UK Quakers - what made you apply for formal membership? Or did you not? Why not?
Hey folks, asking for UK perspective as that's where I am, but open to outside perspective too. Disclaimer to say that I'm infinitely curious about everything and really enjoy asking questions and learning, I think it's the autism 😂
I'm relatively new to Quakerism (I say relatively, I grew up with kids who were quakers and have a few Quaker friends (little f) so it's not been a totally alien concept to me), and I've just started attending a local meeting to get a feel for it. So far the feels are good.
But I've noticed in my reading, interactions, and in here, that there seems to be folks that identify as Quakers without having applied for formal membership- and also people that have been attenders for many years. That's different to my previous experience in faith spaces. For example, along the journey of trying to find myself, I considered converting to Judaism, and spent some time attending services and working with a rabbi. There it was very much "you're not Jewish until you're officially Jewish". Which I totally get, especially with the nuances of Jewish identity and history.
I guess my question is this: is it common in your local meeting that people consider themselves Quaker without formally being a member? Follow up questions: If you consider yourself a Quaker but aren't a formal member, when was the turning point for you? At what point did you begin to consider yourself a Quaker instead of an attender? If you did apply to become a formal member, when and how did you know that was right for you?
Thanks everyone!