Faith and Practice
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Part I: Friends History, Belief, and Practice
Chapter 1—Historical Summary
C. Friends in America
Early Friends had a vision to evangelize the world. To the limit of their concern and mobility, they sought to be faithful missionaries at a time when most other Protestants were unawakened to missionary responsibility. But such efforts were sporadic. Greater success attended the establishment of meetings in England and the new colonies of America. Until the nineteenth century missionary movement, Friends growth generally followed American colonization. William Penn’s colony in the New World is the most widely known example of colonial church extension.
Yearly Meetings (groups of Friends who met annually for business and worship) were set up in Philadelphia, New York, North Carolina, and New England. Then, a century later with the westward migrations, new organizations were established across America. Evident among Friends involved in the westward migrations were:
a strong desire for Christian education;
a strong sense of Christian community; and,
a strong desire to be good stewards of the new land.
After Friends lost control of the Pennsylvania Colony during the French and Indian War in 1755, there was a shift from outreach, evangelization, and mission to more of an ingrown retreat from the world. John Woolman and others arose as Friends leaders during this period, but the evangelistic thrust of the community of believers was stilled.
During the nineteenth century, separations within the Church came as quite a blow to the American Friends community. The most severe, the Hicksite separation, reflected a drift away from biblical authority.
Touched by the revivals which swept America following the Civil War, Friends rekindled the fires of evangelism. Revival meetings with penitents kneeling in prayer were common during this period. Paid ministers were increasingly appointed for the pastoral care of the converts. There was rapid growth. Several unifying conferences were held around the last decade of that century. Missionaries were sent out to Africa, Cuba, Alaska, and elsewhere. A delegate body called the Five Years Meeting of Friends was established by eleven American Yearly Meetings. This body was strengthened by the common bond of faith subscribed to in the 1887
This unity was shattered, however, by the modernist-fundamentalist rift which shook American Protestantism in the early 1900s. The Friends testimony was also segmented by this rift. Several Yearly Meetings withdrew from the Five Years Meeting.
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