What is an Evangelical Friend?

The Friends Church began with the conversion of one man, George Fox, in the year 1647. His personal experience of salvation by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ alone, sparked a great revival in England. Those early Friends made great contributions in the areas of social reform, spiritual renewal, religious liberty, prison reform, education, care for the suffering and integrity of life and word.

Before long, many Friends (also called Quakers) came to the new world. The state of Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn, a Friend, with the determination to allow freedom to practice Christianity according to the dictates of your beliefs and conscience. Pennsylvania was the only colony which had no need of a standing militia, since they treated the Indians as equals, honoring their verbal agreements.

As Americans moved west, so did the Friends; establishing Yearly Meetings (or what some denominations call “districts”) all the way to the Northwest. Oregon Yearly Meeting was established in 1893 and in 1971 the name was changed to Northwest Yearly Meeting (NWYM), to reflect the inclusion of Meetings (churches) in Washington and Idaho. NWYM is headquartered in Newberg, Oregon, and participates in a larger group of Friends worldwide, Evangelical Friends International-North America (EFI-NA).

As Evangelical Friends, We Believe in the authority of the Bible and in the historical aspects of the doctrine of salvation. Our beliefs stand in opposition to those who wish to emphasize the individual conscience and the inward practices of a mystical Christianity.

Peninsula Evangelical Friends Church began as a ministry of the American Sunday School Union in 1935, meeting in the Agnew Community Hall until 1947. At that time, the property was purchased which had buildings on it, and on March 15, 1947, Agnew Friends Church was born with the goal of telling people of the Gospel of Christ. The name was later changed to Peninsula Evangelical Friends Church at Agnew or PEFC.

As a member of NWYM, we are Quaker in our association, while serving as a community church in the Agnew area. Many of us come from a background other than “Friends.”