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Quaker Testimonies
"Testimony" is used by Friends to describe actions and attitudes based on the realization that there is "that of God in everyone," that all human beings are equal, and that all life is interconnected. It is affirmative but may lead to action that runs counter to...
Disaster Relief groups
For a number of years, groups of mostly RFM members and attenders have spent one-week in the spring working at sites affected by natural disasters, including the gulf coast (Hurricane Katrina), Ider, Alabama (tornadoes), and Crisfield, Maryland (Hurricane Sandy). The...
Bequest Use Policy
In her will, Jean Jones Anderson offered a bequest to Meeting, with the stipulation that it be used for adult spiritual education. After much consideration, in November 2011, Meeting approved the following policy governing the use of the bequest. Recommendations from...
RFM Travel Policy
Richmond Friends Meeting Travel Policy Proposed by Financial Stewardship Committee Approved Eleventh Month, 2010 This paper lays out the manner in which Richmond Friends Meeting members and attenders may request financial support for travel related to voluntary...
History Highlights
Richmond Friends Meeting (RFM) organized in 1795, and soon built its first Meeting House at 19th and Cary Street in Church Hill. This was the second oldest “church” in Richmond. We have a long history of religious observance and social justice within the Richmond...
Newsletters – Archive
The Newsletter Archive is available through the Meeting Electronic File and Document Repository.
Richmond Friends Meeting History Highlights
Richmond Friends Meeting (RFM) organized in 1795, and soon built its first Meeting House at 19th and Cary Street in Church Hill. This was the second oldest “church” in Richmond. We have a long history of religious observance and social justice within the Richmond...
Living Out the Peace Testimony
Friends affirm a Biblical basis for the peace testimony. A Prince of Peace was prophesied who would bring in a Peaceable Kingdom. “Thou shalt not kill” is one of the Ten Commandments. Jesus taught and lived peacemaking and love of enemy. George Fox similarly counseled...
Quaker Bibliography
Friends for 350 Years BY HOWARD BRINTON, WITH AN HISTORICAL UPDATE BY MARGARET HOPE BACON Overview of basic Quaker understandings and practices. Topics covered include the light within, meeting for worship, vocal ministry, reaching decisions, the meeting community,...
Linda Heacock’s Kenya Journal
Linda Heacock's Kenya Journal 2006
Response to the First Month 2006 Query by Jean James
Responding to the Baltimore Yearly Meeting First Month Query By Jean James Are meetings for worship held in expectant waiting for Divine guidance? Are Friends encouraged to share spiritual insights? Are special gifts of ministry recognized and encouraged? Do...
Response to the Twelfth Month 2005 Query by Bob Rugg
Personal Reflections on BYM Query #12 The Environment by BobRugg © Robert D. Rugg December 24, 2005 Personal Reflections on BYM Query #12. The Environment Are you concerned for responsible use of natural resources and their nurture for future generations? Do you try...
Response to the Eleventh Month 2005 Query by Rita Willett
Responding to The Baltimore Yearly Meeting 11th Month Query by Rita Willett, RFM Ministry and Worship Committee Do you provide religious education, including study of the Bible and of Friends' history and practices, in your Meeting? Do you ensure that schools under...
Letter From Roanoke Friends Meeting (VA) To Legislators and Leaders
After the reading of the Minute from York Friends, Roanoke Friends composed and sent the following and attached letter about hurricane Katrina to their legislators and other leaders. Roanoke Friends encourage other Meetings to consider a similar response. What a...
Response to the Tenth Month 2005 Query by Jean Jones Andersen
THE PEACE TESTIMONY “Do you live in the virtue of the life and power which takes away the occasion of all wars?” Well, what does “occasion war”? No use looking in history books, because “history is written by the winners,” and winners tend to rationalize their own...
Response to the Ninth Month 2005 Query by Ron Lee
Responding to The Baltimore Yearly Meeting 9th Month Query by Ron Lee, RFM Ministry and Worship Committee Do you promote social justice and make your life a testimony to fair dealing? The growth I am currently experiencing with this area relates to feeling the...
Minute by York (PA) Meeting Regarding the Response to Hurricane Katrina
Below is a minute from York (PA) Meeting. They wish to disseminate it to Friends everywhere. At Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business on 9th month 4th day 2005, the following minute was approved be sent to Friends everywhere: Friends (Quakers) have...
RFM Religious Education Building Expansion Opening Celebration
5-20-2005
Response to the 5th Month 2006 Query by Steve Humphrey
Queries: "Do you make your home a place of affection where God's presence is felt? Do you practice family prayer? Do you share your deepest beliefs and interests with all in the family? Do you grow together through sharing prosperity and adversity? Can you keep a...
Response to the Third Month 2006 Query by Bob Alexander
THE MEETING COMMUNITY BYM FAITH AND PRACTICE THIRD MONTH QUERY by Bob Alexander “Are love and harmony within the Meeting community fostered by a spirit of open sharing? Do you endeavor to widen your circle of friendships within the Meeting, seeking to know persons of...
Twelfth Month 2004 Building Expansion Budget Request
RICHMOND FRIENDS MEETING Building Committee Request Approved by the Financial Stewardship Committee To be recommended to Meeting for Business on December 19, 2004 The Building Committee, requests that Financial Stewardship consider and recommend to the next Meeting...
RFM Religious Education Building Expansion Groundbreaking
Building Expansion Groundbreaking
RFM Religious Education Building Renovation Kickoff Dinner
Beyond All Expectations II By Grace Palmer
Beyond All Expectation II In need of companions for the path, I was drawn by a Friend’s example Toward Meeting’s open door... Where beyond all expectation I found myself at home! It seems my heart was read at once By this company of seekers, For beyond all...
Minuted Concerns To The Meeting
RFM Minute Prepared for Baltimore Yearly Meeting -- Sixth Month 2004 RFM Minute Regarding Contribution to FUM -- Twelfth Month 2004 Letter to the Editor, Richmond-Times Dispatch -- Third Month 2005 RFM Minute Regarding Genocide in Darfur - Eleventh Month 2006 ...
Friends Association For Children and Richmond Friends Meeting
By Donna Knicely, member of the History Committee If you have lived in Richmond very long at all, you have probably heard of the Friends Association for Children. And, as a Quaker, you have probably wondered what the connection is between the two. The following...
1802 Quaker Petition Against Slavery
[Below a transcription of the 1802 Quaker petition against slavery presented to the Virginia legislature. Among those signing this petition are Samuel Parsons (the father of Samuel Pleasants Parsons, whose house survives at 601 Spring Street in Oregon Hill) and James...
Chronology of Richmond Friends Properties and Locations
1795 -- “At a Monthly Meeting held at White Oak Swamp. 2nd day, 7th month, 1795. The members of Swamp Meeting were joined to Richmond Meeting which is to be held on First and Fourth days of the week, and to begin on the First Day the 15th of this month.” (Valentine...
1960-1969 Notes From Richmond Friends Meetings For Business
1963 There is no mention of specific membership numbers in the minutes but it appears the Meeting had very few members during the 1960s. ( An influx was seen in the 1970s.) Robert Clark, Clerk Most of the Meeting for Business Notes are penciled notes for the 1960s....
1967 The Vietnam Summer Project
One of the most divisive events in 20th century U.S. history was the war in Vietnam. The antiwar movement gained national prominence in 1965, peaked in 1968, and remained powerful throughout the duration of the conflict. In June 1967, in keeping with our position...
The History of Richmond Friends Meeting 1795-1962
THE HISTORY OF RICHMOND FRIENDS MEETING 1795--1962 by Mary Fran Hughes Richmond, Virginia 1979 Since joining Richmond Friends Meeting in 1976, I have wondered about the history of my new spiritual family. A sense of our history might give us an appreciation for who we...
RFM Spending 1917-1930
Where the Money Went A Brief Look at Richmond Friends’ Spending In the Early Years of the Last Century The responsibility of a treasurer is to keep careful track of the money coming into and going out of an organization. But the legacy of a treasurer also can be a...
Hannah Watts Clarke
Hannah Watts Clarke (circa 1754-1843) Hannah Watts Clarke was a lifelong member of the Society of Friends. Her portrait, attributed to Charles Burton, an English painter, was done about 1840. She is shown in profile looking out on what is thought to be the first...
The Jacob House
The Jacob House by Harry Kollatz, Jr. The Jacob House is a small place with a big history. During its most recent years, it deteriorated and got up rooted. Now restored, it’ll be given away to a worthy cause. Until 1995, Jacob House stood on its original circa-l817...
The Winston House
George and Judith Winston were birthright Quakers who were active with Richmond area Quakers in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. George was a maker of bricks and a builder so he built the first Meetinghouse at 20th and Cary Street in 1797. This building no...
James Pleasants
James Pleasants deserves more fame than he has received. He was raised a Quaker and served as Governor of Virginia, 1822-25. He also served in the Virginia House of Delegates, the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Within the context of his times,...
Robert Pleasants
Robert Pleasants, who was born at Curles in Henrico County, Virginia in 1723 and died in 1801, was one Virginia’s most noted Quaker abolitionists. As one of the founders of the Virginia Abolition Society in 1790, he served as president. In 1782 he successfully lobbied...
Quaker Women In the 19th Century
March is Women’s History Month as declared by Congress, the Virginia legislature and the Richmond City Council in the 1980s. Thus, we want to share with you this month the stories of 19th century Quaker sisters Lucy and Sarah Chase, Eunice Congdon and Sarah Smiley...
American Quaker Beginnings
In his Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson reflected on the religious intolerance in seventeenth-century Virginia, specifically on the anti-Quaker laws passed by the Virginia Assembly from 1659 onward. Jefferson apparently believed that it was no more...