Congregationalism

Congregationalism. The form of Church polity which rests on the independence and autonomy of each local Church. It has been held that the system is primitive and represents the earliest form of Church order. Modern Congregationalism, however, dates from the Reformation. As early as 1550 there is evidence of men and women meeting together to preach the Word of God and administer the Sacraments as Separatists from the national Church. When it was clear that Elizabeth I did not intend a drastic reform of the Church, the number of such companies increased. R. Browne, insisting that these ‘gathered churches’, bound under God by covenant, should be independent of the State and have the right to govern themselves, laid down the lines of essential Congregationalism. From the 1580s Brownists (as outsiders called them) increased in number and the somewhat amorphous Separatism became more clearly defined Congregationalism; Churches were formed in Norwich, London, and elsewhere. The movement was driven underground by persecution. Some Separatists migrated to the Netherlands and ultimately to the United States of America, where Congregationalism was influential in shaping both religion and politics. In England the Independents (as they were called) formed the backbone of O. Cromwell's army, and they defended their position at the Westminster Assembly and restated their principles in the Savoy Declaration of 1658. The 1662 Act of Uniformity made Non-conformists of Independents and Presbyterians alike, though the Toleration Act 1688 gave them the right to exist. Attempts to fuse these two types of Church at this time were unsuccessful, mainly because of theological differences. Being excluded from the ancient universities, the Independents set up Dissenting Academies and played a leading part in the foundation of London University. A product of the Evangelical Revival was the indigenous growth of Congregationalism in Scotland.

The independency of the Congregational Churches did not involve them in complete isolation. They recognized the bond of a common faith and order and in time formed County Associations for mutual intercourse and support. The Congregational Union of Scotland was formed in 1812; that of England and Wales in 1832. These Unions had no legislative authority but served to advise the Churches and express their common mind. In 1972 the greater part of the Congregational Church in England and Wales united with the Presbyterian Church of England to form the United Reformed Church. In the USA most of the Congregational Christian Churches in 1957 joined with the Evangelical and Reformed Churches to form the United Church of Christ, and Congregationalists have been involved in modern unions in other parts of the world (see REUNION).