Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return. Eternity is at our hearts, pressing upon our time-torn lives, warming us with intimations of an astounding destiny, calling us home unto Itself. Yielding to these persuasions, gladly committing ourselves in body and soul, utterly and completely, to the Light Within, is the beginning of true life.

Thomas R. Kelly, 1941

The Religious Society of Friends encompasses a wide variety of beliefs and perspectives, but perhaps the most distinctively Quaker religious concept is that of the Light Within. Also frequently called the “Spirit” or “that of God in everyone,” the Light is a Divine Presence within each of us: a manifestation of God in all people. Identified by early Friends as the living Spirit of Christ, the Light serves as a moral guide, a comfort in times of need, a spur to action, and the Seed from which inward spiritual transformation can grow.

Among the distinctive Quaker principles are those known as the testimonies. These are values that Friends hold corporately, and which are reflected in our witness to the world.

The testimonies express our communal experience of the Light Within and our commitment to its fruits. We show this commitment in our outward lives: in our dedication to living peacefully, for example, and in our love for each other in “that which is eternal.” Living out the testimonies in thought and action reflects the influence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Monthly meetings have a continuing responsibility to foster understanding of the beliefs and practices of Friends to members, attenders, and children under their care, enhancing full participation in the life of the meeting.

Southeastern Yearly Meeting, 2013

Religious education is important for everyone who participates in a Friends meeting. Each individual is on a spiritual journey which continues throughout life, and everyone needs the opportunity to continue the search with others. Meetings can offer support by providing a First Day School program for children from infancy through high school as well as an adult religious education program. Most meetings have a committee or committees to plan and coordinate these programs. (See “Religious education committee.”)

So Friends are not to meet like a company of people about town or parish business, …but to wait upon the Lord, and feeling his power and spirit to lead them…that whatsoever they may do, they may do it to the praise and glory of God, and in unity in the faith, and in the spirit, and in fellowship in the order of the gospel.

George Fox, undated

When Friends gather to do business, the process is the same for committees and meetings of all levels. We gather together to listen for how God would have us move forward. The decisions made during the Quaker meeting for worship with a concern for business are the sense of the meeting of those in attendance. Minuted decisions remain until such time as the body is moved to change them.

The clearness committee is, at its heart, about the mystery of personhood and of God’s call in our lives. These are intertwined dynamics by which we become more fully human.

Valerie Brown, 2017

Clearness Committees

Clearness committees are intended to serve Friends who seek assistance in reaching clarity about a personal concern or decision. Such committees help Friends determine what God would have them do based on the Quaker belief in the Inner Light in each person. (See “The Light Within and Its Religious Implications.”) The task of clearness committees is to provide spiritual support in helping Friends attend to, and be guided by, the Inner Light.

Any Friend is welcome to seek the assistance of a clearness committee to clarify an issue and seek a way forward, or to discern the truth of a leading. More specifically, Friends may seek clarity about a proposed marriage (see “Marriage”), membership in a monthly meeting (see “Membership”), a change in family circumstances, a move to another region, a change in vocation or job, a contemplated divorce, taking a stand or witness on a public issue, traveling in the ministry, or any other personal concern for which a decision is needed.

Becoming a member of the Religious Society of Friends is a public act of accepting God’s gift of a spiritual home and family. In being recorded as a member, one accepts the support and practices of this community for spiritual growth and assumes responsibility for the activities of the meeting as well as its practical and spiritual maintenance. This is a spiritual community bound together by love in which there are mutual expectations for trust, open communication, forgiveness, participation, and perseverance in the face of differences. Membership is not a sign of having reached a particular level of spiritual accomplishment, but it does mean that the new member has decided to pursue their spiritual development in the context of this Quaker community.

Marriage being an ordinance affecting all the relations of life, it is affectionately advised that, before any purpose to enter therein, they do humbly ask the counsel of the Lord: and if they have a clear evidence of Divine approval, that they acquaint their parents or guardians with their intentions, and give due heed to their deliberate advice, so that they may be preserved from the dangerous bias of uncertain affection and from the bitter fruit of improper marriages.

Illinois Yearly Meeting, 1878

Marriage, as understood by Friends, is a relation involving two individuals, God, and the religious community that witnesses, recognizes and supports it.

For the individuals joined in marriage, it is a religious calling; it is a commitment of their subsequent lives to serve one another equally, and with earnestly sought Divine assistance to be loving and faithful marriage partners as long as they both shall live. The couple, in effect, calls on God to bless and support their union. But more than this, Quaker procedure requires that they have sought Divine guidance for the marriage. Marriage is then a covenant among God and the two persons who marry one another: God’s participation sanctifies the union.

All Friends are called into a ministry sooner or later, whether public or private, in word or deed or silent prayer, of long duration or short.

Lloyd Lee Wilson, 1993

All Friends are called to minister to others, but not all are called to do so in the same way. Offering a vocal message during meeting for worship is the best-known form of Quaker ministry, but it is far from the only one. Ministry may involve caring for those who are ill, teaching First Day School, or helping with hospitality for the meeting’s events. These forms of ministry rarely call for formal recognition, but they serve to deepen the covenant community that is at the core of every Friends meeting.

Ministry is most effective when it takes place in accordance with one’s gifts and leadings. In Quaker parlance, a “gift” is a God-given ability that is intended to be used for spiritual purposes, while a “leading” is a call to action based on a Friend’s sense that God has led them to take on a particular cause, for example pastoral counseling or chaplaincy in a prison or hospital. Such leadings typically emerge as a result of prayerful consideration of a concern, and they often reflect the gifts of the person who is led to act on them.

Quakers regard all individuals in their meeting community as “members one of another” (Romans 12:5). As Friends, we regard ourselves as being called to care for each other’s spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being. The traditional term for this form of ministry is “pastoral care.” For Quakers in Illinois Yearly Meeting, pastoral care is the collective responsibility of the entire body, especially the local meeting community.

Pastoral care begins when we recognize the needs of our fellow worshippers. We do this by coming to know one another deeply and by listening to each other actively and lovingly. Every encounter, whether at the meetinghouse or elsewhere, is an opportunity for us to learn about the needs of others and to respond to those needs.

Death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity. Death, then, being the way and condition of life, we cannot love to live, if we cannot bear to die.

William Penn, 1693

Quakers do have something very special to offer the dying and the bereaved, namely that we are at home in silence. Not only are we thoroughly used to it and unembarrassed by it, but we know something about sharing it, encountering others in its depths, and above all, letting ourselves be used in it…. People so often talk about someone “getting over” a death. How could you ever fully get over a deep loss? Life has been changed profoundly and irrevocably. You don’t get over sorrow; you work your way right to the centre of it.

Diana Lampen, 1979

Preparing for Injury, Illness, and Death

Injuries are often unexpected, and an individual who has suffered one may be unable to care for herself or himself for a period of time, or even permanently. Serious illness, including mental illness, can also occur at any time. Either injury or illness may require an extended period for recovery and rehabilitation, or may even result in death. In either case there will be a need for support from the meeting.