Tom Gates (1)

This pamphlet contains the stories of an American Quaker doctor's compassionate encounter with Kenyans in their country. The stories describe the challenges to alleviate suffering and African faith in response. The author learned they live by the conviction that our lives are not our own. This is a conviction deeper than the intellect, deeper than words, deeper even than the Christianity of the last hundred years. It is a conviction as deep as the roots of the timeless baobab tree, as ancient as venerated ancestors.… (meer)

“In Quaker faith and practice, the individual and the meeting are in a dynamic, mutually supportive and reciprocal relation.”

In this essay, Tom Gates examines many of the factors affecting the relationship between the Seeker and the Meeting, before and during membership. While a person may be drawn to Quakerism for a particular reason, over time the individual’s needs, and the way in which the Meeting community is able to meet them, can change. There are stages to be gone through as we grow into the life of the meeting community. Is it peace we are after? Service? Shared values? A deepening of our faith? What, exactly, is a leading? Tom Gates examines the many aspects of membership and the obligations it may impose on us, individually and as a faith family.… (meer)

What does it mean to be a witness to Truth? The author draws from the experiences of the captive Hebrews as told in the Book of Isaiah, as well as the discoveries and practices of early Friends, to offer perspective and insights for 21st-century Quakers who are trying to live in faithful witness to the Light. What is our testimony today, and how can we best express it in the context of a modern world filled with "false idols," such as the lure of wealth and comfort, side-by-side with overwhelming powers that wreak havoc on peace and environmental sustainability? Poised between the temptation of complacency and despair, how do we live our witness?… (meer)