Winthrop Center Friends is a semi-programmed Quaker Meeting with worship each Sunday at 9:00 a.m. Our gatherings include spoken prayer, readings, singing, and messages shared by members, along with extended periods of silent worship. Each week varies: first Sundays are invitational, second Sundays feature a prepared message, third Sundays are worship sharing, fourth Sundays are unprogrammed, and fifth Sundays may include a guest ministry.
We welcome anyone who would like to worship with us as a spiritual companion. Friends believe there is “that of God” in everyone capable of guiding, challenging and comforting them individually and also together as a gathered worshipping body. Quakerism has its roots in Christianity but we embrace a wide diversity of beliefs. We do not have a creed, since we believe the Divine is continually revealing and being revealed. One Sunday each month is “unprogrammed” and Friends gather in quiet waiting in which anyone may be led to speak to those gathered.
We linger after worship each week for a time of fellowship and refreshments.
We have a few committees to oversee our finances, and the wellbeing of the Meeting community. Periodically we host workshops, film series, and discussions on environmental, social justice and peace issues. Since we draw our membership from various communities in the area we center our spiritual community's life mainly in worship and prayer, offering one another support for the many different ways we witness to our faith in our individual lives. We have taken under our care, two projects led by members of the Meeting. One is a book project "The Gatherings - Re-imagining Indigenous-Settler Relations" by Shirley Hager and the collaborative Mawopiyane, published by University of Toronto Press. The other is a Gleaning project in the central Maine area. We support several efforts that are working toward right relationship with Wabanaki Peoples in Maine. We are also active in local interfaith activities through the Winthrop Area Ministerial Association.
Members host potluck suppers, fellowship and conversation on a planned Friday of each month. This moves among the membership.
On a quarterly basis we have a chance to spend the day with other Quakers from Maine and yearly there is a New England gathering for a week.
Winthrop Center Friends Meeting welcomes LGBTQ + (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning +) people into full fellowship in our religious community.
Reflecting on our sense of ourselves as a spiritual community, the Meeting noted:
"There is a sense of the Meeting as a refuge - a sanctuary of compassion, love, and acceptance. It is a place we come together to make sense of the world; a place where we hold one another up, hold one another accountable, and support one another’s individual paths. In our places of deepest questioning we feel held till we can “come round right”.
We have now moved from the historic meetinghouse pictured here and are renting a space in the Winthrop Congregational Church UCC at the corner of Main St. and Bowdoin St. in Winthrop.