|
Friends United Meeting |
 |
October 2003
Catholics Soar; Quakers Decline:
Guilford Students Survey Quakers in Guilford County
Guilford Students Survey Quakers in Guilford County
By Max L. Carter, Kathryn Schmidt and Elizabeth Baltaro
One couldn't miss the headline blaring from the front page of Greensboro's News & Record Metropolitan Section in the fall of 2002. A study of the membership patterns in American denominations over the past 10 years had been released by the Glenmary Research Center in Nashville, Tennessee, and the paper was intrigued by a reported 37% loss in Quaker membership in Guilford County, North Carolina. It isn't surprising that this was newsworthy.
Quakers had been among the founders of the county as they filtered into the North Carolina piedmont from Pennsylvania over 250 years ago. Venerable local institutions such as Guilford College, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Duke University and even the Oak Ridge Military Academy (evolved from a Friends academy) had Quaker roots. Guilford County Quakers had formed the state's first manumission society; the Underground Railroad's southern terminus was established in the county's thickly populated Quaker communities of Deep River and New Garden. Leading figures in business, politics, agriculture and reform had been Friends. Greensboro's very name honors Nathanael Greene, the disowned Rhode Island Quaker who led the army of the Revolution in the South.
A drastic decline in the vitality of the Friends community was big news — Muslims now outnumbered Quakers; Jews were equal to Quakers in number. Letters to the editor, op-ed pieces and a follow-up article continued to shine the spotlight on Friends' "decline" for several weeks.
When I read the article, I was struck by more than its potential for giving Guilford College's new, Roman Catholic president opportunity for some good-natured ribbing. I had visited all but one of the county's 14 Friends meetings in the past 10 years and I had seen no evidence of a drastic decline. On the contrary, I knew many of the meetings were experiencing real growth and exuberance. Furthermore, Glenmary's statistics contained obvious errors. For example, it stated that there were 21 Friends meetings in the county, one-third more than there actually are. Could it be that the numbers actually did lie?
A sociology professor at the College, Kathryn Schmidt, and I decided to study the actual state of Friends in the area with our respective classes. She made it an assignment for a Research Methods course, and I gave the project to my Quaker Studies students. Together, some 24 students developed questionnaires and check-lists in preparation to visit each of the meetings in the county to survey what was really happening in the life of the Quaker congregations and in the lives of individual Friends.
The exercise of putting together questions for the survey was, itself, quite a learning experience. Although there were several Quaker students in both classes, most were acquainted with Friends only through Guilford College culture, and all the Friends students were from liberal, unprogrammed meetings. The learning curve was steep in preparing them for what they would experience in Guilford County's predominantly programmed, evangelical Quaker ethos.
On two different Sundays, students did initial and follow-up visits, distributed survey forms, observed the different styles and demographics of the meetings, interviewed pastors and clerks and collected questionnaires. The two different visits were scheduled to avoid any special First Days that might skew results. As it turned out, the first Sunday coincided with a devastating ice storm; the second with the outbreak of the war in Iraq! Still, each meeting was visited, and the reported "normalcy" of the worship each time might say something in and of itself about Friends!
As we expected, the students were shocked by the diversity (not ethnically!) among the 14 meetings. They ranged from fully unprogrammed in the one Conservative meeting to revivalist in the one Evangelical Friends International congregation in town. In between were meetings with bare walls and clear glass windows; some with American and Christian flags, crosses, pictures of Jesus and stained glass; periods of silence from zero to 40 minutes; and mention of the war from zero to the dominant theme. The overwhelmingly Protestant Christian flavor of the majority of meetings surprised them.
What also surprised them (and shocked us professors!) was how much the students enjoyed the visits. This was not an "organized religious services" college culture, nor is getting up at 9:30 a.m. on a Sunday typical student behavior! Yet they reported how much it meant to be warmly welcomed at each of the meetings. One particularly pierced, tattooed, hair-colored and clothing-challenged student spoke appreciatively of how everyone looked right past her appearance and made her feel at home. Although the theology in many of the services was uncomfortable for most students, they, too, looked right past it to the experience of an embracing community. Quite a few spoke of wanting to return on their own — even on non-potluck dinner Sundays!
The questionnaires and interviews offered other surprises and insights. Two-thirds of the meetings reported an increase in attendance in the past five years. Only two reported any decline. Several noted they had "purged" their membership roles as yearly meeting assessments had risen. Our suspicion about the accuracy of the newspaper's account of drastic Quaker decline was confirmed. Area meetings are displaying the same phenomenon experienced elsewhere: the notion of "membership" is losing its importance. Many feel comfortable "keeping their options open" through active attendance without making the commitment of joining a particular congregation.
In a report prepared by two of the students (Elizabeth Baltaro '03 and Emily Reusing '04), other findings from 175 questionnaires were summarized:
Surprising facts about Guilford County Quakers
- 44% say they dress simply; 6% say they dress plainly. Three Friends still use "plain speech."
- 70% believe knowing Quaker history is more than somewhat important; only half believe they know that history.
- 55% read the Bible regularly; 39% seldom or never read it.
- 17% of respondents were non-members.
- The average number of years in the same meeting was 25; average number of hours spent in meeting-related activities each month was 15.
Why do you come to meeting?
- To experience the gathered worship
- the community
- the opportunity to listen to God
- to gain spiritual strength
- "I feel the most at home here."
What current social issues concern you the most?
- Overwhelmingly #1: War in Iraq/violence/peace
- Health care
- School curriculum
- Living simply
- Capital punishment
- Racial/ethnic discord
- Relaxed moral standards
- Abortion
What Quaker values are important to you?
- Direct access to God
- Simplicity
- Peace
- Integrity
- Community
- Equality If there has been a decline among
Friends, what accounts for it?
- All denominations are facing declines and changes.
- We are too laid back.
- Not enough "hoopla!"
- Too little promotion; we are "hiding our light under a bushel."
- We have lost our special identity.
Copyright (c) 2003 Friends United Meeting
Return to October 2003 Contents page