The roots of the traditional Quaker theology of worship are found in George Fox’s experience of the Inner Light—that sense of the divine and direct working of Christ in the soul. He came to believe and subsequently taught that the same experience is available to all. The purpose of worship, therefore, is to wait in silence and then respond to the presence and power of God.
The development of the Quaker theology of worship was driven by a deep dissatisfaction with the mainstream of the Reformation, especially the Puritan-dominated established Church of England. They felt that the Reformers failed to properly emphasize the Spirit’s freedom of movement and the believers’ dependence on the Spirit in worship. They also accused the established church of ignoring or denying the priesthood of all believers in the practice of worship and limiting it by the clergy’s central role in worship.
The Richmond Declaration of Faith (1887) captures the theology of traditional Quaker worship when it declares that “worship is the adoring response of the heart and mind to the influence of the Spirit of God. It stands neither in forms nor in the formal disuse of forms; it may be without words as well as with them, but it must be in spirit and in truth.”
Traditional Quaker worship emphasizes that true worship takes place only when the Spirit of God moves the hearts of those who are gathered for worship and that silence, not planning, is one of the surest means of guaranteeing the Spirit’s freedom. It emphasizes a firsthand encounter of the worshiper with God in the context of a strong corporate mysticism. Privately or individually God speaks to the community through individuals to whom he has spoken.
The following statements outline the traditional Quaker theology of worship:
1. Christ is present by his Spirit in every Christian in the gathered community.
2. The purpose of worship is for the gathered community to open itself, individually and collectively, to the presence of Christ through his Spirit.
3. The activity of worship is waiting, in disciplined, expectant silence, for the moving of the Spirit and then responding inwardly or with spoken ministry or prayer as the Spirit directs.
4. Christ’s presence by the Spirit requires no mediation, so all externals, including words and forms, and all human activity are secondary. Worship is totally dependent on divine activity and not on human preparation. There is no formal leadership.
5. The Spirit can speak to any or all in the gathered community. Therefore there are no distinctions between laity and clergy, male and female, slave and free.
6. God can speak through any or all in the gathered community. Since all—as believer priests—may minister to one another, there is no need for clergy.
7. The only essential baptism is the inward baptism of the Spirit; the only essential communion is spiritual communion. Christ did not intend that the sacraments found in the New Testament continue after his death.
8. Only spontaneous music is permitted—a portion of a psalm or a sung concern or word of witness. Quakers held that there was no New Testament example or teaching for “artificial musick.”
Today Quaker worship assumes various forms, many of which appear to be at variance with traditional Quaker theology. However, Francis Hall insists that genuine Quaker worship, regardless of its form, continues to unite around the following:
1. Believers gather to worship God in spirit and in truth to sense the presence of and respond to the moving of the Spirit of God.
2. Jesus Christ is honored in worship. Worship arises from the Christ event and from Christ’s role as the supreme revealer of the nature of God and transmitter of the Spirit of God.
3. True worship occurs when the Spirit of God moves worshipers’ hearts.
4. Quaker worship is not bound by human forms. The Spirit is free, and hearts that open to the Spirit in worship will open also to the Spirit’s freedom.
5. Silence is a genuine and important means of becoming open to God and one of the surest means of guaranteeing the freedom of the Spirit. So it is a part of Quaker worship—absolutely central for some, and at least an element in all genuine Quaker worship (Text from Francis B. Hall, ed., Quaker Worship in North America [Richmond, Ind: Friends United Press, 1978]).