Worship Sharing Guidelines

(Abstracted from: Friends General Conference Worship Sharing Guidelines)

Worship sharing focuses on particular questions and helps us to explore our own experience, sharing more deeply than we would in normal conversation. It seeks to draw us into sacred space, where we can take down our usual defenses and encounter each other in “that which is eternal.”

The guidelines for worship sharing have been evolving among Friends for the past half century, drawing on many different sources. The basic rules for sharing include:

• Reach as deeply as you can into the sacred center of your life.
• Speak out of the silence and leave a period of silence between speakers.
• Speak from your own experience, about your own experience. Concentrate on feelings and changes rather than on thoughts or theories.
• Do not respond to what anyone else has said, either to praise or to refute.
• Listen carefully and deeply to what is spoken.
• Expect to speak only once, until everyone has had a chance to speak.
• Respect the confidentiality of what is shared.
• Be mindful of the number of people in your group who need time to share.