This page is under construction - as time permits, the full text from the SAYMA Guide to Our Faith and Our Practice  will be added to the individual testimonies.

The following is from the Southern Appalacian Yearly Meeting and Association of Religious Society of Friends  -  "A Guide to Our Faith and Our Practice"
Testimonies  

The Meeting Community  - As many candles, lighted and put in one place, do greatly augment the light, and mak it more to shine forth, so when many are gathered together in the same life there is more of the glory of God  - Robert Barclan (1678)

    Friends are bound together in community by a continual process of common seeking and experience of the Light within.  The community provides spiritual and emotional nurture.  It also stimulates our thinking and challenges us to put into practice our convictions.  In the meeting, we share fundamental ideals and values, and the meeting affirms and inspires us.
    Within this fellowship, divergent leadings are often present.  Friends seek a balance between the needs of the individual and those of the group.  Open recognition of and respect for differences, forthright sharing, and sincere reflection can lead individuals to new insighht and strengthen the meeting as a whole.  It is possible to resolve differences either directly by the individuals involved or with the meeting's assistance.  Unity emerges not only from agreement but also from a common search for the truth conducted in a spirit of loving concern.
    Friends strive to be sensitive to others' spiritual and material needs.  Both requesting and giving assistance are essential aspects of Friends' life together, and taking a warm, personal interest in one another's welfare strengthens the meeting and individuals alike.   Friends also provide spiritual support by holding in the Light those experiencing special hardship or joy.  In mutual service and support, we express our love for God and reflect God's gifts to us.
    All forms of sharing  - spiritual, economic, domestic, co-operative service  - enhance meeting unity.  These experiences within the meeting enable Friends to envision new possibilities for community living and usggest practical ways to build community beyond the meeting.
    Yearly meetings and other gatherings are opportunities for Friends from different areas to nurture spiritual growth and fellowship.   The scattered company of SAYMA seeks to build the living community of the spirit.

Peace - We utterly deny all outward wars and strife and fightings with outward weapons, for any end or under any prentence whatsoever.   And this is our testimony to the whold world.   The Spirit of Christ, by which we are guided, is not changeable, so as once to command us from a thing as evil and again to move unto it;  and we do certainly know, and so testify to the world, that the Spirit of Christ, which leads us into all Truth, will never move us to fight and war against any man with outward weapons neither for the kingdom of Christ, nor for the kingdoms of this world. - Declaration from the Harmless and Innocent Peopld of God, called Quakers  (1661)

    Our peace testimony is grounded in our faith and understanding of God's way.  Early Quakers believed they were led by the Christ within and by the Christ of the New Testament to love those people who considered them enemies and to refrain from all wars and fighting.  Though individual Quakers have participated in wars since then, Friends still affirm that the best way to relate to people is to appeal to that of God within them.   Trusting in the leadings of the Spirit and respecting the Inward Light in all others can avert violent conflict.
    In attending to this divine leading, we try to live in ways that promote justice and avoid the causes of war;  we deny its legitimacy and seek creative alternatives; and we undertake, with impartiality, to aid those who suffer from violence and war's devastation.
    Materialism, oppression, and narrow nationalism lead to war.  Friends oppose materialism by living simply and working to re-order priorities toward global justice and well-being.  We work to remove oppression at home and abroad by trying to reach the common humanity in both oppressor and oppressed, challenging the assertion of dominance upon which oppression is based.   We reject narrow nationalism and support programs to increase our understanding of other cultures and to work for more effective world government.
    Denying the legitimacy of war, Friends support those led by the Spirit into conscientious objection to military service, resistance to conscription or a military draft, war tax resistance, or other acts of civil disobedience that  witness against warmaking.  Friends do not recognize "just" wars, sinc war represents a refusal to pursue other ways of resolving conflict.  We work to gain wider support for nonviolent solutions.
    Friends aid victims of war and other violence out of the belief that each person is uniquely valuable.  Support for refugees, programs for worldwide economic justice, and similar efforts serve not only to remove the causes of war and to aid the victims of violence and oppression, but also to encourage non-violent means of solving world problems.
    We recognize that violence can manifest itself in words as well as deeds.  As Friends, we endeavor to bring all aspects of our lives into harmony with our testimony.  The peace we seek starts in the individual heart and its relation to God.  It  is expressed in our relations to parents, spouses, children, friends, and indeed in all our actions.   In our daily lives  --  our employment, our recreation, our investments, and our relations to institutions and governments  --  we commit ourselves to follow God's command to be peacemakers above the demands and enticements of the secular society.  In doing so, our aim is to live God's  truth.
    The challenge of the peace testimony is to find ways for all people to live nonviolently in a world where violence remains and ever-present threat.  Friends as individuals and as a Society continue to struggle with this challenge.

Simplicity - Simplicity frees one of the clutter that interferes with communion with God. - Martin Cobin,  "The Value System of Friends", Southern Applacian Association of Friends, Crossville, Tennessee (May 1-3, 1970)

    To the earliest Friends, simplicity meant freeing oneself of all that was unnecessary and worldly.  Just as all ritual, program, clerical functions were seen as a hindrance to worship, so elaborate and insincere speech, as well as ornamentation of dress, were seen as distractions to the right ordering of life.   Adding an economic reason for simpicity, William Penn said that "th very trimmings of the vain would clothe all the naked ones."
    Simplicity leads us to be honest and straightforward in mind, tongue, and heart.  It can assist Friends in focusing on the essentials of life, in being open to spiritually, and in following the path of love.  For some Friends, this commitment has required a radical break with the conventional way of life in our materialistic age.   For all of us, seeking the inner light leads to a removal of distractions and an ordering of priorities so that we may be more open to the leadings of the Spirit.
    Simplicity need not mean a start denial but can create joy and beauty in our lives.  In use of time, habits of consumption, sharing of world resources, and indeed every aspect of daily life, simplicity is central for us because it both mirrors and deepens spiritual centeredness.

Equality - There is a principle which is pure, placed in the hman mind, which in different places and ages hath had different names.  It is, however, pure and proceeds from God.  It is deep and inward, confined to no forms of religion nor excluded from any where the heart stands in perfect sincereity.  In whomsoever this takes root and grows, or what nation soever, they become [brothers and sisters] in the best sense. - John Woolman, "Consideration on Keeping Negroes" Works (1774)  

    Friends believe that all people have the capacity to bear and respond to the Light, and that all forms of human relations should reflect this spiritual truth.  Deeply concerned that every individual, as a child of God, be respected and afforded equal access to social opportunities, Friends believe that we are called to work toward an end to prejudice and oppression.
    Equality, the earliest social testimony of Friends, led early Friends to eliminate any behaviors that implied one person was superior to another.  These included the use of honorific titles, the distinctions of roles in home and community, and "hat honor",  removing one's hat as a sign of deference.  Even plain language was adopted to avoid the 17th-centruy practice of distinquishing between classes by the use of "you" or "thee" and "thou".
    In seeking to apply this testimony, Friends have often been in the forefront of social  change.  Recognition of inherent human equality despite individual or group differences has often caused Friends to live and act contrary accepted societal norms, rejecting  stereotyping, discrimination, and artificial barriers that separate people from one another.  Equality has been the foundation of Friends' approach to each other and the world.
    We believe all are equally empowered by God and encourage all to speak for themselves, expressing their own experiences and goals.  We must  speak the truth to others as it is revealed to us, and we must listen for the truth that is in them, lest we miss it.   Understanding others' perspectives can change us and inform the actions we take to work toward equality.  In our continuing spiritual search, we are open to revising our approach to social change as new insights arise.
    We seek a world where laws and customs foster human dignity.  We encourage all people to realize their full potential as human beings bearing the light of God.

Education - We shall never thrive upon ignorance  - Joseph John Gurney (1831) ;  To Friends...education is an intensely religious thing; it means the training and development of the spiritual life, the liberating of the Divine that is within us.  -   Gerald K. Hibbert (1930)

    Friends' basic belief in the Inner Light, the presence of "that of God" in everyone, has guided us to promote a society based on understanding and good will.   Although God's truth transcends mere schooling, education is fundamental to full participation in that society.
    Those who read and study are better equipped to pursue corporate truth within the Religious Society of Friends and better able to act as individuals in the wider world.  We have a concern for the educational welfare of all.
    Friends encourage the development of integrity, simplicity, moderation, and an inward sense of values.  We try to foster in ourselves and our children a steady growth in self-discipline, respect for the rights and needs of each individual, and celebration of differences in others.  We recognize that values are being taught -  consciously and unconsciously  - in our communities and institutions; we seek to encourage cooperation rather than competition, and we attempt to cultivate a sensitivity to social problems and injustices  and the concern to do something about them.
    These goals have been reflected in our support for and participation by adults and children in First Day School, Friends' schools, home schooling, private and public education, and higher education.  For Friends, education nurtures our own individual understanding of the Inner Light, teaches us to be guided by it, and helps us foster that understanding in others.   Friends have been pioneers in providing equal educational opportunities for all people as a means toward full participation in the Society and in the wider world.  In our awareness of the Light that lights everyone who comes into the world, Friends are open to listening and learning from the oppressed, the deprived, and the excluded.
    We look upon education as a lifelong process.  Because knowledge and inspiration do not lie solely in one religion, group, or text, we search widely for diverse contributions to a corporate truth.  Coupled with our concept of continuing revelation of Truth is a belief that we have a continuing need to study and open ourselves to  new learning.
   

Government - The power and dominion of the conscience are the province of God [who] alone can properly instruct and govern it.   No one whatsoever may lawfully force the conscience of others regardless of the authority or office he [or she] bears in the government of this world.  - Robert Barclay, Apology (1676)


Sexuality - The mystery of sex continues to be greater than our  capacity to comprehend it, no matter how much we learn about it.   We engage in it, in often too frantic efforts to enjoy it but, more subtly, also to try to fathom its ever recurring power over us.  Surely this power and its mystery relate to the mystery of God's relationship to us.  - Mary Calderone, Human Sexuality and the Quaker Conscience (1973)


Nurture of Children -  But Jesus called them to him saying, "let the children come unto me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God.  Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shal not enter it."  - Luke 18:16-17 (RSV)  
To watch the spirit of children, to nurture them in Gospel Love, and labour to help them against that which would mar the beauty of their minds, is a debt we owe them; and a faithful performance of our duty not only tends to their lasting benefit and our own peace, but also to render their company agreeable to us.  - John Woolman (1758)