* Quakers are Friends of Truth, seeking it wherever it may be
found.
Bearing witness against all dogmas and creed, we are an open-minded
Society ready to explore not only our spiritual experience but also
fresh thinking and research in all fields of human discourse in the
sciences, arts and humanities. We affirm that the revelation of Truth,
the divine creative Spirit, has not been once and for all time, nor in
one person, but is continuing. Our findings are shared and questioned
within our religious community for discernment, acceptance and
inclusion in Quaker Faith and Practice, our book of inspiration and
discipline, which in an unparalleled religious undertaking is revised
every generation.
* The Quaker way is founded on
religious experience. We reflect on these inward knowings and bring
them to outward understandings - a dance of reality and mystery to
deepen new experience. Our worship is a response to the Divine within
us: together we journey through the gateway of silence to wait in the
Light, discovering its inward power in the midst of stillness. We reach
for a gathered meeting where all become responsible and committed to
the life of the community, laying down human power and hierarchy so
that it may be Spirit led. From promptings of peace and love we know
the leadings of our Source calling us to speak to the needs of the
world.
* Our Religious Society arose 350 years ago
from within Christianity. The teachings of the historic Jesus remain
central to our public testimony and life together today. But in trying
to live adventurously we find that the Spirit is guiding us in new
directions and we understand the Christ in new ways. What was always a
latent universalist dimension within the Quaker faith, under a growing
global and multi-cultural consciousness, is now emerging more tellingly
to the fore. We are enriched by insights and dialogues in the wider
spiritual world. Those of all faiths and none are welcome to worship
and witness with us in our experiment to build new bridges and to seek
for a greater human unity.
* It is our discovery
that there is that of God in everyone: each person is a unique child of
the divine and humanity is one family. In the Light of the Spirit all
members of that family are equal. From our beginnings when we
recognised women as fully equal to men, until today when gay and
lesbian Friends are a fully integral part of our fellowship, this
insight has impelled us to engage in shifts of consciousness and social
change - the abolition of slavery, relief of poverty, prison reform,
the welfare state, new charitable enterprise. We aim to work so that
everyone may experience respect, dignity and justice, beyond all
barriers of age, gender, race, class, ability and sexual orientation.
* Born out of the experience of the seventeenth century civil
war in
England, our Society has since taken a stand against all war of any
kind, anywhere. This has led us to experiment at every level of
community with its many alternatives, through mediation, dialoguing,
civil resistance, conflict resolution, democratic innovation,
diplomatic perseverance, nonviolent direct action and the building of
civil society. We are recognised as a Peace Church and these robust,
well-tried peaceable processes we offer with the authority of long
practice to those in the global community now seeking to create a world
without war and division.
* We try to work towards
a simple lifestyle to ensure that there might be a sustainable world
with a sufficiency for everyone's need. We join with others in the
struggle for economic justice, fair trade and environmental care. The
Quaker Way is guided by our sacramental vision: we value all life on
planet earth as an expression of divinity. Together it is fashioned
into an interrelated and interdependent fragile unity, which is set in
a universe of awe, wonder and mystery. Each experiment of evolving
life, including our own, has a unique and transitory potential seeking
brief fulfilment. It is precious: it is sacred. We celebrate with joy
its diversity and wholeness.
