Saturday, June 19th at 10:30 AM EDT (US) you can learn:
Why did early Quaker businesses do so well? Did they do it without taking on debt?
Today’s Quakers think that early Quakers didn’t use debt, based on George Fox’s use of a quote from Romans 13:8, “owe no man anything but love.” But early Quakers didn’t take what Fox said literally, they did use debt in their businesses – they had to. Quakers were developing their businesses in an early stage of capitalism, when people didn’t know how to handle money, and there weren’t systems in place for how to deal with money. So Quakers developed their own system, a way that led to the great success that many early Quaker business people had. But it wasn’t without issues. But when they ran into problems, they developed more advices.
Karen Tibbals, author of Persuade, Don’t Preach will present a summary of the deep dive into Quaker history she did as part of her thesis for her Masters Degree in Quaker History from Earlham School of Religion. She will tell you why Quakers had to use debt, what they said about it, the crises that happened and how Quakers dealt with them.
Here’s more information on the Quakers & Business FGC Pre-Conference schedule and a link to register through FGC.
This year the conference is “pay as led”. If cash is a concern – or if you’re not sure Q&B is for you and you just want to check out Karen’s talk or some other event – then register for $0. (We’d rather have the opportunity get to know you and share our ministry than to have your money.)
We look forward to Zooming with you next week!
Nick Dosch, Jennifer Swann, Lee Rada