Meetings in Europe & the Middle East

This is a directory of Yearly Meetings and unaffiliated Monthly Meetings and groups. For details of local meetings, visit the relevant Yearly Meeting’s website. Or you can go to the Section website which also provides contact information.

Click on the name of any entry to expand or collapse it.

Austria

Clerk: Jalka (Area Clerk)
Contact Person: Jalka (Vienna Worship Group)
Address: Office of IFOR Austria, Lederergasse 23/3/27, 1080 Wien Click to Email (Area), Click to Email or Click to Email (Vienna)
Website: In English quaeker.org/information-in-english/ Vienna page in German quaeker.org/meeting/wien/
Affiliation: German Yearly Meeting
Worship Style: Unprogrammed
Members: about 10
Meetings: 1 worship group in Vienna and several isolated Friends
Established: 1938

Meeting for Worship was started in Vienna in 1921 by Friends on the foreign membership list of the then Council for International Service, London. Friends in Austria are active in work for peace and with the UN. The former Vienna Quaker Centre, under the name of Quäkerhaus, served as a location for FSC and AFSC work with refugees and for the promotion of East-West relations.

The Vienna worship group meets on 1st  And 3rd Sundays of the month at 10am at the address above.

Belgium & Luxembourg

Clerk: Jeremy Lester, Nick Rendle, Stefanie De Koker
Address: Quaker House 50 Square Ambiorix B-1000 Bruxelles/Brussels
Telephone: + 32 485 313 891
Click to Email
Website: https://quakers-belux.org
Affiliation: FWCC Europe & Middle East Section
Members: 40
Meetings: 3 (Brussels, Luxemburg and Gent)
Established: 1976

Although there had at various times been small Quaker worship groups in Belgium (notably Brussels and Lessines), a permanent meeting was born when expatriate Friends got together in the mid-1970s, in the capital. Contact was made with isolated Belgian Friends, until then under the auspices of France or Netherlands Yearly Meetings, and a monthly meeting was established. It was granted special status directly under FWCC Europe and Middle East Section, rather than being tied to any adjoining Yearly Meeting.

The growth of a concern about European affairs among Friends in Belgium and elsewhere led to the creation of the Quaker Council for European Affairs and, in early 1979, the opening of Quaker House, home to the QCEA secretariat. Quaker House also hosts meetings for worship in Brussels, a small Quaker library and meeting rooms. There is some simple overnight accommodation space for Friends and attenders visiting Brussels (who should apply in advance to QCEA).

The presence of European Community institutions and other international organizations in the city ensures a regular turnover of members and attenders of many nationalities. The meeting enjoys good working relationships with Belgian organizations and religious groups active in areas of traditional Quaker concern. It participates in an annual Quaker “Border” meeting that brings together Friends from Belgium, France, Germany and The Netherlands.

Our small but lively Yearly Meeting currently counts 40 members, some 50 attenders and 5 children. Meetings for Worship are held every Sunday and Wednesday in Brussels, approximately once per month in Luxembourg for a small group of Friends and attenders and twice per month in Gent – from small beginnings, this group has grown to be a regular, interested and committed meeting.

Although small, our group is active in many areas, ranging from concern about the global political situation and, closer to home, the migrant situation that has not improved. Several members of our meeting are involved in offering accommodation to those who are forced to sleep outside in one of the Brussels parks.

We hold regular study groups with view to deepening our understanding and knowledge of our Faith and we also organise social events where we can enjoy the opportunity to get to know each other better, as such knowledge and understanding can only work to the good of the life of the meeting.

We have tried to maintain our monthly Children’s meeting but have been sad to see the children and young people slowly stop attending and are currently undergoing a process of discernment as to how we can encourage children and young friends to play a full part in the life of our meeting. We have continued to organise All-Age Meetings for Worship periodically as well as a candle-lit Meeting for Worship on 24 December.

Our Ministry & Oversight Group, Service to the Meeting Group and Finance Group all met regularly throughout the year. It being the end of our Triennium, several roles came to the end of the period of service. While it is a constant challenge with a meeting as small as ours not to fill posts with the same Friends, we are delighted to have some new Friends and attenders who have accepted a role in the meeting. This is also a source of new energy in our Meetings for Business.

The Luxembourg group meets several times a year, usually once a month for nine or ten months out of the year, most often on the last Sunday of the month, but this can vary depending on how many people are available. Generally, the group meets in January through June and September through November, but again this varies.

The group does not have its own worship space or but meets at the local Amnesty International office. There are currently five regular adult attenders, with two who visit a couple of times a year from the UK and another two or so who attend occasionally.

We are particularly pleased that our Gent group has grown to such an extent that we now consider it to be one of the Meetings making up the Yearly Meeting. The group has been active for two years now and has a regular attendance of four Members and one Attender. In addition to the regular meetings, the group is working on the translation of a book to encourage new visitors. Members of the group also attend events organised within the YM such as Border Meeting and Yearly Meeting. Visit our Facebook Page A closed Facebook group. A request to join may be sent to the page administrators.

Britain

Clerk: Adwoa Burnley
Contact Person: Paul Parker, Recording Clerk
Address: Friends House, 173-177 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ
Telephone: + 44 (0) 207 663 1000
Fax: + 44 (0) 207 663 1001
Click to Email
Website: www.quaker.org.uk
Worship Style: Unprogrammed
Members: 12,934, with 7,955 recognised attenders
Meetings: 70 area (formerly monthly), 472 local
Established: 1668
PublicationsQuake! (regular email), The Friend (weekly, published independently of YM), Friends Quarterly (published independently of YM)
Book Distributor: Quaker Centre Bookshop
Reference Library: Friends House Library
Schools: 7, not managed directly by the Yearly Meeting:

  • Ackworth School, Ackworth, Pontefract, West Yorkshire;
  • Bootham School, York;
  • Breckenbrough School, Thirsk, North Yorkshire
  • Leighton Park School, Shinfield Road, Reading
  • The Mount School, York
  • Sibford School, Sibford Ferris, Banbury, Oxon
  • Sidcot School, Winscombe, North Somerset

Britain Yearly Meeting is the final constitutional authority of the Society of Friends in Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland with the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man). The Yearly Meeting arose out of a series of conferences of ministering Friends. Since 1668 Yearly Meeting has been held in London in May/June, as it still is in most years. Now it is held outside London residentially every three years in July/August. In 1994 we agreed to change our name from London Yearly Meeting to Britain Yearly Meeting. Our current book of Discipline is Quaker faith & practice. It can be seen online and it is also available as a printed book. A revision of Quaker faith & practice was agreed in 2018 and is expected to take about a decade to complete.

Meeting for Sufferings, established 1675, is the standing representative body between sessions of Yearly Meeting. Its name reflects its establishment to take steps to relieve and secure redress from persecution. Its membership is primarily made up of Friends nominated by area meetings. It meets about five times a year.

Yearly Meeting appoints Trustees to act on its behalf as managing trustees of the work, assets and property held directly by Britain Yearly Meeting. The Trustees are responsible to the Yearly Meeting for the right stewardship of its work, assets and property; as charity trustees, they are also legally defined as responsible for the general control and management of the administration of the affairs of Britain Yearly Meeting.

The Yearly Meeting’s work is carried out through departments and committees, of which the following may be specially mentioned:

Quaker Life works with Friends in their meetings and with other local and national committees to help deepen experience of God’s grace and its consequent expression in all our lives and in our meetings. It seeks to nurture the worshipping communities within Britain Yearly Meeting.

The three main areas of responsibility of Quaker Life are: spiritual development, religious learning and pastoral care for adults and children; support for the right holding of meetings for worship and for church affairs; membership matters and outreach. It supports those taking appointed roles including clerks and wardens. It also supports those involved with pastoral care, nominations, work with children and young people, and outreach to those who may be interested in Quakerism.

Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW) seeks to express our experience that the Holy Spirit moves people to serve and learn from their fellow human beings and to promote peace and social justice. It works with and on behalf of Friends in Britain to translate our faith into action. As Quakers we are impelled by our faith to make our lives an active witness for peace and justice. Our historic testimonies to equality, justice, peace, simplicity and truth challenge us to alleviate suffering and seek positive social change.

QPSW ensures that its work is clearly rooted in Quaker values, expresses Quaker testimonies and builds upon Quaker experiences. It builds the daily experiences and spiritual leadings of Friends in their meetings into our corporate work. With this foundation it seeks to support Friends individually in their lives, jointly in their meetings and in Britain Yearly Meeting and to witness on behalf of Quakers in the world..

Quaker Peace & Social Witness works with other Quaker bodies nationally and internationally to share experience and expertise. It works with ecumenical and interfaith groups, and with other churches and faiths at home and abroad, to advance shared concerns.

Quaker Committee for Christian & Interfaith Relations is responsible for keeping Britain Yearly Meeting informed of the various movements towards co-operation within the Christian church and opportunities for interfaith dialogue, and for responding on behalf of the yearly meeting so that Friends’ views on issues of faith and order are represented to other churches and communities of faith.

Quaker World Relations Committee maintains contact with the life and activities of other yearly meetings and groups of Friends, and in particular with the work of the Friends World Committee for Consultation and its Europe & Middle East Section.

Young Friends General Meeting is the national community of young adult Quakers (ages '18-30ish') in Britain. It organises social and spiritual gatherings. Look at their website http://yfgm.quaker.org.uk for more details.

There are also Quaker groups independent of the yearly meeting that promote particular aspects of our faith; visit www.quaker.org.uk/groups for a list.

The Library of the Religious Society of Friends in Britain (founded 1673) at Friends House contains extensive material on Quaker history, life and thought, and the concerns of the Society in many parts of the world. This amounts to about 90,000 printed items, about 20,000 pictures, prints and drawings, and a substantial manuscript collection.

The Library holds the central archives of the Religious Society of Friends in Great Britain from the 17th century onwards. The Library website www.quaker.org.uk/library gives more details, including opening times.

The Quaker Centre Bookshop at Friends House holds a large stock of Quaker books published in Britain and from around the world. It also stocks books on spirituality, liberal Christianity, social responsibility, the environment, conflict resolution and peace work. It has an extensive postal trade both at home and abroad.

Czech Republic

Contact Person: Kristýna Matějková (Czech, English, Spanish, Hebrew)
Click to Email
Address: Tomanova 3, Plzeň - Bory
Contact Person: Pavel Marušinec (English, Czech, Esperanto, Polish, Hungarian)
Address: Zero Waste shop Slow Spot, Terronská 40, Praha 6 - Bubeneč
Telephone: +420 728 700 867
General Email
Website: http://www.kvakeri.cz
Affiliation: FWCC EMES / Central European Gathering
Worship Style: Unprogrammed

The Prague Meeting is an international Quaker fellowship gathering in the city centre near the I. P. Pavlova metro station. We gather on Sundays Our worship includes singing Quaker songs, silent worship, potluck lunch and education for adults: 10.00 am Singing, 10:30-11:30 Unprogrammed Meeting for Worship, often followed by Shared Lunch and Worship Sharing through Study and Discussion. Children are always welcome. A children's programme is organised, when we know that children will be attending.

Denmark

Clerk/Contact person: Bodil Ingversen and Niels Kjaer Address: Kvaekerne, Drejervej 15, 4th floor, DK-2400 København NV Denmark Click to Email Website: www.kvaekerne.dk Members: 30 Meetings: 2 (Aarhus and Copenhagen) Established: 1875 Quakerism began to take root in Denmark in about 1870 following, in the early part of the century, the visits of British Friends. The first Yearly Meeting was organised in 1879. The little Society never had more than 100 members. No regular meetings for worship or business were held. The annual gathering provided the only regular contact between members. The revival of an active Quaker movement in Denmark occurred about 1930 mainly as a result of the return to Copenhagen of two Danish Friends who had been to the USA. A regular public meeting for worship was started in 1936 in Copenhagen. Friends participated in relief work in Spain, work for refugees from Central Europe, and Christian Assyrian/Syrian refugees from Turkey. A Scandinavian Quaker centre was established in Copenhagen in 1939/40. It became a Danish Quaker Centre receiving assistance from British and American Friends from 1951-1965. A Danish Quaker group was responsible for a boarding school for 15-17 year old girls from 1947-1973, and for a day school for 6-17 year olds from 1957-1987. After the Second World War, Danish Friends were engaged in relief work in several European countries, and they later were active in the campaign against atomic weapons, and they assisted refugees seeking asylum in Denmark. A Danish initiative in 1984 led to a series of “Baltic peace meetings” where Quakers from East and West could meet. In 2000, Friends in Copenhagen moved from their downtown premises to a more modern building in Copenhagen West. Meeting for worship is held every Sunday in Copenhagen and on Saturdays every second month in Aarhus. Several times every year we gather in Jutland where a few isolated Friends are living.

Dubai

Click to Email

Telephone:Olivia 971-50-845-2015, or Sarah 971-50-552-3476 (When inside the UAE, replace the 971 with 0.)

A small group of Friends in Dubai would welcome contact from any Friends - even if/especially if they are just flying through Dubai. The group meets semi-monthly in one of their homes.

Egypt

Contact Person: Ray Langsten Address: Social Research Center, American Univ in Cairo, AUC Avenue,  P.O. Box 74, New Cairo 11835, Egypt Telephone:  +20 2 2615 1329 Click to Email Affiliation: FWCC International Membership Programme Worship Style: Unprogrammed Meetings take place by arrangement. Email the contact person for details.

Estonia

Contact Person: Roland Rand
Click to Email
Affiliation: FWCC International Membership Programme
Worship Style: Unprogrammed
Members: 5

Usually meets on the first Sunday of each month at 11 am. Email the contact person for details.

Finland

Ystävien Uskonnollinen Seura Kveekarit ry
Clerk: Toni Hämäläinen
Address: Poimijankuja 7 B 5 33710 Tampere
Telephone: +358 50 535 1516 (Rita Jailo, Helsinki Worship Group), +358 445188267 (Leena Lampela, Tampere Worship Group); +358 44 071 3056 (Jane Rose, Northern Finland Worship Group)
Click to Emailthe Yearly Meeting Clerk , Helsinki Worship Group, Northern Finland Worship Group, Tampere Worship Group,
Website: www.kveekarit.org
Worship Style: Unprogrammed
Members: 24
Meetings: Helsinki, Tampere, Northern Finland
Established: 1992

The Religious Society of Friends in Finland has three main roots: the peace work carried out in connection with Swedish Friends after the 1914-1918 war, the relief work in Finland by American, Swedish and other Friends after the 1939-1945 war, and the Viittakivi international study centre (1951-2007) which was started in cooperation between AFSC/FSC Friends and the Settlement Movement.

Douglas Steere made the first of his many influential visits to Finland in 1937. Two years later Olof Rikberg, a conscientious objector who had studied at Pendle Hill, joined Sweden Yearly Meeting, becoming the first official Finnish Quaker. In 1946 a Monthly Meeting of Sweden YM was established in Helsinki.

The Meeting became a nationally independent Yearly Meeting and registered society in 1992. With money from Sweden YM, Finnish Friends were able to buy a flat in Helsinki.  The apartment has now been sold and the funds invested. We feel that the resources thus released can better benefit FYM as a whole.

The two worship groups which meet weekly are located in Helsinki and Tampere and there is another smaller worship group in northern Finland meeting less regularly, in addition to a few geographically isolated Friends. There is a rich mix of members and attenders in Finland, with Finnish and English being the main languages of communication.

Friends from around Finland gather for Meetings for Worship for Business twice per year and hold a weekend gathering at the same time. An increase in actively involved attenders, including young adult Friends keen to work with older longer-term Friends, has breathed new life into the Yearly Meeting and there is great hope for the future. FYM is starting to work together more with other religious groups that have similar insights on faith in action. This is a very important new direction of collaboration in a small country such as Finland.

As a small Yearly Meeting, Friends in Finland continue to find great joy and strength in visits by Friends from abroad and through our contacts with other Yearly Meetings and Quaker organisations.

France

Contact Person: Kris Misselbrook
Address: Centre Quaker International, 114 rue de Vaugirard, 75006 Paris, France
Telephone+33 01 4548 7423
Click to Email
Website: https://quakersenfrance.org
Worship Style: Unprogrammed
Members: 100+ members and attenders
Meetings: 5 monthly meetings
Established: 1933
PublicationLettre des Amis (Quarterly)
Other Centers: Centre Quaker de Congénies, 11 rue des Quakers, 30111 Congénies. Accommodation. www.maison-quaker-congenies.org

The first Quaker group dates back to 1785 when a pacifist Protestant community of about 150 members living in Congénies and other villages in the south of France came into contact with London Yearly Meeting. American and British Friends helped the group to build its meeting house (1822) which was used until about 1906 and still stands. Mainly owing to the burden of conscription, the little Society gradually declined in numbers.

The present Society of Friends in France grew up after the war of 1914-18, when an Allowed Meeting of London Yearly meeting was set up for relief workers. After the conclusion of the work of the War Victims Relief Committee, an international Quaker Centre was established in Paris in 1920. Interested French people attended the meeting for worship from the beginning.

In 1927 the Allowed Meeting was recognised as a Monthly Meeting of London Yearly Meeting. In 1933 this became a yearly meeting.

After a period of slow but steady growth there came a crisis of decline arousing fears for the yearly meeting’s survival. Now new life seems to be developing with new, active members.

Small groups meet fairly regularly in Nantes, Toulouse, Strasbourg and in south France, and a meeting for worship is held every Sunday in Paris at 11am, 114 rue de Vaugirard.

French Quakerism has some special features due to the French character: a spirit of freedom, a keen feeling of equality and a traditional absence of formality. France Yearly Meeting cooperates with various peace, social and religious organisations. The Centre Quaker International serves as headquarters for France Yearly Meeting and for Paris Monthly Meeting.

In 2003, France Yearly Meeting bought back the Quaker House in Congénies, which had gone into private hands at the beginning of the 20th century. It now serves as a meeting house and a guest house and hosts various events both Quaker-related and otherwise.

Georgia

Contact Person: Mikheil Elizbarashvili
Telephone: cell phone +995-57154-03-88, land phone 995-32-333-174
Click to Email
Affiliation: FWCC International Membership Programme
Worship Style: Unprogrammed
Members: 7
Established: 2007

Meeting every Sunday at 4pm. Email the contact person for details.

Germany

Deutsche Jahresversammlung e.V.
Contact Persons: Anne Pommier and Stefan Mann
Address: Quäkerbüro, Planckstraße 20, D-10117 Berlin, Germany
Telephone: +49 30 208 2284
Click to Email
Website: www.quaeker.org
Affiliation: Independent
Worship Style: Unprogrammed
Members: 273 (including Austria)
Meetings: 8 quarterly (including Austria), ca. 30 monthly meetings and worship groups
Established: 1925
PublicationDer Quäker (monthly)

Established through visits of early Friends from England and America, small groups of Friends existed in Germany around 1700 and again 100 years later. Due to wars and persecutions, most Friends emigrated and groups again dwindled.

During World War 1, British Friends helped interned Germans and other internees and right after the war joined with American Friends to form a relief service in over 100 places in Germany. These contacts with German people in the relief centres led to regular meetings for worship. Eventually the German Yearly Meeting was formed in 1925. A new meeting house was built in 1932 at Bad Pyrmont in the place where the previous one had stood since 1801.

In spite of the coming of the Hitler regime in 1933, the little Society of Friends even grew; though many members had to emigrate. Friends suffered under persecution and for six years could not hold their Yearly Meeting. Finally in 1942, the Quaker house was confiscated.

After World War II German Yearly Meeting restarted in many places and, again with the help of Friends' relief teams, there were neighbourhood centres, maintained for several years by the then Friends Service Council and the American Friends Service Committee. German Yearly Meeting grew and seven quarterly meetings (including Austria) were established. The largest meetings are now in Hamburg, Berlin and Hanover. As there are many Friends living in isolated areas, the regional meetings are of particular importance in the life of the Yearly Meeting.

In 1969 political circumstances forced German Friends to split into east and west yearly meetings. In the meantime a new generation emerged, bubbling with concerns and activities (especially peace campaigns) and strengthened by a large group of associated young Friends, not yet members, but swelling the ranks of the YM gatherings to almost twice their former size. Friends are involved in the Quäkerhäuser in Holm-Seppensen near Hamburg, an institution that gives a home to children from broken homes.

Relief work is being done by the Quäkerhilfe. It supports the projects of other yearly meetings, especially the Rural Service Programme in Kaimosi, Kenya and various projects in Warsaw and Krakow, Poland. It is also involved in work for refugees. The Peace Committee organizes regional weekend seminars and has circulated statements on the development of nuclear arms in Germany. In the recent past it has dealt with East-West reconciliation and questions of nuclear energy. Other committees deal with literature, outreach and programmes for the children.

After the fall of the GDR, the two divided German Yearly Meetings reunified in November 1991, after 22 years, to form one German Yearly Meeting. The former GDR YM and the reunified Berlin group (after 28 years) have come together into one Quarterly Meeting, Bezirk Ost of GYM.

Friends meet 2-3 times per year for Quarterly Meetings. German Friends maintain close ties with the Yearly Meetings across their borders.

Young Friends appoint their own clerks and hold their Junior YM during GYM. They, as well as younger Friends, organize several gatherings during the course of the year (New Year's, Easter, Pentecost) to enhance their ties to one another. A position was established in 2008 to augment the children’s and youth programme in GYM with curricula and material and to help increase intergenerational interaction.

Friends now own the Quäkerbüro in the Planckstrasse, Berlin, which was founded as the International Secretariat in 1926 and which has been the office of GYM since 1945. The offices were renovated in 2008 and visitors are welcome. Berlin Meeting holds meeting for worship there every week.

Greece

Clerk/Contact person: Themistoklis J. Papaioannou
Click to Email
Websitehttp://christianquaker.net/
Address: 76 Patriarchou Grigoriou E', Vyronas 16233, Athens - Greece
Affiliation: Rockingham Monthly Meeting, Ohio Y.M (Conservative)
Established: 2006 as an allowed Meeting of Rockingham MM

A firmly Christian Quaker Mission based in Athens, Greece. We are affiliated with Ohio Yearly Meeting [Conservative] and uphold the Early Faith of Friends, plus we believe in the doctrine of Universal Reconciliation. Contact the clerk for meeting days and times.

Hungary

Contact Person: Vera Varady
Click to Email
Website: http://kveker.eoldal.hu/
Affiliation: FWCC International Membership Programme
Worship Style: Unprogrammed

Meeting 1st Sunday of the month and by arrangement. Location Raday utca 9, district IX., bell 12. Time: 16:00.

Ireland

Contact Person: Mary McNeilly, Recording Clerk
Address: Quaker House Dublin, Stocking Lane, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16, Ireland
Telephone: +353 1 4998003
Click to Email
Website: www.quakers.ie
Members: 1487
Meetings: 3 quarterly, 8 monthly, 23 Particular Meetings, with an additional 6 Worship Groups
Established: 1669
PublicationThe Friendly Word (6 times a year)

The first Meeting for Worship in Ireland was held in 1654. There are now about 687 members in Northern Ireland (which is part of the United Kingdom) and, in the Republic of Ireland 800, of which about 540 are in the Dublin area. The membership is largely urban rather than rural. Meetings for Worship are unprogrammed.

The main witness to the message of Christ is through the lives of members in their neighbourhoods and workplaces, and through involvement in social and other work in conjunction with members of other denominations.

Irish Quaker Faith in Action (IQFA) is the committee of Yearly Meeting which has a care over peace and service work. Most quarterly and monthly meetings have their own peace and service committees. The most active of these is Quaker Service under the auspices of Ulster Quarterly Meeting.  Initially the agency worked with volunteers to assist displaced and threatened families. Over the years a range of projects was developed and the charity now employs a number of professional staff in providing its two main services - Quaker Cottage and Quaker Connections. Quaker Cottage, which occupies purpose-built premises outside Belfast, provides a place where mothers and children from both traditions and communities in Northern Ireland, who have often experienced difficult circumstances in their homes, can come together in a welcoming and caring atmosphere.

Education has long been a particular interest of Friends in Ireland and there are at the moment four schools. All these schools cater for all denominations, and most are fully integrated into the state system. There are also many Friends who are involved in other schools or educational projects in Ireland.

Bloomfield Hospital was established in Dublin in 1811 “for those afflicted with disorders of the mind” under the management of a Committee of Friends. The psychogeriatric hospital, which added nursing care and active elderly facilities in the last century, has moved to new premises on a 10 acre site in Rathfarnham and has been incorporated as Bloomfield Care Centre Ltd.

The Ireland Yearly Meeting Office has moved with Bloomfield to the purpose-built Quaker House on the same site.

Irish Quaker Faith in Action
Central Address: IQFA, Quaker House Dublin, Stocking Lane, Ireland, Dublin 16, Ireland
Telephone: (01) 4998003

Irish Quaker Faith in Action is a committee of Ireland Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. It is charged with giving expression to our Christian faith through peace witness and social concern. Irish Quaker Faith in Action was established in 1992 as a successor to Irish Quaker Peace and Service.

IQFA approves projects for support by Irish Friends and accepts concerns and tasks from Ireland Yearly Meeting. Fund raising is a key element of the work of IQFA as well as sponsoring communication between Peace and Service committees within Ireland Yearly Meeting. IQFA welcomes the opportunity to cooperate closely with other like-minded organisations.

Irish Quaker Faith in Action is a committee of Ireland Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. It is charged with giving expression to our Christian faith through peace witness and social concern. Irish Quaker Faith in Action was established in 1992 as a successor to Irish Quaker Peace and Service.

IQFA approves projects for support by Irish Friends and accepts concerns and tasks from Ireland Yearly Meeting. Fund raising is a key element of the work of IQFA as well as sponsoring communication between Peace and Service committees within Ireland Yearly Meeting. IQFA welcomes the opportunity to cooperate closely with other like-minded organisations.

Italy

“Una via” – Amici del Silenzio
Contact Person 1: Lucia Biondelli
Address: Via Mentana, 36 - 47921 Rimini, Italy
Telephone: +39 (Italy) 347 0917845
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Contact Person 2: Mauro Bonaiuti
Address: via B. Gigli 2, 40137 Bologna, Italy
Telephone: +39 3403770787
Click to Email

Contact Person 3: Cecilia Clementel - Jones
Address: via San Ruffillo,1 - 40141 Bologna, Italy
Telephone: +39 (Italy) 3801987718 or  +44 (U.K.) 7947805165
Click to Email

Affiliation: FWCC International Membership Programme
Established: Recognised Meeting since February 2015
Worship Style: Unprogrammed

The Bologna Quaker Group meets every second and fourth Sunday of every month. In Bologna, via Lombardia, 36, from 11:00 a.m. (Biblioteca di Pace del Quartiere Savena – Local Library  for Peace Studies, 3rd floor of the Local Public Space in Quartiere Savena)
Contact Person:Sylvia Hetzel and Kirstin Hills
Click to Email>
Website: www.quaccheriinitalia.com

The Florence Worship Group was formed in January 2019 by a small group of Quakers from different parts of the world who live in Tuscany and now call Italy their home. The group meets every 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month at 11 AM CET. English is the primary language used, but everyone is welcome.
Contact: Quaccheri Milano Telephone: +39 334 249 8125 Email: Click to Email Meets by arrangement.
Contact: Ulisse Di Corpo Telephone: +39 065 899 822 Address:: Lungotevere degli Artigiani, 3200153 Roma, Italy Email: Click to Email Meets by arrangement.

Latvia

Contact Person: Inese Ansule
Address: Daugavas iela 7-19, Liepaja LV-3416, Latvia
Telephone: +371 29983559
Click to Email
Affiliation: FWCC International Membership Programme
Worship Style: Unprogrammed
Contact Person: Agita Zake
Address: Varnu 10-12, Riga LV-1009, Latvia
Telephone: +371 2672 5651
Click to Email
Affiliation: FWCC International Membership Programme
Worship Style: Unprogrammed

Lebanon

See Middle East.

Lithuania

Contact Person: Algis Davidavicius
Click to Email
Affiliation: FWCC International Membership Programme
Worship Style: Unprogrammed

Meetings by arrangement.

Malta

Contact Person: Piers Headley
Telephone: +356 77050754
Click to E-mail
Website: www.maltafriends.org
Affiliation: FWCC International Membership Programme
Worship Style: Unprogrammed

The Malta Friends Worship Group is an unofficial worship group affiliated with the European and Middle East section of FWCC. We are a small group with only three core members but enjoy many visitors and irregular attenders. For more information, please see the website.

The Meeting is the first Sunday of the month at 11.30 am. It meets in the book shop or church hall, Church of the Holy Trinity, Rudolph Street, Sliema, Malta. Visitors should take Bus 21, 110 or walk up from Sliema Ferries.

Middle East

Contact Person: Sami Cortas
Address: c/o Brummana High School, Brummana, Lebanon
Click to Email

Brummana Monthly Meeting, part of Middle East Yearly Meeting, is so closely linked with Brummana High School that it is impossible to speak about one without the other. Brummana High School founded by Theophilus Waldmeier opened its doors as a girls school in the summer of 1873. Brummana Monthly Meeting first met on 12 December 1868. It was attended by four members, Theophilus Waldmeier, Eli Jones, Henry Newman and Alfred Loidfox, who were soon joined by many local people.

Today, Brummana High School is one of the best schools in the region with over 900 students; 80 of them are boarders from several nationalities. Brummana High School suffered a lot during the 15 years war that started in 1975 and most of its boarders numbering 350 students at that time had to flee Lebanon. Brummana High School is owned and looked after by Quaker International Educational Trust (Quiet) headquarters in London; while a local board of governors runs the school.

Brummana Monthly Meeting holds its meetings every Sunday at 10AM in its meeting house on Brummana High School property.

We have currently around 35 active members and many have unfortunately left due to the war, to the U.S., U.K and Europe.
Contact Person: Tatiana Maayeh, Administrative Assistant
Address: Ramallah Friends Meeting House, Main Street, Ramallah, West Bank, Palestine
Contact Address: PO Box 1325, Ramallah, West Bank Palestine via Israel Telephone: +972 (0) 2-297-1314
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Worship Style: Unprogrammed
Established: 1910

There has been an active and vibrant Palestinian Quaker community in Ramallah since the late 1800s.

The Ramallah Friends Meeting House was built and dedicated in 1910. Several years later, an annex building was added for community outreach. The Ramallah Friends Meeting has always played a vital role in the community. In 1948, the buildings and grounds offered emergency shelter and schooling to several hundred Palestinian refugees. Throughout the years, the members of Ramallah Friends Meeting organised numerous community programs such as the Amari Play Centre (preschool), a First Day School, and women’s activities.

By the early 1990s, the Meeting House and Annex fell into disrepair due to damage inflicted by time and from regional conflict. So serious was the deterioration that by the middle of the 1990s it became impossible to use the building.

A further challenge to Ramallah Friends and the wider Palestinian community was the high level of emigration brought on by the prolonged Israeli military occupation, its ensuing economic hardships and severe travel restrictions.

In 2002, a committee consisting of Friends from the US and the Clerk of Ramallah Friends Meeting began to raise funds for the renovation of the buildings and grounds. By November 2004, the renovations were completed and on 6 March 2005 the Meeting House and grounds were rededicated to serve Ramallah Friends and the Palestinian community at large.

Today, the Meeting continues to have a vibrant weekly Meeting for Worship, followed by fellowship which is held in the garden whenever weather permits. Once a month, the Meeting gathers for Mid-week Meeting which includes an extended time for fellowship and the sharing of a meal together. Hospitality and educational programs are frequently offered to international visitors. A First Day School is re-emerging and participation in the care of the Play Centre in nearby Amari Refugee Camp is growing. In the near future, the Meeting hopes to renew Middle East Yearly Meeting gatherings with Friends at Brummana Meeting in Lebanon.

The Netherlands

Religieus Genootschap der Vrienden – Quakers
Clerk/Contact Person: Peter Spreij
Address: Quaker Secretariaat, Stadhouderslaan 8, 2517 HW Den Haag The Netherlands
Telephone: +31 (0)6 137 006 82
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Websitewww.quakers.nu
Worship Style: Unprogrammed
Members: 93
Meetings: 6
Established: 1931
PublicationDe Vriendenkring (monthly)
Reference Library: Quakercentre, Vossiusstraat 20, 1071 AD Amsterdam
Other Centers: Quakercentre, Vossiusstraat 20, 1071 AD Amsterdam

The connection of Friends with The Netherlands began about 1653, the Low Lands being the nearest field for the “spread of truth” outside the British Isles. Several British Friends travelled in the ministry in parts of the Netherlands and Germany, particularly in the northern Friesian parts. Here they found fertile soil for their ministry since this is where, a century earlier, our fellow Peace Church, the Mennonites, arose.

In 1677, at the request of the Dutch Friends, a deputation of British Friends, among them George Fox, William Penn and Robert Barclay, visited the Netherlands to found, at Amsterdam, a Yearly Meeting for the continent of Europe, with quarterly meetings in a number of different countries. This was the fifth Yearly Meeting to be recognised worldwide. However, partly because many Friends decided to emigrate to Pennsylvania, this first Amsterdam Yearly Meeting gradually died out and was discontinued around 1710, though some staunch Dutch Friends carried on until 1851.

In its present form, Netherlands Yearly Meeting arose around 1928, greatly influenced by Woodbrooke College in England. Dutch people who studied at Woodbrooke became familiar with Quaker faith and practice, and, therein, found their spiritual home. Netherlands Yearly meeting was (re)established in 1931.

As racial persecution developed in neighbouring countries, work for refugees was undertaken in collaboration with American and British Friends. Dutch Friends shared with German and British Friends in founding an International Quaker School at Ommen in 1934. This school was revived after the war and has since moved to Castle Beverweerd near Utrecht. After 37 years the Foundation for Quaker Schools running it dropped the Quaker name in 1971. The school continues as an international boarding school for boys and girls.

The Quaker Centre at Amsterdam, founded with the cooperation of British and American Friends in 1939, is now carried on by Dutch Friends at Vossiusstraat 20. It houses Amsterdam Monthly Meeting and the library of Netherlands Yearly Meeting, but there is no accommodation available there.

Netherlands Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends is registered under the law as a church and is a member of the Council of Churches in the Netherlands. The same applies to the Dutch Interchurch Aid and Service Organisation. Netherlands Friends take an active interest in the Quaker Council for European Affairs and are represented in the Council. Likewise Dutch Friends take an active part in the work.

Norway

Vennenes Samfunn Kvekerne
Contact Person: Marit Kromberg
Address: Grønland 12, 0188 Oslo, Norway
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Website: www.kveker.org
Members: 125 (including children)
Meetings: 6 Monthly Meetings
Established: 1818
PublicationTidsskriftet Kvekeren (quarterly)

The first Norwegian Friends were men from the coastal areas of southern Norway who were seized at sea during the Napoleonic wars and were confined on prison ships near London. Friends from the Meeting in Rochester visited them frequently. In 1814 when the war was over, the men were set free and returned to their homes. We know of small groups of Friends in Christiania (later Oslo) and Stavanger. These groups were supported by visitors from Britain and USA. In 1818 a special meeting was called, first in Stavanger, about a month later in Christiania, with the assistance of Stephen Grellet and William Allen. The meeting in Stavanger has since been reckoned as the first yearly meeting of the Society of Friends in Norway.

All religious groups outside the Lutheran State Church suffered severe persecution for years to follow, and several local groups emigrated to the USA, leaving only a few remaining members in each area around Stavanger. In 1845 new legislation was adopted giving dissenters the right to form their own religious societies. But conflicts remained in the areas of payment of church taxes and conscientious objection to military service. In 1969 the legislation governing religious organisations was revised to regulate conditions for membership and to introduce a system for reimbursement to the religious organisation of church taxes paid by members to the state and to local authorities.

Norwegian legislation assumes child membership of religious organisations, and a certain amount of the reimbursed tax is earmarked for religious education. The children of Norway Yearly Meeting live all over the country and we see it as important to ensure that they can meet and maintain friendships and practice Quaker ways.

Our yearly meetings include a children’s yearly meeting, and we arrange an all ages event in October each year. Oslo Monthly Meeting regularly arranges meetings for worship for children (and adults). Other groups usually arrange some event for children before Christmas.

Stavanger Monthly Meeting has been in existence since 1818. The Christiania Meeting did not become permanent, but Oslo Monthly Meeting was formally established in 1952. Kristiansand Monthly Meeting was established in 1975. Isolated Friends scattered through the country remain affiliated to the Meeting where they entered into membership, and try to form worship groups in the area where they live. Contact addresses are published and kept updated on our website www.kveker.org.

A monthly newsletter, Kvekernytt, is circulated to Friends and Attenders all over the country. It contains a mixture of short ministry, sharing of joys and sorrows, notices about changes of address, and information about meetings for worship and other events.

In 1959 the Yearly Meeting opened a small school and home for mentally handicapped young men on a farm, Lindgrov, near Risør on the south coast. Following legislative reform in 1990, the institution, which by then consisted of small, modern buildings functioning as “family collectives”, was taken over by the Local Authority from January 1, 1991. Norway Yearly Meeting has maintained links of friendship with Lindgrov.

Norway Yearly Meeting established Kvekerhjelp (Quaker Service Norway) in about 1963. Kvekerhjelp now supports projects in the Middle East and in the Great Lakes Area of Africa. Kvekerhjelp cooperates with other Quaker service organisations and with Norwegian and international aid agencies. Priority is given to projects in conflict areas, projects among women and children and on self-reliant participatory development and conflict management, initiated and carried out by local partners. Kvekerhjelp is administered by a board elected by Norway Yearly Meeting.

The quarterly publication Tidsskriftet Kvekeren started in 1937. It was meant to be a Scandinavian or Nordic publication, but very soon became all Norwegian. Tidsskriftet Kvekeren will publish expressions of the religious views and attitudes of the Religious Society of Friends in Norway, and try to see questions of current interest in a Quaker perspective. It should provide information to others about the Society of Friends and Quaker thinking.

Kvekerforlaget (Norwegian Quaker Press) was established in 1978 and by 2007 had published about 60 different pamphlets and books, several of them in subscription series. A few books have been published in English for the international market.

Palestine

See Middle East

Poland

Contact: Zbigniew Kaźmierczak
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Meeting every Sunday from 10:30 - 12:30. Please check the Facebook profile Kwakrzy Quakers Białystok for the meeting place, or email the contact person.
Contact: Krzysztof Krzywania
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Website: www.poznan.kwakrzy.org

The group meets on the second and fourth Sunday of each month at 10.30.
Contact: Tomasz Kowalski
Telephone: +44 7448 544 180, +48 781 40 44 00
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Websites: www.torun.kwakier.org.pl, www.torun.quakermeeting.info
Worship style: Conservative Friends, Unprogrammed Worship

Meeting on the first and third Friday each month from 18:00 - 22:00 at Dwor Mieszczanski (Burghers' Court), 4-6 Podmurna Street, Torun. Other Fridays in private homes.
Contact: Kasia Kaczmarkiewicz
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Websitewww.kwakrzy.pl

Meeting time and place: Please check the Facebook profile Kwakrzy Warszawa - Warsaw Quakers (https://www.facebook.com/Kwakrzy-Warszawa-Warsaw-Quakers-103787625094989/), or email the contact person.
Contact: Krzysztof Galiński
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Address: Trzebiatkowa 96, 77-133 Tuchomie Meeting on Sundays at 10:30.
Contact: Bradius Maurus
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Contact:Paweł Milka

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Meets on selected Sunday evenings in Katowice.

Russia

Clerk/Contact Person:Alexander Lipatov
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Telephone: +7 926 134 45 54
Websitehttp://bit.ly/sobraniedruzei

Moscow

Meeting every Saturday (contact clerk regarding summer schedule) at 2:00 p.m. near Varshavskaya metro. Contact clerk for details.

St. Petersburg

There is no meeting in St Petersburg but Peter Dyson has lived there for many years and is always glad to meet up with Friends passing through. Contact Peter Dyson.

Spain

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Website: http://quakersbcn.wixsite.com/quakersbcn

Meeting every Sunday at 11.30 am. Email for details, or see our Facebook page.
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Telephone: 00 34/ 629 989 787

Meeting by arrangement. Please email or telephone.
Contact Person:  Carmen Alcalde
Address: La Hiruela, 1, 7º, 17 28035 MADRID, Spain
Telephone+34 680 879 639
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Affiliation: FWCC International Membership Programme
Worship Style: Unprogrammed

Meeting on the first and third Sunday each month. Email the contact person for details.
Contact PersonsChris - 0034 858990235
Wednesday 16.30 - 17.30 at various private homes. A face to face silent worship English language meeting with a Zoom link.
Contact Person:Star
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Encuentro Cuáquero Ibérico por Zoom/Iberian Quaker Meeting by Zoom.

Todos los Domingos/ Every Sunday
18.45 Conexión y saludos/Connection and greetings
19.00 - 19.30 Discusión y estudio/Discussion and study
19.30 - 20.30 Adoración en silencio/Silent worship
Esta reunión se lleva a cabo principalmente en español pero con un traductor designado.
This meeting is held mostly in Spanish but with a designated translator.

Sweden

Contact Person: The Clerks' Committee
Address: Kväkargården, Box 9166, 102 72 Stockholm, Sweden (post) Kristinehovsgatan 6, 117 29 Stockholm (callers)
Telephone +46 70-730 49 79
Click to Email (general), Click to Email (direct to Clerk’s committee)
Websitewww.kvakare.se
Members: Around 100
Meetings: 9 currently active
Established: 1935
PublicationsErfarenheter (annual/bi-annual publication), VänNytt newsletter (about 8 times a year)
Other Centers: Svartbäcksgården, Svartbäcken, 762 91 Rimbo (rural retreat centre with accommodation)
Other Centers: Kväkarhjälpen (Quaker Service), Görel Råsmark, +46 491 650 02, kvakarhjalpen@kvakare.se

Sweden Yearly Meeting arose spontaneously from a small worship group that met in the 1920s. In 1937 the Meeting was recognised by the Swedish government as an independent religious society outside the Swedish State Church. Since 1956 Swedish Friends have had their own Centre in Stockholm called Kväkargården.

The Centre has a meeting room, office, library, warden’s flat and two small rooms for committee meetings etc.

About seventy kilometres from Stockholm, the Meeting has Svartbäcksgården, a rural facility used for retreats, summer camps, residential Yearly Meeting and leisure-time activities.

Friends gather for Yearly Meeting and Samfundsrådet, a General Meeting for business that meets twice a year. Worship groups conduct meetings for business according to their needs, size and regularity of meeting.

Much of the Meeting’s energies and resources are spent keeping the various worship groups thriving and encouraging formation of new groups. Kväkargården and Svartbäcksgården are maintained and managed. We offer regular retreats, studies and summer camps that attract Friends, attenders and enquirers. All-age worship, intervisitation and travelling in the ministry to groups and individuals are ways we hope to deepen our fellowship. We are active in outreach through our homepage, newsletter and informative gatherings. Kväkargården has a well-kept library. We produce publications of various kinds and our annual journal, Erfarenheter.

An important aspect of the Meeting is work with our Service Committee, Kväkarhjälpen, which supports self-help projects in a number of developing countries.

Sweden YM strives to maintain active relationships with other European Yearly Meetings and Quaker organisations.

Switzerland

Contact Person: The Clerks
Address: Maison Quaker, 13 avenue du Mervelet, 1209 Geneva, Switzerland
Telephone:  +41 22 748-4800
Fax:  +41 22 748-4819
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Website: www.swiss-quakers.ch
Affiliation: Independent
Worship Style: Unprogrammed
Members: 180+ members and attenders
Meetings: 1 monthly meeting and 4 worship groups
Publications: "Entre Amis" and "News and Views of Geneva Friends"

The first gathering of Swiss Friends and “friends of Friends” was held at Berne in 1934. Out of the 50 participants, 22 had served at different times with Pierre Ceresole in the Service Civil workcamps, and nine of the men had been imprisoned for conscientious objection to military service. Groups in Geneva and Zurich had been holding meeting for worship regularly since the 1920’s, and in the opening session of the conference one of their number described their spiritual need and reasons for turning toward Quakerism.

This conference proved to be the first of a series of annual meetings and in 1939 Swiss Friends were formally recognised as a General Meeting attached to London Yearly Meeting, having the status of a quarterly and monthly meeting. In 1944 the General Meeting became a Yearly Meeting. The membership is fairly evenly divided between French and German speaking Switzerland. At the annual gathering, both languages are used as well as English.

Total number of members and attenders increased from about one hundred at the end of the 1930s to more than 360 in the 1950s, later decreased to 180 in 2017. The proportion of members was less than 20% in the 1930s, progressively increasing to more than 45% in 2017 (sojourning Friends are counted as members in the recent figures).

Geneva meeting is organised with several committees and holds a meeting for worship for business monthly. In this meeting there are always many non-Swiss members and English is predominant over French language. Other groups in Switzerland meet once or twice a month (worship groups). German language is predominant in German-speaking Switzerland. German-speaking Friends meet yearly for a Herbsttagung (in the fall).

Quaker international presence in Geneva (International Centre, later Quaker United Nations Office – QUNO) has a close relationship with the Geneva meeting for worship, with both groups having started their activities in 1920.