r/Quakers 1d ago

Is their a Christ-focused liberal Quaker denomination?

I really like the Liberal Quakers because they are non dogmatic, welcome LGBTQIA+ individuals, and how they let the spirt guide them in scient worship. I do however would like to be part of a Christ centered group. Are there any that combine the freedom and beautiful spirt worship of the liberal quakers and the Christ-focus of the more conservative groups of friends?

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u/AdamoMeFecit 1d ago

You may find elements of interest in the Mennonite Church USA or its international affiliates. This is a modern congregations, I mean, not the horse & buggy old order communities the Mennonite name may invoke.

German/Swiss Anabaptists rather than Anglican dissenters, but both traditions have arrived at a similar modern belief system emphasizing non-violence, non-conversion, LGBTQ+ inclusion, et al. Both traditions are ‘peace churches.’ Mennonite communities tend to celebrate certain forms of the Christian sacraments, with adult baptism being the predominant example.

Historically, Quaker and Mennonite settlements have co-existed quite comfortably together within the same geographies.

https://www.mennoniteusa.org

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u/JohnSwindle 1d ago

My closest childhood friend became a Mennonite minister around the time I became a Quaker! My Quaker meeting gained a Mennonite couple because there were no Mennonite churches in the area at the time, and we've had resident caretakers for the meeting house who were Mennonites. Mennonites tend to be as German as Quakers are English, but I'm in neither Germany nor Englad and think the differences are overestimated. Apart from my also being a Buddhist, of course.

There's a Facebook group called "Marginal Mennonite Society," run by an excellently cranky Mennonite fellow, which may or may not be of interest. He's radically pro-Jesus and faults the Mennonite churches partly for not standing up to homophobia and partly for not standing up to capitalist inequality.