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Archiver > QUAKER-ROOTS > 1999-10 > 0941125150


From: Alan Crosman <>
Subject: [Q-R] Re: QUAKER-ROOTS-D Digest V99 #618
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1999 11:39:10 -0400


I'd like to expand a little bit on Seth's offhand comment about the
"Meeting" vs "Church" nomenclature.

This is one of those areas of early Friends ideas of "plain speaking" that
has largely carried through to modern times. Basic Christian theology
recognizes that "the Church" are those who understand Jesus as the Christ
and try to follow His leadership. Accordingly, Friends call the buildings
they meet in "Meeting House" (or "Meetinghouse") and the organizational
structure historically was named for the frequency of meetings held for
business - Monthly Meeting, Quarterly Meeting, Yearly Meeting. While this
is changing today, with some branches of including the words "Friends
Church" in their formal title and referring to their buildings as
"Churches", many others still hold to this earlier tradition.

About 20 years ago my wife served for a while as a minister of education
for a Reformed Church congregation. I was struck by a song they were
promoting for use in their Sunday School programs nationwide. The words
reflected the traditional Quaker view of things:

The Church is not a building,
The Church is not a steeple,
The Church is not a resting place,
The Church is the people.

Chorus:

I am the Church,
You are the Church,
We are the Church together.
All around the world
All who follow Jesus
We are the Church together.


At 09:57 PM 10/27/99 -0700, you wrote:

> #3 Re: [Q-R] Questions ["Seth Hinshaw"
<]

>______________________________X-Message: #3
>Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1999 10:57:23 PDT
>From: "Seth Hinshaw" <>
>To:
>Message-ID: <>
>Subject: Re: [Q-R] Questions
>Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed


>
>>Now, is there a Quaker church in Jefferson County, Ohio? Is there one in
>>Tuscarawas, Ohio?
>


>
>[Remember, the church is the people and not the building.]
>

Alan Crosman
Haverford College
370 W. Lancaster Ave
Haverford, PA 19041
(610)896-1250

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