A Brief History of the Branches of Friends

Quakers today number some three hundred and four thousand (1994 figures) in nearly sixty countries. They differ in language, culture, and national allegiance, and in the emphases that they place on different aspects of Quakerism. At times it must present a very confusing picture. For example, in the USA in the state of Ohio alone, there are churches or meetings from seven separate yearly meetings. Present-day Quakers range from groups emphasizing belief in scriptural inerrancy and the divinity of Christ, to those with mystical and/or liberal tendencies where the doctrine of the universal Light is extended, incarnational doctrine attenuated, and the basic harmony of all deep religious experience asserted. How has such diversity arisen? The chart overleaf gives a broad overview of the developments, which have been well documented in many modem Quaker histories [click image to enlarge]. What follows is but a brief outline of a complex story.

There were good reasons for the creation of separate yearly meetings as Friends spread to the English colonies in the seventeenth century, and eight yearly meetings had been established in North America by 1821, largely for geographical reasons. However, towards the end of the 1820s separations within existing yearly meetings began to develop. Friends were not impervious to the new ideas and schools of thought which abounded in the late eighteenth century, and individuals viewed what they saw as traditional Quakerism through the varying lenses of the Enlightenment, emerging liberalism and evangelical renewal. The "great separation" of 1827-28 began in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Approximately two-thirds of members ranged themselves in the group called "Hicksite," which emphasized the role of the Inward Light in guiding individual faith and conscience, while the remaining third espoused a more "Orthodox" Protestant emphasis on Biblical authority and the atonement. Similar schisms rapidly followed in New York , Baltimore , and elsewhere.

Both sides experienced further schisms. The main body of Orthodox Friends followed the lead of English Friend Joseph John Gurney into increasingly evangelical beliefs; over time, many meetings adopted forms of worship very close to those of traditional Protestant churches. Friends who resisted what they saw as the Gurneyite threat to traditional Quakerism either withdrew or were expelled to form "Wilburite," "Conservative," or "Primitive" groups (before the Civil War in the United States) or independent "Beanite" yearly meetings (after 1865). Those Hicksites who found the discipline of the yearly meetings too narrow for their call to social reform founded "Congregational" or "Progressive" groups.

The early twentieth century saw the most recent round of schisms as those who had been most deeply influenced by the Holiness revival and the Fundamentalist movement split from Gurneyite yearly meetings to form the "Evangelical" branch of American Quakerism.

Just as the latter schisms were taking place, other Friends   were   seeking   reconciliation   and reunification. The process took half a century, but the merger of meetings which began on the local level in the 1930s reached fruition in 1955 with the reunification of three yearly meetings: Baltimore , New York , and Philadelphia . The twentieth century also saw the emergence of three broad confederations of yearly meetings—now known as Friends United Meeting, Friends General Conference,     and    Evangelical    Friends International—roughly corresponding to Gurneyite, Hicksite, and Evangelical patterns. Reunification has meant that many yearly meetings belong to more than one such confederation, while others remain independent. The majority of yearly meetings are affiliated with Friends World Committee for Consultation, formed to provide a vehicle for all to seek the common thread in the variety of Quakerism worldwide.  Perhaps an inevitable result of the separations among North American Friends has been the emergence of similar divisions in yearly meetings around the world. Many of these meetings have arisen from missionary work of the various wings of Quakerism, particularly those rooted in the Gurneyite and Evangelical heritages. Today, the world "profile" of Quakers is multifaceted—and continues to change. Our variety has many dimensions: religious faith, form of worship, community life, and concern for the traditional Quaker social testimonies. Those who attempt to divide Friends into categories of "liberal" versus "conservative" or "programmed" versus "unprogrammed" often find themselves surprised by the reality masked by any overly simplistic approach.

The first goal of the Friends World Committee for Consultation is to facilitate loving understanding of diversities among Friends while we discover together, with God's help, our common spiritual ground. No small task! It has been pursued through publications, visitation, and conferences and gatherings large and small—often involving representation from non- affiliated groups. Intimate "mission and service" gatherings have brought greater global and theological understandings; five World Conferences have not only enabled Friends to engage in dialogue and to worship with one another but have also brought sharpness of focus and expression to worldwide Quaker witness.

The second goal of FWCC is to facilitate full consideration of our Quaker witness in response to today's issues of peace and social justice. Thus, for example, FWCC acts as Friends' official voice at the UN, where it gives international expression to concerns for peace, disarmament, abolition of torture, women's rights, racial equality, and the right sharing of the world's resources.

Such efforts to bridge cultural and theological diversities are of course not limited to FWCC. Nevertheless, the World Committee remains the broadest umbrella organization under which this "peculiar people" gathers.

Written 1991 by Val Ferguson, General Secretary, Friends World Committee for Consultation; minor revisions by FWCC, 1995. Revised 1997 by FWCC and Mary Ellen Chijioke, Friends Historical Library, Swarthmore College .

For further reading, see Hugh Barbour and William Frost, The Quakers (Richmond, Indiana, USA: Friends United Press. 1994). The Faith and Practice/Book of Discipline of each yearly meeting often includes a look at these historical developments among Friends.

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Some Quaker Periodicals

The Canadian Friend (Canadian Yearly Meeting publication), Jane Ballantyne, Business Manager, Argenta, B.C., VOG 1BO CANADA ; phone and email for editor 613-567-8628, zilli@cyberus.ca.

The Conservative Friend, 8106 Shearbrooke Center , Springfield , VA 22152 USA , 703-451-3888. Rockingham Monthly Meeting (Ohio YM) Web Page at http://www1.netcom.com/~qw34op/ChristianQuaker.html.

Friends Bulletin (published by Pacific, North Pacific and Intel-mountain Yearly Meetings), 5238 Andalucia Court , Whittier , CA 90601 USA , 562-699-5670; email FriendsBulletin@quaker.org.

Friends Journal (Friends General Conference-oriented), 1216 Arch Street Suite 2A , Philadelphia , PA 19107 USA , 215-563-8629; email FriendsJnl@aol.com.

The Friends Voice (Evangelical Friends International publication), 2748 E. Pikes Peak, Colorado Springs , CO 80909 USA , 719-635-4011; email MinComp@kktv.com.

Quaker Life (Friends United Meeting publication), 101 Quaker Hill Drive , Richmond , IN 47374 USA , 765-962-7573; email QuakerLife@xc.org.