Quaker faith and practice

Friends find that faith becomes inseparable from daily life.

The Book of Discipline Revision Preparation Group invites you to join with us, and other Quakers across the country, in reading and getting to know our current Book of Discipline. This book of Quaker faith and practice is an attempt to express Truth through the vital personal and corporate experience of Friends. It is largely composed of extracts: a fitting way of expressing the breadth of Quaker theology. This website contains the most up-to-date version of the text. Chapter Changes to chapter 16 — Quaker marriage procedure — were approved by Yearly Meeting The changes to this chapter reflect legislation permitting same-sex marriage in England and Wales from March and in Scotland from December

Quaker faith and practice

A Book of Discipline may refer to one of the various books issued by a Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends , setting out what it means to be a Quaker in that Yearly Meeting. Each Book of Discipline is updated periodically by each Yearly Meeting according to the usual practice of decision making within the Religious Society of Friends. The contents of each book of discipline is agreed on by seeking unity among members of the authoring yearly meeting. Instead of voting or seeking an earthly consensus, the Meeting attempts to gain a sense of God's will for the community. Each member of the meeting is expected to listen to that of God within themselves and, if led, to contribute it to the group for reflection and consideration. Each member listens to others' contributions carefully, in an attitude of seeking Truth rather than of attempting to prevail or to debate. This process can be tedious and lengthy. Nevertheless, this is thought to be the best way of reflecting the breadth of Quaker theology and practice, and is consistent with an intention that they be based in evolving personal experience and ' inner light ' rather than fixed creeds. The writings are not intended to represent strict rules which followers must agree with or adhere to, but may be used as a source of guidance or discipline. Since the majority of the Society remains within a Christian theistic tradition, this is typically reflected in the publication. Extracts from the book are sometimes read aloud in Quaker meetings for worship, or may be reflected upon individually.

Faith and Practice [25]. Faith and Practice Third edition. Up until this time, the publication was an alphabetical list of the main beliefs and practices of Quakers at the time.

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Discipline is not now a popular word. It has overtones of enforcement and correction but its roots lie in ideas of learning and discipleship. Discipline in our yearly meeting consists for the most part of advice and counsel, the encouragement of self-questioning, of hearing each other in humility and love. Words must not become barriers between us, for no one of us can ever adequately understand or express the truth about God. Yet words are our tools and we must not be afraid to express the truth we know in the best words we can. It is this conviction which has prompted the selection of a wide variety of extracts for inclusion in this book, confirming our testimony that truth cannot be confined within a creed.

Quaker faith and practice

Radical Roots. The Society of Friends, or Quakers as they are better known, have always stood apart from the mainstream of American religion. Because of this, they offer some important lessons about the range of religious beliefs and practices in early America. During the revolutionary era Quakers dominated Philadelphia, at the time the largest city in America and a center of support for independence. They struggled in special ways with the relations between religion and the American Revolution. Their struggles were rooted in their particular beliefs. Quakers believed in the inner light. This was the notion that God was a spiritual presence within each individual and could speak to all humans through the words and actions of anyone. Their spiritualism led them to reject worldliness more than most Protestants, and they became easy to recognize by their use of the informal pronouns thee and thou and their refusal to doff their hats to their social superiors since they tried at all times to promote a spiritual equality.

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The first printed collection appeared in as Extracts from the minutes and advices of the Yearly Meeting of Friends held in London from its first institution popularly known as the Book of Extracts. Sometimes this leads us to a more original and creative solution than any of us would have anticipated at the outset. Northern Yearly Meeting. Extracts from the book are sometimes read aloud in Quaker meetings for worship, or may be reflected upon individually. Archived from the original on 22 October The current version, therefore, in June is the fifth edition. Resources for Exploring Faith. The Handbook of Practice and Procedure gives a brief history of the Society and detailed instructions on how the Society in Australia is run. Southeastern Yearly Meeting. Each member listens to others' contributions carefully, in an attitude of seeking Truth rather than of attempting to prevail or to debate. Used North Pacific materials prior to this. Toggle limited content width. Putting Faith into Practice. Retrieved 7 March

Members of the different Quaker factions are all commonly united in the belief that the presence of God lives in every human being.

A Book of Discipline may refer to one of the various books issued by a Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends , setting out what it means to be a Quaker in that Yearly Meeting. The rest of the book as currently exists has not been redrafted since ; however the process of doing so is currently beginning, as agreed by Britain Yearly Meeting in Friends Meeting of Washington, DC. However, controversies and disagreements between Yearly Meetings meant that not all Yearly Meetings accepted this book of discipline — some accepted only one or two volumes, and others made revisions or alterations to the text. Retrieved 7 March Friends United Meeting. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Sign up for Gathering information Quaker Finder. In , it was reconstructed and relocated from its original site to Bombergallee 9, Bad Pyrmont. This website contains the most up-to-date version of the text. Since then, each Yearly Meeting has revised their own books of discipline, and no longer use a Uniform Discipline.