Advices & Queries booklet

Advices & Queries is a painting of a Quaker Meeting in progress. It takes its name from the first chapter of Quaker Faith & Practice

A living faith: introducing Advices and Queries

Unlike many religious traditions that rely on strict creeds or dogmas, Friends approach faith through continuous reflection. At the heart of this practice is Advices & Queries. Rather than a set of rigid commandments, this text serves as a concise, practical guide for faithful living. Formally published by Britain Yearly Meeting, which uses the public working name Quakers in Britain, the booklet is actually a handy, standalone reprint of the foundational first chapter of their much larger book of discipline, Quaker faith & practice. It is a document Friends still turn to today, in much the same way earlier generations turned to the chapter it was drawn from.

A shared tradition with regional voices

Because Quakers emphasise individual conscience and local community guidance, there is no single, globally mandated version of the text. Instead, different regional bodies around the world draft, adapt, and publish their own distinct editions. While the overarching spiritual essence remains consistent globally, yearly meetings in places like New England, Australia, or Aotearoa New Zealand phrase their texts to speak directly to their own cultural, historical, and environmental realities. A New Zealand edition, for example, might speak to the land and its people in ways a British edition never would.

Structured self-examination

Structurally, the booklets are organised into short, numbered sections for easy reference and contemplation. For example, the current British edition features exactly 42 numbered paragraphs. Within these sections, the text balances two distinct elements: Advices, which offer gentle, distilled historical wisdom, and Queries, which present searching, open-ended questions. Together, they are designed to offer a dynamic internal tension—comforting the reader while simultaneously disrupting complacency. They push individuals to deeply examine their own motives, biases, and actions across core Quaker values, such as peace, simplicity, truth, and equality.

An evolving spiritual companion for everyday life

Today, Advices & Queries is used in a variety of practical ways. During silent Quaker meetings for worship, specific numbered paragraphs are often read aloud to anchor or prompt group ministry. Individuals also look to it privately for personal prayer, meditation, and ethical decision-making. Furthermore, because it captures the practical essence of the faith so cleanly, it is often the first piece of literature handed to newcomers or curious visitors. Because Quakers believe that revelation is continuous, these booklets are periodically revised by their respective yearly meetings, so the text itself keeps changing even as its purpose stays the same.

Painted by the Lincolnshire Quaker and artist Graham Lewinton, Advices & Queries hangs in the 1910 room of Lincoln Quakers Meeting House. Written into the floorboards of the painting is the complete 42 British Advices & Queries.

With every face in the painting turned downward, it is as if the whole Meeting is reading the text together.