Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord... (Isaiah 1:18)

Members and attenders of Frederick Friends Meeting are invited to participate in the Community section of our website. Its purpose is to continue the work of the Meeting through discussions of faith, spirituality, and social concern.

In order to ensure that the online forum serves the needs of our Meeting and answer that of God in everyone, consider these questions when participating:

1. If I am posting a new discussion, is the topic something about which Friends would welcome hearing? Does it harmonize with the practices of the Meeting? Has the topic already been discussed much in the recent past?
2. If I am commenting on an existing discussion topic, are these comments things I would say to other Friends in person? Would I say these things at rise of Meeting for Worship, at Meeting for Business, or at committee meetings?
3. If I agree with a post or comment by another Friend, do I recognize the contribution he or she has made and say as much?
4. If I disagree with a post or comment by another Friend, do I seek to refute it, or do I try to arrive at an understanding, remembering that the goal is not to “win” but to discover the Truth as revealed by the Light of God?
5. Do I recognize that, in some cases, a resolution to a discussion cannot always be achieved, and that some conversations must be laid aside until we are given the Light by which we may productively take them up again?

We hope that these considerations will allow Truth to emerge in our online discussions as it does when we are physically gathered for worship or the conduct of business. The Internet has had great potential for bringing together disparate voices in dialogue, but too often those dialogues have yielded discord and a fixation on petty and frivolous matters. As Friends, we are called to be patterns and examples in the world; let us therefore show that the Internet can be an occasion for love, peace, and joy.