About Us
Quakers . . . Friends . . . Friends of Truth . . .
Religious Society of Friends . . .
The Madison Monthly Meeting . . .
We are known by several names, and we come from many backgrounds.
We may use different words for God, Spirit, The Divine, or The Light, and we each may attach somewhat different meanings to these names. We are united, however, in accepting and respecting these differences.
As Quakers, we believe that there is that of the Divine in every person. Believing in the inherent dignity and equal worth of each person, all are welcome. Madison Friends strive to be an actively anti-racist community.
We are an unprogrammed Meeting, worshiping without the services of a designated pastor or minister.
Our business meetings are held monthly, that’s why we are called a “Monthly Meeting.” But we worship more often!
Faith and Practice: Several yearly Meetings (regional organizations of Quakers) have published their own versions of “Faith and Practice.” Madison is part of Northern Yearly Meeting, and you can learn quite a bit about our process, our beliefs, and how we understand ourselves to live as Quakers in our Meeting and in our communities in the Northern Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice publication. You also can learn about us by reading the queries that our Meeting invites people to use for spiritual reflection.
Madison Friends Meeting was formed in 1938 from a group that had been worshiping since the 1920s. We are a member of Northern Yearly Meeting (NYM) which is comprised of Monthly Meetings and Worship Groups in Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and North Dakota. NYM brings together adults and youth in the region for community building, education and exploration, meetings and other activities.
We are affiliated with Friends General Conference (FGC).
Area worship groups under our care:
in Clyde, Dubuque, Wausau-Merrill, Black Earth, Beloit and Neenah
Madison is situated on the ancestral lands of the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) People.
The Ho-Chunk describe themselves as the Hochungra, which translates to “People of the Sacred Language.”