Our History

D. Elton Trueblood, a Quaker author, speaker, and theologian founded the Yokefellow movement. Trueblood held chaplain positions at Haverford College, Guilford College, Harvard University, Stanford University, and Earlham College.

In the 1950s, Trueblood served as a senior advisor to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who created a post for him as Director of Religious Information at the U.S. Information Agency. During the Nixon Administration he again served as an adviser to the President.

Trueblood believed being a Christian meant being “yoked” with Christ and heeding the call to help others (Matthew 11:28-30).

Trueblood’s address in Washington , D.C. in 1955 inspired chaplains from federal prisons across the nation. Two chaplains, one from Tacoma, Washington, and one from Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, established Yokefellow groups in their prisons. In 1969, the Yokefellowship Prison Ministry was incorporated in Pennsylvania.

Today, Yokefellowship has over 250 Yokefellow volunteers visiting inmates in 33 Pennsylvania institutions.