About

Our History

Bloomington Friends Meeting is a welcoming, progressive faith community seeking to discern what the Spirit that lives in every human heart asks of us each and all. We are a member of Whitewater Quarterly Meeting, one of two quarterly meetings of Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting. Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting is affiliated with Friends General Conference and encompasses 20 monthly meetings in Southwest Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky

Bloomington Friends Meeting was started by a small group of Friends who began meeting for worship in the late 1940s, before establishing themselves formally in 1950.

Quakers live and worship in Bloomington, Indiana. We wish to acknowledge and honor the Indigenous communities native to this region, the ancestral homelands of the Miami, Delaware, Potawatomi, and Shawnee people, past, present, and future caretakers of this land.

Today, BFM has close to 100 members and attenders from Bloomington and the surrounding towns.

Our Meeting

Meeting for worship is held on Sundays at 10:30 am. A Meeting lasts an hour, followed by fellowship, and then an optional second hour program.

On most Sundays, some Friends gather at 9:45 am for hymn singing.

A children's program is provided from 10:30 to 11:45 every First Day - no request is needed. Children spend about 15 minutes in the meeting room at the beginning of meeting for worship, then move to one of the children's rooms for the remainder of worship time.

Bloomington Friends Meeting practices unprogrammed worship, something Quakers have done since our beginning. It is a time where we sit quietly expecting that God will speak directly to us as we put away the "stuff" of everyday life. Often God will speak to an attender (or more than one) who will then share that message with the rest of us.

Our COVID policy as of June 25th, 2023 is we no longer require everyone to wear a mask; we make available high-quality N95 or KN94 masks for anyone who wishes to wear one; we encourage Friends to be mindful of the health needs and concerns of one another, including participating by Zoom when one is symptomatic, and to continue to exercise tenderness and tolerance toward one another.

Our Structure

Our meeting does not have a pastor or minister who leads us. Instead, we believe that members and attenders are collectively responsible for what happens during worship and for the practical work of sustaining the meeting.

However, Friends do take turns serving in various positions of responsibility within the meeting, in accordance with their gifts and leadings. These include:

Clerk: Peter Burkholder

Treasurer: Julie Chapin

Ministry & Counsel: Terry Reynolds, Clerk

Digital Communication Committee: Nicholas Hall, Clerk

Advancement: Rex Sprouse, Clerk

Social & Fellowship: Tunia McClure, Clerk

Welcoming: Phyllis Martin, Clerk

Peace, Earthcare, & Social Concerns: Mike Squires, Clerk

Property & Finance: Phil Emmi, Clerk

Library: Melanie Hunt, Clerk

Maintenance & Grounds: Christine Carver, Clerk

LGBTQ+ Inclusion

Bloomington Friends Meeting seeks to be an open, affirming, and inclusive community that welcomes the full participation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer persons in all roles within our faith community. We have a long history of belief in and support for same-sex marriage, both spiritually and legally. Following the Book of Faith and Practice of Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting, the regional Quaker body with which we are affiliated, we call “for full equality for people of all gender identities and sexual orientations, and for the elimination of legal barriers to marriage and full equality.”