One Sentence: A Quaker’s aim is to make sense of the world, live in it peaceably, mend it, love their neighbor, and help others to do the same - a Friends’ work is service.
One Paragraph: No tradition but independence, no governance but freedom of conscience and action with adherence to the guiding principles of the Religious Society of Friends (Inner Light, peace, simplicity, justice, stewardship) and the Five Freedoms (from creeds, from clergy, from public worship, from organized membership, from evangelization). Quakers believe that religious doctrines, dogmas, and creeds are unhelpful and should be set aside. What matters is the Truth and integrity of personal experience. One should worship according to the light one has in his or her own experience of life. A Quaker’s aim is to make sense of the world, live in it peaceably, love their neighbor, and help others to do the same - a Friends’ work is service. Quakers are guided by Love and what love requires of them.
One Page: Quakerism is the product of people unhappy with institutionalized Christianity, which they saw as having lost its way by becoming too embedded in bureaucracy, dogma, and government. Friends sought to return to the roots of Christianity in Jesus’ teachings around non-aggression, living a good life, and the immediate and equal access to God’s Spirit.
Quakers believe that there is an energy, a power of love and truth within and beyond us, that pushes us towards what is good and is accessible to everyone without an intermediary. The Quaker faith is not written in the form of a creed, but is experienced in our lives as a vibrant, living truth. Quaker’s trust the promptings of love and truth in their hearts as the leadings of God. A Quaker’s aim is to make sense of the world, live in it peaceably, mend it, love their neighbor, and help others to do the same - a Friends’ work is service.
The word ‘testimony’ or ‘principles’ is used to describe a witness to the living truth within the human heart as it is acted out in everyday life. It is not a form of words, but a mode of life based on the realization that there is that of God in everybody, all humans are precious, and that all life is interconnected.
Inner Light. Treating everyone, everywhere, as equally precious to God, recognizing that everyone has gifts to share. There is no place where God is not.
Peace. Neither force nor fraud should be initiated by a good and just person. Peace is an outcome of Love and we should love all. We seek justice and healing for all people; taking away the causes of war in the ways we live.
Simplicity. Extravagance for the sake of self-aggrandizement is not our way. We believe in humility, the just and efficient use of the resources God has given us. Focusing on what is truly important and letting other things fall away.
Integrity and Justice. Think it possible that you may be mistaken, act on what you believe, and do what you say you will. Integrity serves justice.
Stewardship. God gave man dominion over the world; that dominion is well developed. One should tread lightly and do one’s part in ensuring the earth’s flourishing.
Quaker’s firmly embrace an independent spirit of thought and action motivated by a commitment to do the right thing for the right reason. Like Quaker principles, the Quaker “freedoms” (from creeds, from clergy, from public worship, from organized membership, and from evangelization) help Quakers to live in Truth.
Though Quakers believe in supporting one another in our faith journeys and sharing with and caring for each other, one should worship according to the Light one has in one’s own experience of life. When community happens among Quakers, it happens spontaneously and not regulated by formula. A Quaker’s life is love, and peace, and tenderness. Quakers are guided by Love and what love requires of them. “Hands to work and hearts to God”