Quaker tradition has it that meetings are held together on Sundays, collectively asking for the Holy Spirit to enter the sanctuary created by communal silence. 'Unprogrammed' meetings, such as the one held in South Starksboro, have no officially designated minister. Instead, anyone present can give testimony if so moved. Yet, due in part to the ultimate reverence of silence, and in part to the powerful nature of the place, The South Starksboro meeting is more often held in silence than not. Hence, in the wintertime when the fire is stoked in the center of the candle-lit and un-heated church, the ministry that the Quakers take is said to be 'the ministry of the stove.'