leaving-quakerism-better-FB3





 

Hubb Manager, 10/15/2019