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Elton Trueblood, the founder of the Yokefellow Order says in his
Autobiography, While It Is Day, “In my earlier years, I gave very
little thought to my fellow citizens who were imprisoned. Most of my
friends and acquaintances were like me in that regard chiefly
because we had few reminders.”
In 1923 Elton Trueblood was recorded as a minister among Friends.
In February of 1927 the Trueblood’s apartment was robbed and it so
happened that the thief was the same man who, the next night, was to
steal from the family of Herbert Hoover, Jr. son of the future
president. While sitting in the courtroom awaiting the arraignment
of the young man who had robbed them, Elton was troubled by what he
saw. As he thought about that experience, Trueblood wrote, “It was
very disheartening to sit in court and see the sad wrecks of
humanity. I even feel sorry for the poor boy that robbed us. He is
the loser in every way. I want to learn his history and have a good
talk with him.”
Trueblood spoke before mayors, governors, and presidents. However,
when given the opportunity to visit a man in the local jail who had
asked to see him, his reply was, “At my age I need to use my energy
w4re I feel it will do the most good. I believe that I can be of
more help to that young man in jail than I can be to any assortment
of business people and politicians at a breakfast.
In 1945 Elton Trueblood envisioned a fellowship that was much
different from the average church. His idea was that of …. ‘the
redemptive society we need is an order with the Church Universal,
devoted to the recovery and fulfillment of radical Christianity.’
Thus the Yokefellow Order was established. Elton suggested the
necessity of five marks of fellowship for his new order: commitment,
witness, fellowship, vocation and discipline.
He wrote, ‘all true members must be fountains, not cisterns’. In the
new order there were no clergymen and no laymen, but all were
engaged in the same divine vocation, which means putting the claims
of the Kingdom of God first no matter what profession one may
follow. This means that Christian vocation has priority over
profession.
The criterion for membership in his Order was the acceptance of five
disciplines. He suggested these “minimum” disciplines as a starting
point for any group. His list of disciplines was: Prayer, Scripture,
Worship, Money, Time, Work, and Study.
Trueblood admitted that the thought that such disciplines could be
nurtured in the prison never occurred to him. However, in 1955, when
he was asked to address a conference of prison chaplains meeting in
the old Supreme Court Room of the Capitol in Washington, he spoke on
the power of a small group of people who had common discipline and
who share both their problems and their faith with one another. Two
chaplains present saw the possibilities and soon began working
independently of each other to establish Yokefellow Groups in their
penitentiaries. One of those chaplains was from the Lewisburg
Penitentiary.
The term Yokefellow comes from Matthew 11:29-30 where Jesus said,
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you
rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for my yoke is easy
and my burden is light.”
In his sermon, “The Yoke of Christ”, Trueblood said, “only a person
of very hard heart will ever minimize the fact that the broken, the
refugees, the desolate, the defeated and the desperate have a right
to know that in the love of God there is ultimate peace and hope and
indeed the only hope they will ever find. There are the blind, there
are the deaf, there are the prisoners, and all of them are entitled
to know that the hand of God is tenderly reaching out to them
through volunteers. Christ’s offer of peace was through the sharing
of responsibilities, and His offer for rest was through the sharing
of burdens.”
The purpose of Yokefellow Prison Ministry is to witness the
Christian Faith through men and women of all races, denominations
and nationalities. That purpose is carried out in the following
ways:
• Serving the needs of residents of correctional institutions.
• Bridging the gap between persons confined and those on the outside
community.
• Working with former inmates on home plans, trying to integrate
offenders into community life.
• Promoting programs to improve correctional methods, encouraging an
increased understanding of the furlough, probation, parole
work-release and half-way houses.
• Praying for those who are responsible for the policies and
procedures of prison life.
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