San Francisco Friends Meeting – Quakers

This review is for the building rental. The space is large enough to have a mid-​sized conference, talk or meeting. With a foyer for check-​ins, good sized main room & equally large side room with a kitchen, I recommend this location for rentals. Plus, it’s and incredibly peaceful & happy space!

I am biased being a Quaker the past thirty years now… A seeking for and valuing of honesty, simplicity, harmony, equality, and 300 years’ experience at promoting those beliefs (‘testimonies’) through a process difficult to explain, sublime, and unique in any context.
Worship happens on Sundays mostly, from 11 –12. This is not a place where everyone will love what happens, but Quaker worship is definitely a change of pace for most. Quakers believe each person has a direct connection to god (however you wish to define that word) and needs no clergy or ceremony to connect. What we need is silence in which to look inwardly to connect. And when we connect we may find we have a message to share (or not). So Quaker worship is about an hour long, typically involves 3 – 5 people speaking at some point when they feel prompted to do so, and maybe 5 – 8 minutes of that hour will be in speaking by those people, the rest will be seeking inwardly for that guidance, and considering the meaning and appropriateness of what has been said.
It may not appeal to you, but when I attended my first Quaker meeting I knew I would come back again.
Finally if you are tired of churches that focus on the material, you will find your experience here refreshing. The closest you get to a pitch for money will be a mention during the «announcements» that follow worship, that there’s a donation box if you feel inclined to donate. And no one will really care if you do or don’t.