Church decline in the West is a real if unwelcome phenomenon. We may not be able to have Christian life with the same cultural, political or financial force as we once did, but Jesus promised to be with us where two or three are gathered in his name. (Matthew 18:20) It would be lacking in faith to give up only because our numbers are few. But we may need to come up with other options about how we arrange our common Christian life..
As many of my readers will know, Quakers typically organize in a locale and conduct, worship weekly and conduct the business of their meeting (congregation) once a month. This is why a local Quaker church is customarily called a monthly meeting. Monthly meeting may come together in a region as a quarterly (four times a year) meeting, but more often these days in a larger area or in a smaller country on an annual basis, as a yearly meeting. Thus Yearly Meeting is the usual name for the broadest functioning body of Quakers, with these in the United States then often affiliated with one or more of the “denominations.”
Finland Yearly Meeting is one of the smallest yearly meetings in the world, with about 30 individual Quakers in the country. If they can keep body and soul (and website) together, there’s hope for the rest of us.
Fortunately, parts of their site are also in English. Naturally, I look to Northern Finland, assuming it would be the thinnest for Quakers, and indeed there are between five and seven Quakers there. But they still come together. One town has a “quiet room” with a small library.
When we meet it is usually for most of a day with the travel being part of our fellowship as travel can take several hours. We generally meet about 2-3 times a year, but we can usually arrange a [meeting for worship] in response to a visiting Friend.
This arrangement can’t be easy, but I find it encouraging given their current numbers.
Having spent a couple of years worshiping with the Friends (I went to a Quaker college), I can add a couple of other reasons why the Friends are better able to manage with tiny numbers.
First and foremost, while there are Quaker clergy, they also understand and nurture the power of lay leaders. In their theology, anyone can be moved by the Spirit. Both their organizational structure (their understanding of ecclesiology) and their form of worship helps support people who are moved by the Spirit. I feel this makes them better prepared to function in tiny congregations: “wherever two or three are gathered.”
Second, the Quaker meeting for business typically follows meeting for worship, and can be experienced as an extension of worship. The business of running the congregation can be felt as an act of worship. I feel this helps the business side of things to stay aligned with the religious/theological side of things.
Third, the role of “traveling Friend” helps bind Quakers together. A traveling Friend is someone who has been led by the Spirit to travel to different meetings; traveling Friends often offer vocal ministry during silent meeting for worship, or for programmed meetings (i.e., those with clergy), I’m told the traveling Friend may be given a role in the service or may simply interact with other Friends. Traveling Friends are an effective way to help keep widely dispersed Friends bound together.
I’m not suggesting that Universalists should adopt Quaker practices. Quaker practice is deeply rooted in their Spirit-centered theology, and Universalist theology has tended to focus on God and Jesus rather than the Spirit (which is one of the reason I keep my Unitarian connection strong, because the Unitarian Transcendentalists have a strong Spirit-centered theology). But we Universalists might want to reflect on our own theology, and how that could encourage and strengthen small and tiny congregations. I think a question we might start reflecdting on is this: If God is love, how can that inform the practice of small lay-led house churches?
By the way, a small correction/addition: The Friends also have five-year meetings, overarching associations of yearly meetings. I’m aware of two in the U.S.: Friends United Meeting (FUM) and Friends General Conference (FGC). A yearly meeting can affiliate with more than one five-year meeting, e.g., Pacific Yearly Meeting is affiliated with both FUM and FGC. This is a very flexible, albeit somewhat chaotic, organizational system.