Statement of Purpose
“Nashville Monthly Meeting
of the Religious Society of Friends (more familiarly known as Quakers) is a faith
community called together to discern and carry out what God/the Divine would
have us do, individually and corporately.
Grounded in the knowledge
that there is “that of God” also called the Light, the Seed or the Christ,
within every person, we seek to live into wholeness and to be faithful in
living our lives according to that Truth. Consequently, we strive to let our
lives speak our faith, manifesting to each other and the world our testimonies
of community, equality, integrity, peace, simplicity and truth. Similarly, the activities of individuals and
the Meeting encompass these testimonies.
In doing so we:
· Sustain a
beloved community by making the Meeting organization and procedures a central
part of our spiritual lives
· Conduct our
business and transactions in right order as led by the Spirit
· Endeavor to
treat all we meet as children of God and to participate in social action that
brings about equality and justice for all
· Witness to the
power that takes away the occasion of war, working to remove conditions
locally, nationally and internationally that are the root of war
· Seek to simplify
our lives so that possessions and objects do not distract us from doing God’s
work
· Seek to be
responsible in the use and consumption of Earth’s resources
· As part of living
in truth, refrain from swearing oaths – instead we let our “yeas mean yea and
our nays mean nay” and live as if we are always accountable to the Divine.
—statement of purpose approved Fifth Day, Fifth
Month, 2004.