Getting to Know Missoula Friends Meeting

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What happens in Meeting for Worship?

Our Meeting for Worship is an unprogrammed service. We enter the Meeting room silently. Our first task when worship begins is to settle into the silence, to still the clamor of the world, to turn our attention to the inner voice. This process may take 20 minutes or even longer.

You will find that there is no program, no prepared prayers, sermons, or readings, and no one “in charge” to tell us what to do next. Instead, we listen as attentively as we can for leadings of the Spirit. If a leading comes, we speak the message into the silence.

One way we know that we have felt a leading of the Spirit is to query any message we feel an urge to deliver. Is it meant for ourselves alone? Would it be better as an announcement at the close of Meeting? Should it be seasoned just a little longer? But if it passes those tests, then we share our message. Sometimes the leading of the Spirit is very clear and we feel a real push to speak. You may feel such a leading as well.

After each message, we return to the silence. It is essential to allow a space of at least a few minutes to open up between messages. Re-centering after each message maintains the spirit of worship and allows each message an unhurried, thoughtful hearing.

Meeting ends when the person responsible for closing signals that the hour is accomplished. Then we share handshakes, names, our joys and concerns, and announcements. The rise of Meeting is a time for brief socializing before we head home to face another week. On most Sundays, we have fellowship over soup and bread following the Meeting for Worship and announcements; visitors are encouraged to join in and get better acquainted.

Worship is a special time in the midst of our worldly concerns to seek together, often in unbroken silence, God’s will and guidance. Each Meeting is an adventure. We hope you will find with us a deeper awareness of what Friends for three hundred years have called the Inner Light, the Light of Christ, the Seed, and that of God in everyone.

Do you get together to talk?

Yes, we hold regular meetings where we talk quite a bit: Meetings for Business and Quaker Education.

Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business is held monthly except during the summer; the meetings are usually scheduled before Meeting for Worship on the first Sunday of the month. Everyone is encouraged to attend because this is a committee of the whole. Participants both speak their minds on the business at hand and listen attentively as others do the same. A decision is reached when the Clerk states the sense of the meeting to the satisfaction of everyone present.

Quaker Education programs are held often and have recently consisted of reflecting on articles in the Western Friend magazine. Look for this month’s program schedule in the newsletter or webpage calendar.

We also hold occasional potlucks, many during the summer, and some are held in association with Meetings for Worship at special locations, such as parks. Summer potlucks are usually held at the homes of Meeting attenders and start at 6:30 p.m. on selected Wednesdays.

Do you take up a collection?

No, we don’t pass a collection plate at Meeting for Worship. But like all religious communities, we run on money as well as love and hard work. If you feel moved to make a donation, please leave it in the wooden donation box in the Meetinghouse foyer or mail it to the meeting in care of the treasurer. Checks can be made out to the Missoula Friends Meeting. Some members and regular attenders request automatic bank withdrawals be made so as not to forget the need to financially support the work of the Meeting. Our Treasurer is happy to help with this if you should wish to request it.

Is there something you’d like me to do?

Well, yes, actually, there is. Please consider:

Signing our guest book on the table in the foyer.
Take a copy of the current newsletter with you. Look for it by the guest book.
Linger a bit after Meeting so that we can say hello.

How long have Quakers been in Missoula?

Friends started gathering in private homes for Meeting for Worship in the 1960s. Some Quakers came to Missoula as smoke jumpers in the 1940s, and some stayed in the area. The current Meeting House was purchased in 1993, and it was substantially remodeled in 2007.

The Missoula Friends Meeting is part of Montana’s quarterly meeting, the Montana Gathering of Friends (MGOF). MGOF, along with quarterly meetings in Oregon and Washington (Idaho meetings are part of the Washington quarterly meeting), are a part of North Pacific Yearly Meeting (NPYM). NPYM organizes annual gatherings that take place in mid-summer and rotate between locations in Oregon, Washington, and Montana.