Acting in Faith (www.afsc.org/friends) is an AFSC blog published with Quakers as the primary audience. The goal of the blog is to engage readers (particularly Quaker and faith-based readers) in inspiring personal stories and other formats that can excite them to act and get involved.

In Acting in Faith, we explore the spiritual basis for AFSC’s work. We also include reflections on engagement between AFSC and the Religious Society of Friends, and Quaker perspectives on undoing racism and building peace and social justice.

The main issue areas we invite Quakers to engage with AFSC on are:

Healing justice (especially working to end mass incarceration)

Immigrant justice

Just and lasting peace in Israel/Palestine

Undoing racism

Countering the narrative of militarism

We include posts about other AFSC issues, but especially want to reinforce messages around the above issue areas and inspire involvement.

Audience: The primary audience is Quaker and faith-based, though others pay attention when we have strong posts. Speaking in a language that is appreciated by a faith-based audience is important. Quaker language, faith-based language, or language in which the transforming power of love is foregrounded is best. The more we are focused on this audience, the more successful we have been, especially when posting content that speaks to current events in a distinctly AFSC voice.

Advice for writing: Posts on the page tend to be most successful when the focus is on a story told about an encounter, a change, a shift in understanding. Take the reader’s hand and invite them to walk with you, show them what you have seen. Posts that are about experience are more successful than analysis posts. People can certainly gain policy advice from experiential posts, but they are more likely to read a post if the writer focuses on their experience. Posts that aren’t very personal tend not to be as successful.

AFSC is in the business of social change. Though we often document injustice on the way to social change, at Acting in Faith we are trying to share stories of how change happens, spiritually and at the community and societal level. It's important to be clear-eyed and honest about injustice, but also to give the reader some sense of how to shift systems and relationships to create peace with justice. We try to do that with the stories we tell at Acting in Faith.

We are interested in including multiple voices and styles. For example a recent series of posts on Ferguson included a post by a Quaker ally inviting more Quakers to engage, a post by a Palestinian activist on the ground talking about how Ferguson reminded him of Palestine, and a post by Joshua Saleem (AFSC staff) talking about his understanding of Jesus and how the protestors were exemplifying his understanding of Jesus’ life. The set of posts offered very different perspectives, but also resonated with one another. They were some of our most successful and popular posts.

If you can answer the following questions, the posts will more likely be strong.

Is this blog post helping further the already ongoing dialogue among AFSC and Friends? In what ways yes? In what ways no?

Is this post sharing something that Quakers will use and share with others?

Does this post explore AFSC and Friends working together for social change?

Likely the best advice is to read some posts, discover the range of what we publish and try out your voice.

If you’d like to write a guest post for Acting in Faith, send Lucy Duncan (lduncan@afsc.org) or Greg Elliott (gelliott@afsc.org) an email letting us know your idea for a post, read these guidelines, and once you hear back from Greg and/or Lucy regarding whether to go ahead with a possible deadline, write a draft.

Lucy and Greg usually plan posts about four weeks in advance, so please allow some time for publishing. We do seek out posts to address timely events or topics and occasionally adjust our schedule to make space for these.

Background on AFSC’s Friends Relations Work

The Friends Relations Program offers many ways for Friends to engage on issues (www.afsc.org/friends/resources), particularly through a small group justice ministry model that invites mystics and activists to work together in their congregations. We also offer substantive ways to engage with AFSC through the meeting/church liaison program, through our Calls for Spirted Action, through our program offerings at the FGC Gathering, and through yearly meeting visitation.