1. Spiritual Growth

Do you strive for the constant realization of God?s presence in your life? Are you obedient to the leading and sensitive to the timing of the Holy Spirit? Do you use prayer, meditation, Bible Study, other devotional literature and disciplines to grow and mature spiritually? How do you seek to be a faithful steward of your life and all that God has entrusted to you?

2. Meeting for Worship and Business

Are meetings for worship and business held as scheduled and do you attend them consistently and on time? Do you come to meeting with heart and mind prepared for communion with God and fellowship with one another? Are your meetings for business conducted in a spirit of worship and a united search for God?s leading in transacting the affairs of the meeting? Is the Meeting faithful in teaching and upholding Friends testimonies? How do you individually accept responsibility for your rightful share of the worship, work and financial support of the Meeting and Friends? broader shared concerns?

3. Christian Relationships

As followers of Jesus Christ do you love and respect one another? Do you thoughtfully consider the differing viewpoints of others as an opportunity for deeper understanding within the Christian fellowship? When conflicts arise, are you prompt to make a sincere effort to resolve them in a spirit of understanding and love that avoids divisiveness in the Meeting? How are you careful to maintain the good reputation of others?

4. Home and Family

Do you make your home a place of hospitality, friendliness, peace, and Christian fellowship? Do you consistently read the Bible? Do you read Christian devotional literature in your home, giving time for reverent meditation and prayer? Do you set a Christian example before your children and live in a way that promotes the sanctity and health of marriage and family life? Are you sensitive and do you minister to the needs of single people, single parent families; merged families and extended families? How do you provide instruction to your children for their spiritual lives; in education, moral, and social issues of the day?

5. Youth and the Meeting

Do you encourage your young people to choose a commitment to Jesus Christ and the church? Do you endeavor to instruct them in the principles and practices of Friends? Do you nurture the spiritual development of the youth of the meeting and promote their spiritual, mental and physical wellbeing? How do you involve and affirm the youth in the life of the meeting?

6. Standards of Life

Do you observe simplicity in your manner of living, so that devotion to Jesus Christ comes first in your life? Do you celebrate life as a gift of God? Do you recognize the extreme danger in the use of alcoholic beverages, tobacco and other destructive drugs? Do you refrain from their use? How do you actively avoid self-destructive stresses in your life?

7. Business and Professional Responsibility

Do you avoid such undue expansion of your business and social responsibilities as to endanger your personal integrity or detract from your Christian commitment? Are you truthful and honest in your business and social transactions, punctual in fulfilling your promises, and prompt in the payment of your debts? How do you work in business and social relationships to maintain Christian integrity in economic affairs and the use of technology?

8. Missionary Enterprise

Do you strive to educate yourselves and those in your care with the spiritual needs of the world? Do you support by prayer and systematic giving those who are laboring to extend the realm of Jesus Christ? Are you sensitive to the material needs of those within the meeting and in the local community? How do you use your spiritual gifts in serving humanity as God grants you light to see such service?

9. Peace

As Christians do you consistently practice principles of love and good will toward all God?s people, toward the earth and all creation? Do you work actively for peace and justice by living in such a way that harmony results? Do you endeavor to make clear to all whom you can influence, that war and the preparation for war is inconsistent with the spirit and teaching of Jesus Christ? How do you observe the testimony of Friends that leads toward creative, life-affirming ways of resolving conflict and away from violence and destruction?

10. Attitudes in Human Relations

Does your attitude toward people of other races and gender indicate your belief in their right to equal opportunity? Do you believe in the spiritual capacity of all races and do you recognize their equality in the sight of God? How do you fulfill your responsibility as a Christian to help in the elimination of racial, sexual, ethnic, religious and other forms of discrimination and prejudice?

11. Social Conscience

Are you concerned that economic systems function to sustain and enrich all life? Are you giving positive service to society in the promotion of peaceful and just methods of reconciliation in all cases of personal, social and global conflict? Do you use care in the materials you consume and the materials you discard to maintain the integrity of God?s creation? How do you intelligently exercise all your constitutional privileges and thus seek to promote Christian influence locally, nationally, and internationally?

Conclusion

In the use of Questions for Spiritual Growth, remember that only God is our true judge. Questions are best used for reflection and prayer, asking God to move us toward more tenderness and responsiveness and toward ways of becoming more loving to God, to ourselves and to each other.