Quakers believe there is something uniquely precious in everyone. That means we welcome everyone, and treat everyone equally.
We also believe that everyone can encounter something spiritually beyond the self. This means we do not feel the need to have fixed creeds, doctrine or one individual acting as a minister but instead, allow everyone to minister as they feel moved by the Spirit to speak. Our meetings start, and often remain, in silence. Ministry comes out of silence when an individual feels moved by the Spirit to speak and share their ‘testimony’.
Our faith is considered a lifelong search for truth. This means we are evolving spiritually as individuals as part of our personal search for learning and deeper understanding. We are also evolving collectively as the search for truth can lead us to new expressions of our values, as well as confirming older expressions. We gather the most significant testimonies together into a book of Faith and Practice. Before a weekly Meeting for Workship, the Elder for the meeting will invite Friends to prayerfully consider a specific advice or query from the book of Faith and Practice. For example, we maybe asked to pray on thoughts about unity and diversity, or our peace testimony, or the unity of creation, or how we lead faithful lives today.
Our values, and how we act, reflect what we believe. Our main values are simplicity, truth, equality, sustainability and peace. We take an active role in global, and local issues, and in trying to make the world a better place through hands on support, example and political action. For example, we are generally pacificists because we believe in the sanctity and equality of human life. You can see videos about our ‘faith driven ethics’ here and more about what we believe in the video here or on the Faith Pages of Quakers in Britain.