Grass Valley Friends Meeting

Join us in Worship
Grass Valley Friends Meeting

You are Welcome Here!

We are an unprogrammed Friends meeting. We sit in silent, expectant worship. We gather to seek and share spiritual nourishment, care for one another, and serve the wider world.

We believe that every person is loved by the Divine Spirit, which dwells in everyone and everything. There are Quakers of all ages, religious backgrounds, races, education, sexual orientations, gender identities, and classes.

Who We Are

We are part of the worldwide Religious Society of Friends, which began over 300 years ago in England. Locally, we have about 80 members and attendees. The membership total worldwide is about 200,000. Please click here for more information about the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers.

We come together in worship:

To listen to God
To know and be known by God
To grow in our faith
To be changed
To support each other, and
To help one another do what God asks us to do

Our time together looks like this:

Sitting quietly together
Listening if someone is moved by the Spirit to speak
Including children for a time before a childrenâ€™s program
Shaking hands when worship ends; and greeting those around us

You are welcome to join us as you are. Dress as you feel comfortable.

Please feel free to ask the person who ends the meeting any questions you might have after Worship.

When We Meet

First Day (Sundays)

9 a.m. Singing
10:00 a.m. Meeting for Worship and Children’s Program and child care (all ages welcome).

We also come together for other events and programs, see below for details.

Where We Meet

NOTE: We are now doing hybrid Meetings for Worship.

Please use the Contact Form below to receive details on how to attend in person at Sierra Friends Center or on Zoom.

Our meeting house is located on the property of Sierra Friends Center, also known as Woolman, at 13075 Woolman Lane, Nevada City, California. [Map Link] This land is the ancestral land of the Nisenan people. We acknowledge that this property was never ceded from the Nisenan people. As a Meeting, we continue to discern meaningful ways to support the sovereignty of the Nisenan people.

About Us

What Do We Believe?

Friends believe that there is that of God in each human being and that each individual is capable of having direct communion with the divine without the need for clergy or doctrine. We wait with hearts and minds open to “the still small voice” within. We refrain from fixing our faith in a formal set of words because we feel that experience and knowledge of the divine lie beyond words.

How Do We Live?

We strive to show in our lives and interactions with others our belief in peace, simplicity, and equality. We encourage sincerity in our common aspiration toward spirit-filled living. We believe our worship strengthens us in our daily lives and that our lives, well-lived, are worshipful.

How Do We Govern Ourselves?

We hold monthly business meetings. Friends do not vote. On any issue, we aim to take time to hear and respect each person’s perception of truth. Inviting Spirit into our proceedings, we strive for unity, not consensus. Trusting that the way will open from this corporate search, we often wait in prayerful and expectant silence for divine leading.

Grass Valley Friends Meeting is a monthly meeting under the College Park Quarterly Meeting and Pacific Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends.

What Are Our Wider Concerns?

Individuals in the Meeting are active in many humanitarian, political, social service, and educational fields. Some of these are endorsed or actively supported by the Meeting. Anyone who feels a concern about a social need may bring it to the attention of the group for prayerful consideration and possible action. Peace and cooperation among all nations, races, and classes have been a goal of Quakers since their beginning.

Please consider supporting us! Click on the Give button below.

Give

Note: This button will take you to a secure site.

Families and Events

Families

Families and children are welcome at Grass Valley Friends Meeting!

There is a Children’s Program every Sunday.

On Fifth Sundays, we hold an Intergenerational Meeting for Worship. Adults and children gather together for 20 minutes of storytelling, 20 minutes of signing, and 20 minutes of silence.

Please use our Contact Form for more information.

Regional Friends Gatherings

Grass Valley Friends Meeting is part of the College Park Quarterly Meeting and Pacific Yearly Meeting.

You are welcome, Friend.

Grass Valley Friends Meeting holds programs and events throughout the year.

On second Sundays we hold a Meeting for Worship on the Occasion for Business, in which we conduct all the business of our monthly meeting.

Spiritual Life meets once a month on the fourth Sunday after the Meeting for Worship. Programs vary from month to month. We have a general focus on exploring our spiritual experiences both individually and corporately.

On the fifth Sunday, we hold a Family Meeting for Worship. Children and adults gather and spend 20 minutes in storytelling, 20 minutes in singing, and 20 minutes in silent worship.

Please use the Contact Form to get a list of our current events and programs.

Some recent highlights:

Activism: How do we live our faith into witness?
Exploring Vocal Ministry
Unity with Nature: eco-spirituality, the climate crisis, and environmental justice

George Lakey, 5 February 2020: How We Win: A Guide to Nonviolent Direct Action.

This event was sponsored by the Grass Valley Friends Meeting, the Unitarian Universalist Community of the Mountains, and Woolman at Sierra Friends Center.

Our life is love, and peace, and tenderness; and bearing one with another, and forgiving one another, and not laying accusations one against another; but praying one for another, and helping one another up with a tender hand

Isaac Pennington