If Friends are true to their heritage and first love, we will be a radical (meaning: to get to the root of the matter) Christian body. Radical in adherence to principles of Truth. Radical in the desire to answer the call and Word of God in the heart. Radical in living a life of Christian integrity. Radical in ethical responsibility. Radical in that nothing can have priority over faithful obedience to the Light by which human life is shaped in the will of God.
If Friends hope to retain their rootage in the experience and vision of early Quakers, stay true of the nature of primitive Christianity, or hope to raise up signs of the presence and power of the Kingdom of God in our day, it will require a discipline toward radical faithfulness. Radical in our adherence to principles of Truth. Radical in our desire to answer the call of God in the heart. Radical in living a life of moral integrity and ethical responsibility. Radical in that nothing takes precedence over the ordering of the Lord. Eldering of a sensitive and discerning kind, rooted in the love of God and coming out of humble faithfulness to Truth will have much to do with the power and effectiveness of the Quaker witness today.
Charles F. Thomas