Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christianity (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practise congregational government. Each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs. These principles are enshrined in the Cambridge Platform (1648) and the Savoy Declaration (1658), Congregationalist confessions of faith. The Congregationalist Churches are a continuity of the theological tradition upheld by the Puritans. Their genesis was through the work of Congregationalist divines Robert Browne, Henry Barrowe, and John Greenwood.
In 16th-century England, the Puritan Reformation of the Church of England laid the foundation for such churches. There, the early Congregationalists were called Separatists or Independents to distinguish them from the similarly Calvinistic Presbyterians, whose churches embraced a polity based on the governance of elders; this commitment to self-governing congregations was codified in the Savoy Declaration. Congregationalism in the United States traces its origins to the Puritans of New England, who wrote the Cambridge Platform of 1648 to describe the autonomy of the church and its association with others. Within the United States, the model of Congregational churches was carried by migrating settlers from New England into New York, then into the Old Northwest, and further.
The Congregationalist tradition has a presence in the United States, Argentina, Ireland, and parts of the Commonwealth of Nations including the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and various Pacific island nations. It has been introduced either by immigrant dissenters or by missionary organizations such as the London Missionary Society. A number of evangelical Congregational churches are members of the World Evangelical Congregational Fellowship. Congregationalism, as defined by the Pew Research Center, is estimated to represent 0.5 percent of the worldwide Protestant population.
Beliefs Congregationalism is a Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity that enjoins a church polity in which congregations are self-governing (cf. congregational polity). Through the centuries, Congregationalists have adopted various confessional statements, including the Savoy Declaration, the Cambridge Platform, and the Kansas City Statement of Faith.
Unlike Presbyterians, Congregationalists practise congregational polity (from which they derive their name), which holds that the members of a local church have the right to decide their church's forms of worship and confessional statements, choose their own officers, and administer their own affairs without any outside interference. Congregationalist polity is rooted in a foundational tenet of Congregationalism: the priesthood of all believers. According to Congregationalist minister Charles Edward Jefferson, this means that "Every believer is a priest and ... every seeking child of God is given directly wisdom, guidance, power".
Congregationalists have two sacraments: baptism and the Lord's Supper. They practise infant baptism, holding that "...there is no distinction between 'infant baptism' and 'believer's baptism'." The Lord's Supper is normally celebrated once or twice a month. Congregationalists do not invoke the intercession of saints. Certain Congregationalist hymns that have become popular across Christendom include "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" and "Hark the Glad Sound".
Origins
The origins of Congregationalism are found in 16th-century Puritanism, a movement that sought to complete the English Reformation begun with the separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church during the reign of Henry VIII (1509–47). During the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603), the Church of England was considered a Reformed church, but it also preserved certain characteristics of medieval Catholicism, such as cathedrals, church choirs, a formal liturgy contained in the Book of Common Prayer, traditional clerical vestments and episcopal polity (government by bishops).
The Puritans were Calvinists who wanted to further reform the church by abolishing all remaining Catholic practices, such as clerical vestments, wedding rings, organ music in church, kneeling at Holy Communion, using the term priest for a minister, bowing at the name of Jesus, and making the sign of the cross in baptism and communion. Many Puritans believed the Church of England should follow the example of Reformed churches in other parts of Europe and adopt presbyterian polity, in which an egalitarian network of local ministers cooperated through regional synods. Other Puritans experimented with congregational polity both within the Church of England and outside of it. Puritans who left the established church were known as Separatists.
Congregationalism may have first developed in the London Underground Church under Richard Fitz in the late 1560s and 1570s. The Congregational historian Albert Peel argued that it was accepted that the evidence for a fully thought out congregational ecclesiology is not overwhelming.
Robert Browne (1550–1633) was the first person to set out explicit congregational principles and is considered the founder of Congregationalism. While studying for ordination, Browne became convinced that the Church of England was a false church. He moved to Norwich and together with Robert Harrison formed an illegal Separatist congregation.
In 1581, Browne and his followers moved to Holland in order to worship freely. While in Holland, Browne wrote treatises that laid out the essential features of Congregationalism. Browne argued for a church only of genuine, regenerate believers and criticized the Anglicans for including all English people within their church. The congregation should choose its own leaders, and the ministers should be ordained by the congregation itself not by bishops or fellow ministers. Each congregation should be founded on a written church covenant, and the congregation as a whole should govern the church: "The meetings together… of every whole church, and of the elders therein, is above the apostle, above the prophet, the evangelist, the pastor, the teacher, and every particular elder" and "The voice of the whole people, guided by the elders and the forwardest, is said [in Scripture] to be the voice of God". While each church would be independent, separate churches would still come together to discuss matters of common concern.
Short lifespans were typical of Separatist churches (also known as Brownist congregations), small congregations who met in secret and faced persecution. They were often forced to go into exile in Holland and tended to disintegrate quickly. Notable Separatists who faced exile or death included Henry Barrow (–1593), John Greenwood (died 1593), John Penry (1559–1593), Francis Johnson (1563–1618), and Henry Ainsworth (1571–1622).
In the early 1600s, a Separatist congregation in Scrooby in Nottinghamshire (the Scrooby Congregation) was formed through the efforts of the Puritan cleric John Smyth (who later rejected infant baptism and initiated the Baptist tradition). John Robinson was the congregation's pastor and William Brewster was an elder. In 1607, the congregation moved to Holland fleeing persecution. In 1620, the group (known in history as the Pilgrims) sailed to North America on the Mayflower, establishing the Plymouth Colony and bringing the Congregational tradition to America.
In 1639 William Wroth, then Rector of the parish church at Llanvaches in Monmouthshire, established the first Independent Church in Wales "according to the New England pattern", i.e. Congregational. The Tabernacle United Reformed Church at Llanvaches survives to this day.
During the English Civil War, those who supported the Parliamentary cause were invited by Parliament to discuss religious matters. The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) was officially claimed to be the statement of faith for both the Church of England (Anglican/Episcopal) and Church of Scotland (Presbyterian), which was politically expedient for those in the Presbyterian dominated English Parliament who approved of the Solemn League and Covenant (1643).
After the Second Civil War, the New Model Army which was dominated by Congregationalists (or Independents) seized control of the parliament with Pride's Purge (1648), arranged for the trial and execution of Charles I in January 1649 and subsequently introduced a republican Commonwealth dominated by Independents such as Oliver Cromwell. This government lasted until 1660 when the monarchy was restored and Episcopalism was re-established (see the Penal Laws and Great Ejection).
In 1662, two years after the Restoration, two thousand Independent, Presbyterian, and Baptist ministers were evicted from their parishes as dissenters and not being in Holy Orders conferred by bishops.
In 1658 (during the interregnum) the Congregationalists created their own version of the Westminster Confession, called the Savoy Declaration, which remains the principal subordinate standard of Congregationalism.
By country Argentina
The mission to Argentina was the second foreign field tended by German Congregationalists. The work in South America began in 1921 when four Argentine churches urgently requested that denominational recognition be given to George Geier, serving them. The Illinois Conference licensed Geier, who worked among Germans from Russia who were very similar to their kin in the United States and in Canada. The South American Germans from Russia had learned about Congregationalism in letters from relatives in the United States.
In 1924 general missionary John Hoelzer, while in Argentina for a brief visit, organised six churches. In the province of Entre Ríos, congregations began to join the Evangelical Congregational Church in Crespo. Information indicates that since 1923 there were activities in private homes and in 1928 the first pastoral house was inaugurated, in San Salvador from 1928, in Concordia, from 1929–1930, in Federal from 1934, in Paraná since the 1940's. In Concepción del Uruguay since 1942. Basavilbaso from 1944. Gualeguaychú from 1950. And then many more followed. In the province of Chaco, immigrants from Germany, Russia and neighbouring areas settled in Colonia Palmar, between Charata and General Pinedo. When they heard about the existence of the Evangelical Congregational Church, they contacted and invited the North American missionary Guillermo Strauch to visit them. This took place on August 25, 1928, when the first service was held and as a result of the meeting they decided to join the I. E. C. The following year, their first church was inaugurated. Due to a great drought, in 1945 this church had to close its doors, and the families emigrated to Villa Ángela, Coronel Du Graty or Santa Sylvina, in the province of Chaco, or to El Colorado, in Formosa. In each of these places, new faith communities emerged from the relocation of members of Colonia Palmar. In Villa Ángela, the first church was actually established in Colonia Juan José Paso in 1947, and two years later the first church was inaugurated. In Coronel Du Graty, it originated from prayer meetings in 1947 (with those who came from Colonia Palmar) in "Campo Ugarte" and "Campo Ñandubay". Later they joined together to build their own place for worship, which happened in 1954. In the province of Misiones, in Leandro N. Alem and the surrounding area, immigrants from Poland, Germany and Brazil began to arrive between 1929 and 1938. Although their economic condition was precarious, they were rich in their desire to work, to progress and in their spirituality. They began to hold prayer meetings, and faith communities were formed in Alem Sud, Picada Almafuerte and Picada Flor (Colonia El Chatón).