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Frequently Asked Questions

When do you meet?
We gather on First Day (Sunday) afternoons at 4:30pm for greetings, welcome, and a short “pre-meeting” activity designed to help the children make the transition into silent worship.  Around 4:45pm we settle into worship.  After about an hour of waiting worship, someone will close worship with a handshake.  We then have a practice of staying in a quiet, centered mode and sharing as we are led about our experience of worship.

Where do you meet?
Since November 2005 we have been meeting at Bethany Lutheran Church in Seward.  The church is located at 2511 East Franklin Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55406 (612) 332-2397. Bethany Lutheran Church's website.

We use a separate room for child care and First Day School activities, and there is a playground across the street from the church as well.

How big is Laughing Waters Friends Worship Group?
We have about 18 regular attenders (12 adults and 6 children).  Our typical weekly attendance is about 12 (8 adults and 4 children), but it varies.

How is Laughing Waters Friends Worship Group different from the other Quaker meetings that are in the Twin Cities area?
We have found that the best way to answer this question is to experience worship for yourself.  All Meetings and Worship Groups have similarities and differences, so we encourage you to visit Laughing Waters Friends Worship Group, as well as other Meetings in the area.

Is Laughing Waters Friends Worship Group affiliated with a yearly meeting?
Laughing Waters Friends Worship Group is pursuing affiliation with Iowa Yearly Meeting Conservative. We are leaving the door open with Northern Yearly Meeting--for ongoing friendship and connection, and for possible dual affiliation at a later date.

Do you offer child care or religious education for children?
Since we have been meeting together for worship, we have valued the presence and participation of the children among us.  At this time, we are incorporating Godly Play into our religious education (First Day School) for the children.  Our short pre-meetings provide some religious education, and the adults are encouraged to take turns planning and leading religious education activities that can be done after the children leave worship.

We have a paid childcare teacher, who is trained in Godly Play, who provides care and religious education for our children.


Do you have regular business sessions?
Currently, Laughing Waters Friends Worship Group conducts business, presided over by the worship group's clerk, about every other month or as the need for tending to certain concerns arises.

When carried out well, Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business (MfWfB) is a worshipful and gathered experience, during which the focus of the worship is to address responsibilities and concerns that are under the care of Laughing Waters Friends.  In addition, it is a time for us to lay aside our personal preferences and desires for certain outcomes and instead seek unity in understanding how we as a corporate body are being guided by the Spirit. 

We have a number of committees that address certain items of business, thresh them, and season them before bringing the items to Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business. 

How long have you been meeting?
The first stirrings of the worship group emerged in 2002.  We drafted our initial minute of understanding in 2004.  For more details, please see about us.