Ever since the days when they worked closely with members of other denominations in opposing slavery, Cincinnati Friends began to see themselves less as a separate people and more as part of the wider Christian community. As such, they contributed funds to the Hamilton County Sunday School Association, Joint Protestant Agencies, Big Sister Movement, and Church Visitation Movement. Cincinnati Friends also sent representatives to meetings of the Federation of Churches of Cincinnati and Vicinity. (Albert Copeland, then a minister of the Meeting, was a member of the Federation’s Executive Committee.)
In 1870, the Evangelical Ministerial Association in Cincinnati organized a local branch of the Evangelical Alliance, an international organization dedicated to promoting unity among the various Protestant denominations. Its platform included recognition of “a divinely ordained ministry, and the obligation and perpetuity of the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper,” although “the declaration [was] not to be regarded as a creed.” In spite of the traditional Quaker opposition to outward sacraments, Murray Shipley (then a minister of the Meeting,) agreed to act as a vice-president of the Association representing the Religious Society of Friends. William H. Taylor also served on the Executive Committee. Through this organization, the Meeting provided financial support for a Protestant probation officer for the Juvenile Court.
During this period, the Meeting was also significantly involved with Christian Endeavor, a nondenominational movement begun in 1881 by a Congregationalist minister in Portland, Maine. Christian Endeavor was specifically targeted at young people, encouraging their service and developing their leadership. (The movement has been described as the “father” of youth ministry.) By 1906, 67,000 Christian Endeavor groups had been organized worldwide, with about four million members.
Christian Endeavor was among the standing committees of Cincinnati Friends Meeting from 1894 until 1910. The meeting time of this group was included on the sign at the front of the meetinghouse, along with meeting for worship and Sabbath School. In July 1901, the 20th International Christian Endeavor Convention was held in Cincinnati, which drew about 15,000 delegates and representatives from around the world. The Friends meetinghouse was the headquarters for receiving and registering about 100 attendees from Wisconsin, West Virginia, and North Dakota. In addition, Cincinnati Friends hosted a denominational rally for about 220 Quaker Endeavorers, followed by a reception at the meetinghouse.
The following November, a mass meeting of Branch “E” of the Cincinnati Christian Endeavor Union was held at the meetinghouse, with addresses given by ministers from local Methodist and Presbyterian churches. As late as 1924, Cincinnati Friends organized the afternoon entertainment for the organization’s Ohio State Convention.
Thomas Kiphart, who was president of the local Christian Endeavor Society at the turn of the century, reported that members of the group had been active in Home Mission work, and that using social gatherings “to introduce new members into the Society . . . is found to be a very successful plan.”
This article comes from the book Friends Past and Present: The Bicentennial History of Cincinnati Friends Meeting (1815–2015). You can obtain a copy of the printed book or a Kindle version from Amazon.com. The proceeds of all sales go to Cincinnati Friends Meeting.