The Conservative Friends are a branch of the Quakers, or Religious Society of Friends, and tend to belong to the Iowa, North Carolina, or Ohio Yearly Meetings. In the United Kingdom, the Conservative branch uses the terms Primitive or Plain.
Occupying a center ground between the theologically liberal and evangelical wings of the Society of Friends, the Conservative Friends originated in the schisms of the early 1800s, and were originally known as Wilburite Friends, for John Wilbur, the American Quaker minister who led the Conservative movement. On a visit to England, Wilbur became uneasy with the evangelical trend among Quakers in England, and with what he viewed as an abandonment of the traditional Quaker practice of following God's inward guidance in interpreting Scripture.
In arguing for a return to the original stance, he quoted early Friends, including George Fox, Robert Barclay, and William Penn.
Upon his return to the United States in 1833, he found that Joseph John Gurney, a Quaker minister from England, was traveling the United States, preaching the evangelical viewpoint that Wilbur had disapproved of in England. In 1836, members of the New England Yearly Meeting accused Wilbur of making derogatory statements against Gurney, and ordered the local body that Wilbur belonged to to discipline him. When his local body, the South Kingston Monthly Meeting, stood by Wilbur, the South Kingston group was dissolved and attached to the Greenwich Monthly Meeting, which disowned Wilbur in 1843.
Wilbur continued in the Friends movement with a group of like-minded members, creating their own body of the Society of Friends in 1845. This group became known as the Wilburites while the larger group was known as the Gurneyites. In the following years, there were other splits, and the Wilburites eventually joined with a branch called the Conservative Friends.
The Wilburites were not the first schism in the Quaker movement, however. In the mid-1820s a Quaker minister by the name of Elias Hicks, like Wilbur, emphasized direct experience of God over a reliance on Scripture, and became concerned that a wealthier group of Friends in Philadelphia, as well as in the United Kingdom, had strayed from the traditional practices of Friends. Hicks, along with a group of Quakers who were largely from farming communities in the United States and Canada, became known as Hicksites, while the larger remaining group were called Orthodox. Quakers in the United Kingdom did not recognize or communicate with the Hicksite group, and they did not long remain a cohesive group.
By 1905, there were seven Conservative Friends Yearly Meetings in the United States and Canada. Some of these later reunited with Gurneyite and Hicksite yearly meetings, or merged into other Quaker bodies.
A small group of Primitive Friends, also known as Plain Quakers, are active in the United Kingdom and other countries. The Ripley Quaker Meeting, in the UK, follows the Ohio Yearly Meeting's Book of Discipline.
In the United States, the Ohio, North Carolina, and Iowa yearly meetings are active as distinct Conservative Friends bodies, the Ohio Yearly Meeting being the most traditional. Today, the Wilburites are known as the Religious Society of Friends (Conservative). There are also small Conservative Friends groups in Canada, New England, and Greece.
For the sake of clarity, it is important to note that they are called "conservative" not because of conservative theology, but because they chose to preserve and continue traditional Friends beliefs and practices, particularly that relating to the "inner light."
Topics related to the Conservative or Primitive wing of the Society of Friends, by whatever name they may go by, are the focus of this category. Websites representing Conservative Quaker yearly meetings or associations, as well as informational sites, are appropriate for this category.
Recommended Resources
A Short History of the Conservative Friends
Presented by Snow Camp, an unincorporated community in Alamance County, North Carolina, with a large Quaker population, provides a history of the Conservative Friends that covers the events of the Orthodox Friends, the Wilburite-Gurneyite separation, the revival period, and the 20th century, as well as an overview of Conservative Friends today and in the future, a Conservative statement of faith, membership statistics, and a bibliography.
http://www.snowcamp.org/shocf/
Created and maintained by the Stillwater Monthly Meeting of the Ohio Yearly Meeting of Friends, the site offers encouragement to Conservative Friends and information for those who may be interested in knowing more about the Conservative Quakers. A directory of meetings is set forth along with general information about the Quakers and their beliefs and practices, contact data, and articles giving a variety of viewpoints.
http://www.conservativefriend.org/
Conservative Friends in Europe
Created by Conservative Quakers, a branch of the Religious Society of Friends, the site offers a variety of information and resources for Friends and others who have an interest in Quakerism, such as an overview of their beliefs, their faith and practices, and articles about Conservative Friends in Europe and elsewhere. Schedules and locations of meetings and events are included, along with links and contacts.
http://www.conservative.quakermeeting.info/
Conservative Quakers of America
During the 19th century, American Friends split into three groups, liberal, pastoral, and conservative. The Conservative Quakers rejected what they viewed as a departure from the original Quaker vision, and elected to retain the traditional beliefs and practices of the original Friends. Biographies of significant Conservative Friends, schedules, a calendar of events, and a guide to Conservative Meetings throughout the country are set forth.
http://www.quaker.us/
The small group of Primitive Friends, also known as Plain Quakers or Conservative Friends, are located in the United Kingdom, but independent and separate from Britain Yearly Meeting. An introduction to the group is given, along with information on the nature of True Church, as they see it, a statement of faith, a simple testimony, and a peace testimony, as well as its Book of Discipline and a calendar of events.
https://plainquakers.org/
Iowa Yearly Meeting Conservative
The IYMC is an association of Quaker meetings and worship groups in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Meetings may be found online, along with announcements, messages to Friends, closing minutes, reports, and other documents. Its faith and practices, school committee, and online registrations are included, and links to other Conservative Friends meetings and organizations are presented.
https://www.iymc.org/
The Quaker ministry in the United Kingdom and the United States encourages a reacquaintance with the gospel message as it was preached by George Fox and the early Friends. It includes the George Fox Fund, which publishes books and articles on the preaching of George Fox, on prophetic Christianity, the relevance of the Bible, and other traditional Friends teachings. Schedules of gatherings and meetings are set forth, along with informational articles, and an online shopping area.
http://nffquaker.org/
The OYM is a conservative Quaker fellowship of local congregations, known as meetings, in the eastern United States. An overview of its worship style is offered, along with a printable gathering agenda for its annual meeting, an invitation, an agenda book, and reservation policies. A calendar of programs and events are set forth and a variety of documents may be downloaded from the site, including minutes of yearly meetings.
http://www.ohioyearlymeeting.org/
The non-official website is created and maintained by a member of the Ohio Yearly Meeting, one of the Quaker bodies known as Conservative Friends. One portion of the site includes databases for members, where meetings and appointments are scheduled, with embedded links used to organize the data. The other part of the site includes Quaker history, a profile of the Ohio Yearly Meeting, and book recommendations, with synopses. An Ohio YM Historic Atlas is available for purchase.
http://www.quaker-chronicle.info/
Wilmington Monthly Meeting of Friends
Founded in 1738, the Wilmington Meeting is at the corner of 4th and West Streets in Wilmington, Delaware. A description of the organization, its history, worship services, and its practices is set forth, along with its educational programs, community action projects, directions, a calendar of events, and contacts. Other resources include library data, community links, and links to other Quaker websites.
http://www.wilmingtondefriendsmeeting.org/
