Prayer must never supplant work in God’s kingdom and in his church. If we ask God earnestly for his will to be done on this earth, for his nature to be shown in our work, for his rule to bring men to unity, justice and love – then our life will be a life of work. Faith without works is dead. Prayer without work is hypocrisy. Un¬less we live according to God’s kingdom, the Lord’s Prayer is a lie. Unless love within the community results in work and deed, our Tree of Life will wither and come under judgment.

- Eberhard Arnold

Throughout the cosmos God’s will is to bring together and unite. Everything is interrelated, and everything shall be made one. True, other and opposing forces also make themselves felt, but there can be no doubt that the power that joins, gathers, and draws to the center is the decisive power in the cosmos.

- Eberhard Arnold

The full power of forgiveness, of the laying on of hands, and of prayer dwells only in the purified community of the church. God wants to gather a pure people, fully consecrated to his kingdom. There cannot, therefore, be any prayer life for an individual who is interested only in himself and his emotions. The great throng of people gathered for the kingdom is united in prayer for forgiveness; they are profoundly in earnest in the knowledge of their own smallness and complete change of heart. They all pray for the welfare of the city, for they feel it to be their own welfare.

- Eberhard Arnold