Overview

“Be patterns, be examples,” advised George Fox. This topic explores how Quakers put faith into practice.

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Credits

Beth Popelka, Rachel Ernst Stahlhut (OVYM), Gretchen Haynes (SCYM), Robb Yurisko (LEYM), Christina Repoley (SAYMA), and Mary Lord (NYM) – Content Collaborators
Anne Collins (SCYM), Sally Farneth (PhYM), Susan Hopkins (PacYM), and Erika Mittag (SCYM) — Materials for Children

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Grounding

Introduction to the Topic

Introduction

The more we pay attention to the still small voice within and turn to the Inward Guide, the more we will be led not only into acting more justly to each person we encounter, but also into behavior that prods and encourages them to live in such a way as well.

Scripture

Ground your work in scripture. Quaker faith and practice can be compared and combined with a wide variety of other traditions: such as Buddhism, or ethical humanism. But we will find our deepest and fullest reasonaces with the biblical Christian traditions that nurtured early Friends and with the Jewish traditions that nurtured Jesus.

Friendly Voices

What do f/Friends have to say about the peculiar practices of Friends?

Videos and Podcasts

Many Friends have used video as a way to reach out to people around the world. From informational histories, to instructional guides, to deep ministry, we can use this medium to learn more and build community.

Practicing

Experiential Activities

Experiential Activities

Activities like yoga, labyrinths, and mandalas are designed to help focus and calm the mind and body. Explore what happens in your mind and your body when you try simple yoga poses or use a finger labyrinth.
  • Duration: 30 minutes
  • Age Range: All Ages

Live in the Power of Life and Wisdom

The stance of reliance on the Inward Teacher and following that Light that leads all into compassion, mercy and justice, can call us into the unexpected.
  • Duration: 30 minutes
  • Age Range: High School and Up

Considering Concerns

A leading might be inconvenient, nudging you onto a path you hadn't previously considered. It might feel foolhardy or unclear. How do we know when to say yes? How does a true leading from God differ from the prompting of the ego?
  • Duration: 45 minutes
  • Age Range: High School and Up

Faithfulness

“I live in that life and power which creates the Kingdom of God beneath my feet as I walk.” What spiritual opportunities were presented to me today?
  • Duration: 30 minutes
  • Age Range: High School and Up

Spirit Informed Action

Contemporary Friend Gretchen Haynes observes that "many faiths urge social action; Quakers understand that social action is prompted by the transformation that finds the source of all action in the inward Spirit. This leads to a different quality to the action.”
  • Duration: 30 minutes
  • Age Range: High School and Up

Coming Together in Community

Our spiritual communities are vital for our work to heal the world and Quaker practices offer deep and practical tools for supporting and sustaining social witness. How can we come together in community to become patterns and examples?
  • Duration: 1 hour
  • Age Range: High School and Up

Sharing

Conversation Starters

Queries for Becoming Patterns and Examples

Quakers use the term Query to refer to a question or series of questions used for reflection and in spiritual exercises. Friends have used Queries as tools for offering spiritual challenges to the community.
  • Duration: 30 minutes
  • Age Range: Elementary (ages 6-11)

Meeting for Faithfulness

The first call is to God, to faithfulness. Out of faithfulness rises the call to live in peace. In these times, we hear God calling us to live peaceably in all our relationships.
  • Duration: 45 minutes
  • Age Range: Middle School and Up

Painting the Patterns

Explore the spirituality of art and the art of spirituality.
  • Duration: 45 minutes
  • Age Range: All Ages

The Quiet Power of a Transformed Life

"The quiet power of a life transformed by the grace of God is so explosive that it can redirect the course of human events. Consider the story of John Woolman, a successful tradesman in colonial America who pared down his business in order to live simply and fully in response to the pull of divine Grace upon his life." Richard Foster and Kathryn Helmers
  • Duration: 45 minutes
  • Age Range: High School and Up

Make a “Listening Mural”

Make a “listening mural” where everyone represents in words or imagery what they experience in the silence of worship.
  • Duration: 45 minutes
  • Age Range: All Ages

Listening to Leadings

"Finally I became aware that there must be something the Divine Spirit wanted me to do." Steve Angell
  • Duration: 45 minutes
  • Age Range: High School and Up

Qualities of Quaker Witness

One of the most painful lessons is that the work of peace and justice, like the work of the Seed within, is one of patient waiting. Patience is an active condition of the Spirit. It can march; it can demonstrate; it can live in jails. It can survive the long haul of transformation. But it is not fed on the bitter fruit of resentment. Doug Gwyn
  • Duration: 1 hour
  • Age Range: High School and Up

Sustainability Over Time

The transformation of society and culture takes generations, although there may be times of breakthroughs. Friends’ work to abolition of slavery began with Friend John Woolman in the 18th century and continued for over 100 years. The struggle for true racial equality and civil rights is still a work in progress.
  • Duration: 1 hour
  • Age Range: High School and Up

For Children

Becoming Patterns and Examples for Children

Children explore the world in search of examples for how to be. They also strive to be examples for others.
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