statement of nia for the Monthly Meeting 

nia is the 5th day of Kwanzaa and is an arabic loan word to the swahili  language meaning 'purpose'. in drafting this message, friends wish to make plain our purpose in opening the Monthly Meeting and to invite Friends to join us in doing so as they are led. 

we wish it to be plain that the primary ministry and concern of the Monthly Meeting is the spiritual rights and community care of young people who have heeded the call of spirit, however it may have come to them. we minute that part of these rights lie in spiritual accompaniment for beginnings, commitments, and life transitions as they arise. 

language is a deep and sacred gift delivered unto us by the inward Guide. we hold the Truth testimony as a commandment to honor the sacredness of this gift and the responsibility to Truth in all our communication.

we joyfully honor the contributions of the internet to to our social and spiritual lives and recognize that it has brought changes to our communication styles as well to preserve clarity in digital communication, we reserve capital letters for the Most High and the Business to which we are Called by Spirit that we may live in keeping with the manner of Friends in our digital personages as well as communicate matters with appropriate weight.

Friends have discerned that racial and ethnic unity is necessary to decolonise faith and practice among Friends and within the religious society of friends at-large. 'the minorities didn't agree so we kicked them off the island' is not a way to do Business, yet has been repeatedly taken as custom by Friends. 

we decline the term ‘member’ as it has come to be used in ways not in keeping with the unity we seek. Convincement is a opening of Spirit in oneself; membership in a body is but an affirmation of a Call heeded. 

it has opened before us that heeding the call to walk in service of peace is a hallmark of Convincement, recognized or not. supporting others on this path is the divinely assigned work of Friends, with no honor to creed, origin, documentation, or division (Q 6:159).

in recognizing that no group is a monolith nor an island, we joyfully invite any who finds that our nia speaks to their condition into community with us--we are glad that spirit has led you to find us (Q 4:171). 

we reject the idea that all work of Friends is now in service of peace, and recognize the wisdom of francis jeanson in reflecting upon the role of Friends ‘if you succeed in keeping yourself unsullied, it is because others dirty themselves in your place.’ recognizing our own positions in global unrest demands that we reflect upon the true meaning of violence and that which provokes it. what does the peace testimony demand of our relationships with money, property, and material resources? what are we called to leave behind if we are to have peaceful relations with neighbors near and far?

with regards to the endless and necessary work of american friends (peace and abolition): friends have discerned that in order to build the beloved and united community revealed by the Word (Q 6:159 ; Q 49:13), the issue of integration must be addressed in the manner of early friends.

early Friends recognized the full religious equality of women, however in practice was not so easily settled; what 17th century Englishwoman would feel that she could speak openly in meeting where her spouse or father were present? 

thus for the early decades of the Religious Society of Friends, women's meetings were established in which women conducted business amongst themselves so that it could be brought to the business meeting in full and equal weight. this practice was later laid down in the 19th & 20th century. 

when the future has arrived, there will be no need for ethnic separation between Friends because we will understand the unity underlying in the diverse liveries we wear in life that we may let our Light lead. 

in the meantime and the present, friends have recognized the need for a reckoning with the role of quakers as a force of colonization and a decolonized approach to modern Friendship. many young people have found themselves called to peace or the work of it, yet as matters stand, many meetings are not ready to receive convinced or traveling Friends in the full spirit of the community to which the Light calls us. quakers are no different than other americans in that respect; sunday morning is as segregated for friends as it is for believers and secular spiritualists alike. 

it has opened before us that there is a need for Friends who originate from outside the peninsular west and european islands to seek the guidance of Spirit in community with each other and to conduct right relations among ourselves as has been revealed by the Word many times before (Q 49:13; Epistle BBIPOC May 2025). the Monthly Meeting seeks to open this space.

the theology of friends was radical in its time for its acceptance of radical equality under the Most High. 

with a long term view, globalization presents uncomfortable implications to this theology—were quakers really commanded to accept any one called into community as Friends? were we really expected to accommodate people so different into our ever-expanding society? 

of course we were, but this is far easier said than done. to put this testimony into practice requires setting aside custom in favor of words and deeds which honor the inward Light of every body, including many customs which have served to preserve divisions made early in the life of our people. 

to cross these lines is uncomfortable, as they have been weaponized as deliberate loci of control. and yet, this is the single most decolonial act there is: to turn away from the oppressor before you, to reach for the person next to you. 

it is true that bigotry is not reserved to whiteness, just as it is true that anti-blackness has poisoned nearly every well in the empire on which the sun has set. 

the nia of 'sankofa' sends us to ask: who are we to each other when the colonizer and his-host are not standing between us? what actions will set the tone for our continuing relationships? what has been left behind that we may bring forth to the present?

the inward Spirit sends us to ask: how we are to meet each other as cousins, as neighbors, and as Friends moving in with the guidance of Light? 

the prophetic voice sends us to ask what will we do as ancestors, to architect the world future generations will inhabit? what will we take with us and what will we respectfully leave behind? 

giving honor to the Most High, we affirm the Word as it has been revealed in the old Testament, the Psalms, and the Gospel. we name with joy the complete Message delivered by the Prophet, peace be upon him. The Book (al-khitab) is whole and sufficient guidance, and we recognize that our journeys in the 'new' west may call upon us to interpret this Message as we become a new and gathered people in an old land. 

we affirm the message conveyed by rufus jones (1863-1948) that believers are the only book in which the Most High has written the Gospel of Issa ibn Maryam (Jesus of Nazareth), peace be upon him. 

in keeping with the manner of Friends, we affirm the ability of every body to access the prophetic voice and to the recitation of what has already been revealed. we invite friends and attenders to proceed in doing so as way opens. 

we open this Monthly Meeting in service of cultivating the shoots rooted by the spiritual mothers of our people, who spoke truth to power and sowed the seeds for our future. 

just as the divine spark is present in all, we hold all Friends present in equal standing for the Business of meeting and Ministry. IF the Spirit has led thee to be with us then we shall receive thee with divine welcome. 

friends of the Monthly Meeting take our faith from what has been opened in us, and our practice from the continuing revelation of Friends to GO as Spirit sends thee.