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Gurneyite is a branch of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers. The name originates from sympathy with the ideas of Joseph John Gurney (1788-1847), an English Quaker minister. Gurneyites came about in the 1840s during the second schism in Quakerism. [1] In general, Gurneyite Quakers follow evangelical Christian doctrines on Jesus Christ, the Atonement, and the Bible.
Quakerism's first schism occurred in the 1820s & 1830s in the United States. Long Island minister Elias Hicks put forward ideas which he believed to be in line with the roots of Quakerism as found in George Fox, Isaac Penington, and others. These ideas were not universally received. Many Quakers (Friends) felt that some of Hicks' ideas were heterodox and even entered into heresy. [2] Those who followed the ideas of Hicks were called "Hicksite" while those who opposed were deemed "Orthodox." Each side saw themselves as the true continuation of Quakerism. [3]
In 1836, the London Yearly Meeting drafted an epistle where English Friends voiced their support for Evangelical ideas. Heavily involved in the drafting was Quaker minister Joseph John Gurney.
In the 1840s a second schism occurred among the Friends. American Quaker John Wilbur traveled to Britain and believed that Orthodox Friends had shifted too far away from their roots in response to the Hicksites. He felt that Quakerism was becoming indistinguishable from other Christian denominations. Wilbur, like Hicks before him, put more emphasis on the Quaker idea of the Inward light, which had similarities to later charismatic concepts. Those who aligned with Wilbur's ideas back in the United States became known as "Wilburites", separating from the Orthodox Friends. In response, Gurney traveled to the US and began to campaign against this new move away from Mainline Christianity. [4]
Gurney put greater emphasis on the Bible and evangelicalism, while reducing emphasis on the Inward Light. Orthodox Friends who resisted Wilbur became known as "Gurneyites." As with the Hicksite-Orthodox division, both branches saw themselves as proper Quakerism. This schism, like the one before it, caused numerous Monthly and Yearly Meetings (associations) to split into Wilburite & Gurneyite counterparts. [5] This major split in Quakerism continues to today, however, some meetings have partly reconciled since the 1950s. [6]
In 1887, representatives from all Gurneyite Yearly Meetings met in Richmond, Indiana to construct a confession of faith. The result was the Richmond Declaration, which continues to be upheld as a standard of faith by most Gurneyite Friends. The declaration has much in common with other evangelical & mainline confessions. While leaving different viewpoints on Eschatology open, the declaration made a firm statement on the importance of Scripture and the structure of the church. [7]
English Friends, who suffered no major divisions, recognized American Gurneyites as legitimate Quakers. Most Gurneyite Friends joined to form the Five Years Meeting of Friends (now Friends United Meeting) in 1902. Among Gurneyite Yearly Meetings, only Ohio Yearly Meeting declined to join. In 1924, some Friends from the Indiana Yearly Meeting and Western Yearly Meeting formed the Central Yearly Meeting of Friends due to opposition to what they perceived as modernist theology entering Earlham College. [8] Later, other Yearly Meetings withdrew from the Five Years Meeting, with many of these Friends eventually forming what is now known as Evangelical Friends Church International (EFCI).
Gurneyite Friends are usually known as "Evangelical Friends" in the present day. The ideological descendants of the Gurneyites comprise a majority of the world's Quakers today and can be found in every inhabited continent, with most being in Africa. [9] Most are members of the EFCI, though smaller associations of Evangelical Friends exist such as the Evangelical Friends Church Uganda Mission. [10]
Through the EFCI, Gurneyites are in fellowship with most Evangelical Christians around the world through the National Association of Evangelicals and the World Evangelical Alliance. In an attempt to heal old wounds without compromising their confession of faith, the EFCI is in partnership with the Friends World Committee for Consultation for cooperative efforts between Gurneyites and other Friends.
The Friends United Meeting (FUM) denomination is open to and includes a range of Quaker ideas, including those of Gurneyites and Hicksites.
While most other branches of Friends lack official creeds, Gurneyites are generally united through the Richmond Declaration of 1887.
Like most other Christians, Gurneyite congregations are usually called churches instead of meeting houses, as they are called in other Quaker branches.
Most Hicksite and Wilburite meetings consist of Unprogrammed worship, where there is no official pastor or a prepared sermon. Most Gurneyite services are similar to other evangelical services, including a pastor leading a sermon and having communion. This is not universal among Gurneyites and some meetings have "semi-programmed" worship or "mixed" which involves some unprogrammed elements. Gurneyites who held to unprogrammed worship prior to the 1950s merged into the Conservative Friends, the Wilburite branch of Quakerism.
Gurneyites generally hold to the inerrancy of the Bible and believe that the Inward Light cannot contradict, change or add to the scriptures. Gurneyites do not hold to Christian universalism, which is found in some Hicksite circles, nor to the idea that the Inward Light can be found in the writ of other religions.
Friends United Meeting (FUM) is an association of twenty-six yearly meetings of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in North America, Africa, and the Caribbean. Its home pages states that it is "a collection of Christ-centered Quakers, embracing 34 yearly meetings and associations, thousands of local gatherings and hundreds of thousands of individuals". In addition there are several individual monthly meetings and organizations that are members of FUM; FUM's headquarters is in Richmond, Indiana, with offices in Kisumu, Kenya. Friends United Meeting is a member of the National Council of Churches in the United States of America, and is a global member of the World Council of Churches.
The views of Quakers around the world towards homosexuality encompass a range from complete celebration and the practice of same-sex marriage, to the view that homosexuality is sinfully deviant and contrary to God's intentions for sexual expression. The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) is a historically Christian religious movement founded in 17th-century England; it has around 350,000 members. In Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, many Quakers are supportive of homosexual relationships, while views are divided among U.S. meetings. Many Conservative Friends and Holiness Friends, both of which have retained traditional Quaker practices such as plain dress, along with Evangelical Friends, view homosexual acts as sinful. 49% of Quakers live in Africa, and though views may differ, the Kenyan Church of Friends does not support homosexual relationships.
Inward light, Light of God, Light of Christ, Christ within, That of God, Spirit of God within us, Light within, and inner light are related phrases commonly used within the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) as metaphors for Christ's light shining on or in them. It was propagated by the founder of the Quaker movement, George Fox, who "preached faith in and reliance on 'inward light' ". The first Quakers were known to sit in silence and meditate on the words of the Bible until they felt the inward light of God shining upon them and the Holy Spirit speaking. The concept was highly important to early Quakers, who taught: "God reveals Himself within each individual's conscience and consciousness by the Holy Spirit, Christ Himself being the Light to illuminate man's sinfulness and lead in the way of truth and righteousness. ... this light is in all men by the grace of God to lead them to Christ, and that the same light will give daily guidance to the Christian."
Elias Hicks was a traveling Quaker minister from Long Island, New York. In his ministry he promoted doctrines deemed unorthodox by many which led to lasting controversy, and caused the second major schism within the Religious Society of Friends. Elias Hicks was the older cousin of the painter Edward Hicks.
Liberal Christianity, also known as liberal theology and historically as Christian Modernism, is a movement that interprets Christian teaching by taking into consideration modern knowledge, science and ethics. It emphasizes the importance of reason and experience over doctrinal authority. Liberal Christians view their theology as an alternative to both atheistic rationalism and theologies based on traditional interpretations of external authority, such as the Bible or sacred tradition.
Evangelical Friends Church International (EFCI) is a branch of the Society of Friends (Quaker) yearly meetings located around the world. This branch makes up most Evangelical Quaker meetings from the Gurneyites.
The Religious Society of Friends began as a proto-evangelical Christian movement in England in the mid-17th century in Ulverston. Members are informally known as Quakers, as they were said "to tremble in the way of the Lord". The movement in its early days faced strong opposition and persecution, but it continued to expand across the British Isles and then in the Americas and Africa.
The Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, or simply the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, or PYM, is the central organizing body for Quaker meetings in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States area, including parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey. The PYM is primarily affiliated with the Friends General Conference and is a member of the National Council of Churches.
Latin America contains approximately 14% of the world's Quakers. Latin American Friends are concentrated in Bolivia and Central America. Most of these Friends are evangelical and are affiliated with Evangelical Friends Church International. Friends World Committee for Consultation organizes among them through the Comité de Amigos Latinoamericanos CoAL del Comité Mundial de Consulta de Los Amigos CMCA FWCC.
John Wilbur was a prominent American Quaker minister and religious thinker who was at the forefront of a controversy that led to "the second split" in the Religious Society of Friends in the United States.
Conservative Friends are members of the Wilburite branch of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). In the United States, Conservative Friends belong to three Yearly Meetings: the Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative), the North Carolina Yearly Meeting (Conservative), and the Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative). Of these, the Ohio Yearly Meeting is the most traditional. English Friends affiliated with the Conservative branch of Quakerism are organized as the Friends in Christ and tend to use the terms Primitive or Plain.
The Richmond Declaration, also known as the Richmond Declaration of Faith is a confession of faith of the Religious Society of Friends, being made by 95 Quakers from around the world in September 1887, at a conference in Richmond, Indiana. It was a declaration of faith, and although Quakers do not subscribe to a creed, the Richmond Declaration of Faith has been used as a doctrinal standard by Orthodox Quakers, Holiness Quakers and Evangelical Quakers, ever since.
A meeting for worship is what the Religious Society of Friends call their church service. Different branches of Friends have different types of meetings for worship. A meeting for worship in English-speaking countries typically lasts an hour.
Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after John 15:14 in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers as the founder of the movement, George Fox, told a judge to quake "before the authority of God". The Friends are generally united by a belief in each human's ability to be guided by the inward light to "make the witness of God" known to everyone. Quakers have traditionally professed a priesthood of all believers inspired by the First Epistle of Peter. They include those with evangelical, holiness, liberal, and traditional Quaker understandings of Christianity, as well as Nontheist Quakers. To differing extents, the Friends avoid creeds and hierarchical structures. In 2017, there were an estimated 377,557 adult Quakers, 49% of them in Africa followed by 22% in North America.
Central Yearly Meeting of Friends is a yearly meeting of Friends (Quaker) churches located in Indiana, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Ohio. Central Yearly Meeting of Friends is a part of the Gurneyite wing of the Orthodox branch of Quakerism, and is aligned with the conservative holiness movement. Meeting for worship is programmed and led by pastors.
Indiana Yearly Meeting is a Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers.
Joseph Bevan Braithwaite was a conservative, evangelical English Quaker minister.
Job Scott was an eminent traveling minister in the Religious Society of Friends and a prominent American quietist. His religious philosophy had a deep, shaping influence that contributed to the first schism in American Quakerism, the 1827 Hicksite-Orthodox split.
The Evangelical Friends Church – Eastern Region (EFCER) is an evangelical denomination of Christians who trace their beginning back to George Fox and the Religious Society of Friends. Based in Canton, Ohio, it is composed of 95 churches and church plants, and is part of Evangelical Friends Church International (EFCI). Near to the church's administrative offices is the campus of the affiliated Malone University. The EFCER was previously called the "Ohio Yearly Meeting" (OYM) and should not be confused with the Ohio Yearly Meeting of the Conservative Friends which has kept the name and OYM abbreviation.
Blue River Friends Hicksite Meeting House and Cemetery were established in a Quaker settlement northeast of Salem in Washington County, Indiana. The meeting house was built in 1815. They were added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 29, 2019.
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