Faith Into Practice in Social Concerns
The Kingdom of which Jesus preached and to which Christians have aspired ever since is a spiritual kingdom. Nevertheless, Jesus, recognizing that the spirits of men and women can be chained in bonds of despair, of hate, of fear, or of pain, was constant in His ministry to the ills of this world. He fed the multitudes; He made the blind to see; He healed the sick; He instructed the worshipper to leave the temple and make peace with his brother before he returned to pray. The goal of this healing ministry was that fullness of life which permits the human spirit to know and to rise in praise of the loving God.
Jesus's ministry made clear that acts of reconciliation, of healing, and of service nurture the Seed and extend the Gospel. He demonstrated that the religious life is incomplete without the religious act, the practice of worship sterile without the practice of loving concern for distressed people. The truth He demonstrated has caused Friends to make labor in the areas of their social concerns an essential part of their religious life.