Congregationalism. A Protestant tradition of ecclesiology and church government, Congregationalism maintains that local congregations, consisting of men and women who acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus Christ and seek his will, can minister and govern themselves through congregational vote, covenant and participation. Congregationalists view this polity as a more complete fulfillment of the Reformation principle of the priesthood of all believers. Although there are specific Congregational denominations, this type of church government can also be found in many other churches and denominations in America, particularly among Baptist and independent churches. This article will focus, however, on historic Congregationalism in America and its present manifestation in the United Church of Christ and the smaller Congregational fellowships and denominations. Historic Congregationalism came to America with the Separatist Pilgrims of Plymouth and the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Congregationalism originated in English Puritanism, being the more radical wing of a Reformed movement that believed it impossible to renew the Church of England from within. Choosing rather to form “gathered” congregations bound by a covenant between God and believers, these nonconformists came into conflict with the Anglican Church, including Anglicans of Puritan persuasion. By 1608 a group of Separatists had taken refuge from persecution at Leiden in the Netherlands. In 1620 a band of Pilgrims settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts. In 1629, the nonseparatist English Puritans, fleeing persecution under Archbishop William Laud (1573–1645) in England, established settlements around Boston, Massachusetts. These American Puritans ordained their ministers congregationally, even when the latter had already been ordained episcopally in England. In the rigorous living conditions of New England, the two groups found themselves cooperating with each other and agreeing on the central points of Calvinism as it was mediated by the English Puritan divines. From 1646 to 1648 the religious leaders of New England met several times in a synod at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and there decided to accept the Westminster Confession of Faith as their doctrinal statement. They also drafted and adopted the “Platforme of Church Discipline”—better known as the “Cambridge Platform”—defining their polity. Codifying the “mixed” polity of Puritan theorists, they described a government of local, independent churches that was shared by church members and church officers. It is the earliest document setting forth American Congregational faith and church government and served as the constitution of the “Congregational Way” well into the nineteenth century. The Great Awakening, which peaked in the years 1740–1742 and spread thoughout the colonies, had a great impact on New England Congregationalism. On the one hand there was the revival of a heart-felt religion that was profoundly evangelical in character. The Congregationalist minister and theologian of the movement, Jonathan Edwards, was perhaps the greatest intellect early American Congregationalism produced, and he set the agenda for the tradition of New England Theology that was carried on well into the nineteenth century. On the other hand, a significant number of Congregational clergy opposed the revivals, and a rift developed that was to seriously divide Congregationalism into liberal and evangelical wings and profoundly affect American religious and political life in general. This liberalism, centered in eighteenth-century Boston, was fueled by Enlightenment ideas and manifested itself first in a liberalized Calvinism and then in an Arian or Socinian view of the person of Christ. The chief leaders of this movement were the Congregational ministers Charles Chauncy and Jonathan Mayhew. The appointment of Unitarian Henry Ward to the chair of divinity at Harvard in 1803, the publication of William E. Channing’s manifesto, Unitarian Christianity, in 1819 and the Dedham Decision of 1820 in which the Massachusetts Supreme Court awarded the property of a Trinitarian congregation to a Unitarian parish, were all landmarks in the gradual move toward the founding of a separate American Unitarian Association in 1825. In the nineteenth century, Congregationalism was again influenced by theological liberalism, the leading voice being that of Congregational minister Horace Bushnell, called by some “the father of American religious liberalism.” His controversial views on the Trinity, the atonement, conversion and the nature of religious language were widely influential, first in the seminaries and then in the pulpits. Other influential liberal ministers of late nineteenth-century Congregationalism were Henry Ward Beecher and Washington Gladden, the latter developing Bushnell’s romantic notions of evolutionary progress into the Social Gospel. Liberalism has continued to hold a prominent place in twentieth-century Congregationalism, though in recent decades it has traded its earlier optimism for a more chastened mood. Although the modified Calvinism of colonial times was intentionally left behind by the Congregational mainstream, evangelicals and evangelical theology has maintained a presence within Congregationalism. The Congregational “Burial Hill Declaration” (1865) proclaimed, “With the whole church we confess the common sinfulness and ruin of our race, and acknowledge that it is only through the work accomplished by the life and expiatory death of Christ that believers in Him are justified before God, receive the remission of sins, and through the presence and grace of the Holy Comforter are delivered from the power of sin and perfected in holiness.” These beliefs are echoed in the contemporary United Church of Christ’s Statement of Faith (1959) when it speaks of confessing a belief in God who seeks “in holy love to save all people from aimlessness and sin” and in Jesus Christ “conquering sin and death and reconciling the world to Himself.” Although a minority, evangelical churches and individuals continue within contemporary Congregational fellowships and denominations, with notable evangelical leaders such as Harold John Ockenga (1905–1985) and theologian Donald G. Bloesch (1928– ) representing this tradition. Concern for the proclamation of the gospel has always been present in Congregationalism, and early Congregational Puritans were concerned to take the gospel to the Native American population. The Protestant foreign-mission movement in America arose among Congregationalists when in 1810 the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was organized. In 1812 the Board sent out five missionaries, two of whom had dedicated themselves to missionary service in the “Haystack Prayer Meeting” of 1806. While the Board was originally predominantly Congregational, a number of other Reformed denominations used it until they had formed their own agencies. In 1801, under the Plan of Union, Congregationalists cooperated with Presbyterians in frontier missionary work. Finding that Congregational ism was being swallowed up in Presbyterianism, however, the Congregationalists repealed the agreement at the Albany Convention of 1852. One of the fruits of this earlier cooperative spirit was the American Home Missionary Society, which was established in 1826 in conjunction with the Presbyterians, but after 1861 became the church planting agency of the Congregational churches. In 1846, the American Missionary Association was established. Committed to evangelism to nonwhites and strongly abolitionist, after the Civil War it carried out a noble effort to educate former slaves. Currently the United Church of Christ carries out its mission work through the Board of World Ministries and the Board of Homeland Ministries, the successors of the earlier boards, along with mission work done by the other Congregational denominations and fellowships. Feeling the need to organize and work with each other in wider ministries, American Congregational churches from their inception have formed fellowships beyond the local church. Starting first with the colonial consociations and associations, by 1822 the first state conference was held in Maine. In 1871, the National Council of Congregational Churches was formed, serving the interests of the churches in national, international and other delegated tasks. In 1913, meeting in Kansas City, the National Council was given a broader mandate in the work of the Church. A general secretary was chosen to represent the churches before other groups. The present United Church of Christ actively continues programs and agencies on a national level. In the late nineteenth century, Congregationalists began to consider whether their fellowship might not extend beyond their National Council. As early as 1871 the National Council at Oberlin produced a “Declaration on the Unity of the Church” and began consultations with other denominations, many of which were unsuccessful. Two consulations did, however, lead to later developments. Talks with a Restorationist group, the Christian Connection, were carried out in 1890 and again in 1923, finally leading to a merger of the two bodies in 1931 when they formed the General Council of Congregational and Christian Churches. In 1938 a union of the General Council of Congregational and Christian Churches with the Evangelical and Reformed Church was proposed, but it was not until 1957 that a body of delegates from both denominations, meeting at Cleveland, Ohio, elected a constitutional committee. In July 1961, in Philadelphia, a constitution was adopted and the United Church of Christ was established. Consultations with the Disciples of Christ, which broke down in 1895, were again revived in 1977. In the late 1980s the two denominations were actively exploring avenues of cooperation. Congregational polity continued to be modified as it developed in American history. The “Statement of Congregational Principles” or “Boston Platform” (1865) superseded the Cambridge Platform and proclaimed three affirmations: (1) the local church derives its power and authority directly from Christ; (2) there must be duties of respect and charity included in a communion of churches; and (3) the ministry implies “no power of government.” In contemporary practice, ministers are ordained and installed by the local church but “ministerial standing” is held by associations (sometimes by conferences) which cooperate in the ordination or installation. Organizations beyond the local church (associations, conferences, general synod) speak for themselves but not for the local churches. The constitution and bylaws of the United Church of Christ further define this relationship of both mutual cooperation and congregational independence. Other Congregational churches and fellowships of churches in the Congregational tradition continue to exist apart from the United Church of Christ. These have either remained independent or have joined the loose fellowships of the National Association of Congregational Churches (noted for its “referendum council” which allows local churches to modify any act of national bodies) and the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference (noted for its mutual confession of a more comprehensive and conservative doctrinal statement). The United Church of Christ, along with these other fellowships, have appropriated, each in its own way, various strands of historic American Congregationalism.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 15:54:07 +0000
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