"took form of unprogrammed worship with spontaneous and enthusiastic displays of religious fervor, characterized by religious scholar Thomas Hamm as a landmark of California evangelicalism. In the early twenty-first century, the church offered multilingual services and Christian education programs for all age groups. The church distanced itself from the Quaker denomination; it is much more conservative than most Quaker churches, and does not espouse the pacifist views of most Quakers. In 2008, Yorba Linda Friends Church began doing business as ""Friends Church"". Friends Church frequently hosts contemporary Christian musical concerts in their worship center. Performers included Michael W. Smith, Rebecca"
"of Friends. The central unifying doctrine of these movements is the priesthood of all believers. Many Friends view themselves as members of a Christian denomination. They include those with evangelical, holiness, liberal, and traditional conservative Quaker understandings of Christianity. Unlike many other groups that emerged within Christianity, the Religious Society of Friends has actively tried to avoid creeds and hierarchical structures. Unitarianism is sometimes considered Protestant due to its origins in the Reformation and strong cooperation with other Protestants since the 16th century. It is excluded due to its Nontrinitarian nature. Unitarians can be regarded as Nontrinitarian Protestants, or simply"
"Quakers Quakers (or Friends) are members of a historically Christian group of religious movements formally known as the Religious Society of Friends, Society of Friends or Friends Church. Members of the various Quaker movements are all generally united in a belief in the ability of each human being to experientially access ""the light within"", or ""that of God in every one"". Some may profess the priesthood of all believers, a doctrine derived from the First Epistle of Peter. They include those with evangelical, holiness, liberal, and traditional Quaker understandings of Christianity. There are also Nontheist Quakers whose spiritual practice is"
"kind is celebrated by about 89% of Friends worldwide. It is found in many Yearly Meetings in Africa, Asia and parts of the US (central and southern), and is common in programmed meetings affiliated to Friends United Meeting, (who make up around 49% of worldwide membership), and evangelical meetings, including those affiliated to Evangelical Friends International, (who make up at least 40% of Friends worldwide). The religious event is sometimes called a Quaker meeting for worship or sometimes called a Friends church service. This religious tradition arose among Friends in the United States, in the 19th century, and in response"
"transform them through God's love, and through social service to others. Evangelical Friends regard the Bible as the infallible and self-authenticating Word of God. The statement of faith of Evangelical Friends International, is comparable to the statement of faith of other Evangelical churches. Evangelical Friends who are members of Evangelical Friends International, are mainly located in the U.S., Central America, and Asia. Beginning in the 1880s, some Friends began using outward sacraments in their Sunday services, first in Evangelical Friends Church–Eastern Region (then known as Ohio Yearly Meeting [Damascus]). Friends Church–Southwest Region, has also approved the practice of using the"
"addition to a period of open worship, to completely programmed. Friends United Meeting considers itself to be noncreedal which allows it to embrace a wide range of Christian Quaker theological viewpoints. ""Friends have no creeds—no official words can substitute for a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. These unofficial statements give a general sense of Friends’ faith. God is love and wants to communicate inwardly with everyone who is willing. Worship is spiritual and must be Spirit-led. All people are equal before God and may minister as they are led by God. Jesus Christ is our present Teacher and"
"which ""demands a religion which embraces Jew, Pagan and Christian, and which cannot be limited by the dogmas of one or the other"". Since the late 20th century, some attenders at Liberal Quaker Meetings have actively identified with world faiths other than Christianity, such as Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Paganism. Quakers have appeared in the following films, Quakers Quakers (or Friends) are members of a historically Christian group of religious movements formally known as the Religious Society of Friends, Society of Friends or Friends Church. Members of the various Quaker movements are all generally united in a belief in the"
"Friends church in the world is Friends Church (Yorba Linda), an evangelical Friends megachurch located in Orange County, California. Evangelical Friends Church International of North America is part of the National Association of Evangelicals, a large body of Christian denominations and groups in the United States that share evangelical beliefs. Evangelical Friends Church International Evangelical Friends Church International (EFCI) is a branch of Quaker yearly meetings (regional associations) around the world that profess evangelical Christian beliefs. The mission of the Evangelical Friends Church, International is ""to help local Friends churches around the world meet the spiritual needs of their communities."""
"until 1968. Similar Christian splits took place in Canada. The Yearly Meetings that supported John Wilbur's religious beliefs were known as ""Conservative"" Friends. In 1887, a Gurneyite Quaker of British descent, Joseph Bevan Braithwaite, proposed to Friends a statement of faith known as the Richmond Declaration. This statement of faith was agreed to by 95 of the representatives at a meeting of Five Years Meeting Friends; but unexpectedly the Richmond Declaration was not adopted by London Yearly Meeting because a vocal minority, including Edward Grubb, opposed it. Following the Christian revivals in the mid-19th century, Friends in Great Britain wanted"
"2007-2008 the name was changed to the Evangelical Friends Church, International (EFCI). Friends, especially in the United States, are divided today as a result of divisions that took place mostly in the 19th Century. The Evangelical branch is the one that is most similar to other evangelical Christian denominations and differs some from other branches of Quakerism. Evangelical Friends may refer to a local congregation as a ""church,"" while some other Friends call it a monthly meeting. EFCI holds programmed (i.e. planned) services, while many other Friends hold silent services in which people speak as they feel led by God."
"outward sacraments in their Sunday services. In places where Evangelical Friends are engaged in missionary work, such as in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, adult baptism by immersion in water, is carried out. This practice differs from most other Quaker branches of the Religious Society of Friends. , EFCI claims to represent more than 140,000 Friends, equalling roughly 39% of the total number of Friends worldwide. Gurneyite Friends (aka Friends United Meeting Friends), are the modern-day followers of the Evangelical Quaker theology which was first proclaimed by Joseph John Gurney, a 19th-century British Friend. They make up 49% of the"
"and to new insight. As a non-creedal form of Christianity, Liberal Quakerism is receptive to a wide range of religious faith understandings. Most Liberal Quaker Yearly Meetings publish a Faith and Practice, a book with a range of religious experiences of what it means to be a Friend in that Yearly Meeting. Universalist Friends affirm religious pluralism, that there are many different paths to God and that understandings of the divine reached through non-Christian religious experiences are as valid as Christian understandings. This group was founded in the late 1970s by John Linton. Linton had worshipped God with the Delhi"
"monthly meetings belong to more than one larger organisation, while others are fully independent. Many Quakers prior to the 20th century, considered the Religious Society of Friends to be a Christian movement, but did not feel that their religious faith fit within the categories of Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant. Many Conservative Friends, while fully seeing themselves as orthodox Christians, choose to remain separate from other Christian groups. Many Friends in Liberal Friends' meetings are actively involved in the ecumenical movement, often working closely with other Mainline Protestant and liberal Christian churches, with whom they share common religious ground. A concern"
"Meetings. In 2007, total membership of these Yearly Meetings was around 1642, making them around 0.4% of the world family of Quakers. Evangelical Friends regard Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour, and have similar religious beliefs to other evangelical Christians. They believe in, and hold a high regard for, the penal substitution of the atonement of Christ on the Cross at Calvary, biblical infallibility, and the need for every person to personally experience a relationship with God. They believe that the purpose of the Evangelical Friends Church is to evangelise the unsaved people of the world, to spiritually"
"similar picture of subordination and mutual submission described in Ephesians 5:21 ""submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ Jesus."" The New Association of Friends is a voluntary association of monthly meetings, churches and individuals that support worship, ministry and service through the cultivation of Christian faith in the Quaker tradition. The New Association of Friends is a member of Friends United Meeting and Friends Committee on National Legislation. It is in the process of joining Friends World Committee for Consultation. New Association of Friends The New Association of Friends is a Friends (Quaker) organization composed of fifteen congregations"
"the American Humanist Association. More recently, interest in non-theism resurfaced, particularly led by British Friend David Boulton, who founded the 40 member ""Nontheist Friends Network"" in 2011. Non-theism is controversial, leading some Christian Quakers from within Britain Yearly Meeting to call for non-theists to be refused membership. In one study of Friends in Britain Yearly Meeting, around 30% of Quakers had views that were described as non-theistic, agnostic, or atheist. Another study of British Quakers, found that of the 727 members of the Religious Society of Friends who completed the survey, 75.1% said that they consider themselves to be Christian;"
"Gurneyite Gurneyite is a term assigned to certain members of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers. The name originates because of the sympathy of the views of these Friends with the ideas of Joseph John Gurney, an English Quaker minister. In general, Gurneyite Quakers follow evangelical Christian doctrines on Jesus Christ, the Atonement, and the Bible. Orthodox Quakers separated into Gurneyites and Wilburites, beginning in the 1840s in North America. 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)"
"Conservative Friends Conservative Friends refers to members of a certain branch of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). In the United States of America, Conservative Friends belong to three Yearly Meetings, Ohio, North Carolina, and Iowa. English Friends affiliated with the Conservative branch tend to use the term Primitive, or (less frequently) Plain. There is no single unifying association of Conservative Friends, unlike three of the other branches of Quakerism in America, represented by Friends United Meeting, Evangelical Friends International, and Friends General Conference. Conservative Friends are often seen as occupying a middle ground between the theologically liberal wing and"
"evangelical Friends' origins within the Gurneyite faction during the 19th century series of schisms that divided the Society, some Evangelical Friends rely relatively less on the authority of the Inner Light and more on their belief in the authority of a literal reading of the Scripture. Similar to other branches of Friends, the Evangelical Friends Church affirms baptism and communion as spiritual realities. These realities are realized in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Unlike most of the other branches of Friends, several of the Yearly Meetings within the EFC do allow freedom of conscience in regards to participating in water"
"of Friends. The Transition Group is a fairly new programme for young Friends aged 19 to early twenties who would still like to attend yearly gatherings however do not feel ready for the full adult programme. Britain Yearly Meeting participates in the international Religious Society of Friends through the Friends World Committee for Consultation. Quakers are a highly decentralized denomination with a great degree of diversity in beliefs and practices. The faith and practice of British meetings resembles that of the Ireland, Canada, Australia and US meetings affiliated with the Friends General Conference, and is characterized by unprogrammed worship and"
"Quakers who share similar religious beliefs—for example Evangelical Friends Church International unites evangelical Christian Friends; Friends United Meeting unites Friends into ""fellowships where Jesus Christ is known, loved, and obeyed as Teacher and Lord;"" and Friends General Conference links together Quakers that have non-creedal, liberal religious beliefs. Many Quaker Yearly Meetings, are also members of Friends World Committee for Consultation, an international fellowship of Yearly Meetings from different Quaker religious traditions. A Friend is a member of a Yearly Meeting, usually beginning with membership in a local monthly meeting. Methods for acquiring membership vary; for example, in most Kenyan yearly"
"Christianity in the twentieth century, while a belief in creationism persists within evangelical Friends Churches, particularly in East Africa and parts of the U.S. In the late 19th century and early 20th century a religious movement known as the ""Quaker Renaissance"" movement began within London Yearly Meeting. Young Friends in London Yearly Meeting at this time moved away from evangelicalism and towards liberal Christianity. This Quaker Renaissance movement was particularly influenced by John Wilhelm Rowntree, Edward Grubb, and Rufus Jones. These Liberal Friends promoted the theory of evolution, modern biblical criticism, and the social meaning of Jesus Christ's teaching—encouraging Friends"
"Friends were called Orthodox because they had remained orthodox in terms of Christianity. But now Wilbur believed that some Orthodox Friends, especially those in England, were so alarmed about Hicks's perceived heterodoxy that they had gone too far in the other direction. He saw that this group of Friends was abandoning the traditional Friends practice of following God's immediate, inward guidance in favor of using their own reason to interpret and follow the Bible. They were stressing a cold intellectual acceptance of the Bible instead of a vital, direct experience of the Holy Spirit in one's heart. Wilbur quoted early"
"which he quoted Romans 1:8–32, saying that ""homosexuals and even those who support them are worthy of death."" Although in a later letter of apology he said that he was referring to spiritual death, many more liberal Quakers found his comments hateful. Homosexuality and Quakerism 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"
"Group and the Priesthood Council) was one of the original expressions of Mormon fundamentalism, having its origins in the teachings of Lorin C. Woolley, a dairy farmer excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1924. Several Mormon fundamentalist groups claim lineage through the Council of Friends, including but not limited to, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS Church), the Apostolic United Brethren, the Centennial Park group, the Latter Day Church of Christ, and the Righteous Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Community of Christ, known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus"
"baptism or in offering and receiving communion within their churches. The issue that sets Evangelical Friends apart from other evangelical Christians is that they consider themselves part of the larger Friends movement. They also feel that their particular beliefs are consistent with the beliefs of the earliest Friends, such as George Fox (other Friends assert the same about their own beliefs and practices). Evangelical Friends also generally adhere to most, if not all, of the testimonies (core beliefs and values) of Friends (see ""Testimonies"" under Religious Society of Friends). The Evangelical Friends Church, International is divided into several geographical areas"
"Friends of Man The Friends of Man are a Christian denomination founded in 1919 by Frédéric-Louis-Alexandre Freytag, the former Branch manager of the Swiss Watch Tower Society since 1912. He founded a group first named the Angel of the Lord (this name was inspired by a verse of the Apocalypse), Angel of Jehovah Bible and Tract Society, then Church of the Kingdom of God or the Philanthropic Assembly of the Friends of Man. The group began when Freytag started publishing his own personal views and sent to the Bible Students ""The Message of Laodicea"" (""Le Message de Laodicée"") in which"
"of Gurneyite yearly meetings) is a member of the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches, which are pan-Christian organisations, which include Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican churches. Evangelical Friends work closely with other evangelical churches from other Christian traditions. The North American branch of Evangelical Friends Church International is a member church of the National Association of Evangelicals. Evangelical Friends tend to be less involved with non-evangelical churches and are not members of the World Council of Churches or National Council of Churches. The majority of other Christian groups recognise Friends among their fellow-Christians. Some people who"
"follow the practice of early Quakers in overseeing the union without reference to the state. There are also Friends who do not support same-sex marriage, and some Evangelical and Pastoral yearly meetings in the United States have issued public statements stating that homosexuality is a sin. Like many religious movements, the Religious Society of Friends has evolved, changed, and split into subgroups. Quakerism started in England and Wales, and quickly spread to Ireland, the Netherlands, Barbados and North America. Today Kenya is, by far, the country with the most Quakers. Other countries with over 5,000 Quakers are Burundi, Bolivia, Canada,"
"the Presidential Prayer Breakfasts), and Charles DeVol (renowned botanist and missionary). The mission of EFC-ER is to equip churches to make disciples. Evangelical Friends Church - Eastern Region The Evangelical Friends Church - Eastern Region 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 over 90 churches and church plants, and is part of Evangelical Friends Church International (EFC-I). The administrative office for Evangelical Friends Church - Eastern Region is located in Canton, OH. Nearby is the campus of Malone University,"
"for peace and social justice often brings Friends together with other Christian churches and other Christian groups. Some Liberal Quaker yearly meetings are members of ecumenical pan-Christian organisations, which include Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican churches—for example Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is a member of the National Council of Churches. Britain Yearly Meeting is a member of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, and Friends General Conference is a member of the World Council of Churches. Guerneyite Friends would typically see themselves as part of an orthodox Christian movement and work closely with other Christian groups. Friends United Meeting (the international organisation"
"not reliant on the existence of gods. To differing extents, the different movements that make up the Religious Society of Friends/Friends Church avoid creeds and hierarchical structures. In 2007, there were about 359,000 adult Quakers worldwide. In 2012, there were 377,055 adult Quakers, with 52% in Africa. Around 89% of Quakers worldwide belong to the ""evangelical"" and ""programmed"" branches of Quakerism—these Quakers worship in services with singing and a prepared message from the Bible, coordinated by a pastor. Around 11% of Friends practice ""waiting worship"", or ""unprogrammed worship"" (more commonly known today as ""Meeting for Worship""), where the order of"
"Lord, and we seek to conduct church affairs in unity under his guidance The Spirit of God gives guidance that is consistent with the Bible. As people respond to the Light of Christ within, their lives begin to reflect Jesus’ peace, integrity, simplicity and moral purity."" Friends United Meeting 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"