Quakers and prayer
"One of the things that puzzled me when I first encountered Quakers was the apparent lack of prayer in services. Some churches have set prayers that are sung or said as part of services, others encourage extempore prayer out loud; but Quakers are mostly silent.
Sometimes someone will stand up and ‘minister’, usually speaking a few words they feel inwardly moved to share.
These rarely take the form of a prayer, in the conventional sense of asking for something.
Quaker understanding of prayer is explored in Quaker Faith and Practice.
It is often seen as silent waiting to understand what God wants from us rather than what we want from God, something we aspire to be a part of our experience, not just when we meet together for worship but in our daily life".