About Us

We are a coalition of eight Quaker congregations in Washington and Oregon. We also have about 40 individual (direct) members. A yearly meeting is a group of Quaker congregations that meets as a community once a year. 

We are part of the Society of Friends, whose nickname is Quakers. Over the years since its founding in about 1650, we Quakers have spread all over the world. Different yearly meetings have adopted different approaches to what it means to live and believe as Quakers. Sometimes, we celebrate this diversity of theology and spiritual practices and sometimes it challenges us. 

Seven of our churches were once part of a Northwest Yearly Meeting. However, because we celebrated same-sex marriages and supported LGBTQIA individuals in our leadership positions, we and several other churches were removed from Northwest Yearly Meeting in January, 2017. Together we seven churches founded Sierra-Cascades Yearly Meeting of Friends.  

At our first gathering in June 2017, we approved this statement, “We are led by the Spirit to commit ourselves to recognizing the full participation of LGBTQIA+ people in all aspects of the life of the new yearly meeting.”

We are centered in the radically inclusive Christ who served those in the margins of society. This is clearly evident in his life and teachings. 

In 2022, we approved a safeguarding policy to help protect children in our congregations. An epistle describing the discussion states, “Acceptance of God's love for us is a covenant to love God and seek the Beloved in others. To abet or ignore the abuse of those who bear God's image is to deny Christ.”

We welcomed into membership Gathering Friends Meeting in Olympia, WA in October, 2024.

If you visit a meeting for worship at most Sierra-Cascades churches, you can expect some prepared speaking and some time for singing together. We also value what we call open worship or unprogrammed worship. This is time we spend listening together for how the Spirit is moving. During this time, some people may be led to speak or pray or sing out loud. And sometimes, the richest experience is a deep and regenerative silence.

In their first hour of worship, Gathering Friends follow the early Friends tradition of having no planned elements, only open worship. The second hour is a discussion about a scripture, a query or other spiritual reading brought by a different person each Sunday. They meet in Olympia, WA.

Hillsboro Friends meets in open worship every Wednesday evening.