page_title: Quakers
section_title: Evangelical
hierarchical_section_title: Quakers / Theology / Evangelical
caption_attribution_description: English: Phoenix Friends Church sign
context_page_description: Quakers, also called Friends, are a historically Christian denomination known formally as the Religious Society of Friends or Friends Church. Members of the various Quaker movements are all generally united by their belief in the ability of each human being to experientially access the light within, or "that of God in every one".
  Some 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 not reliant on the existence of God. To differing extents, the movements making up the Religious Society of Friends/Friends avoid creeds and hierarchical structures. In 2007, there were about 359,000 adult Quakers worldwide. In 2017, there were 377,557 adult Quakers, 49 per cent of them being in Africa.
  Some 89 per cent of Quakers worldwide belong to "evangelical" and "programmed" branches of Quakerism, which worship in services with singing and a prepared message from the Bible, coordinated by a pastor.
context_section_description: 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 penal substitution of the atonement of Christ on the Cross at Calvary, biblical infallibility, and the need for all to experience a relationship with God personally. They believe that the Evangelical Friends Church is intended to evangelise the unsaved of the world, to  transform them spiritually through God's love and through social service to others. They regard the Bible as the infallible, self-authenticating Word of God. The statement of faith of Evangelical Friends International is comparable to that of other Evangelical churches. Those who are members of Evangelical Friends International are mainly located in the United States, 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 also approved such a practice. In places where Evangelical Friends engage in missionary work, such as Africa, Latin America and Asia, adult baptism by immersion in water occurs. In this they differ from most other branches of the Religious Society of Friends. EFCI in 2014 was claiming to represent more than 140,000 Friends, some 39 per cent of the total number of Friends worldwide.
caption: Sign at entrance of Phoenix Friends Church
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