Congregational Church - Revision history

PeterWilson at 15:23, 26 March 2020

2020-03-26T15:23:10Z

PeterWilson at 17:43, 5 July 2018

2018-07-05T17:43:57Z

DavidWalker: New page: The '''Congregational Church''' is a Protestant Church, distinguished from many of the other Protestant denominations by its insistence that each congregation, i.e., each l...

2010-05-31T08:21:51Z

New page: The '''Congregational Church''' is a Protestant Church, distinguished from many of the other Protestant denominations by its insistence that each congregation, i.e., each l...

New page

The '''Congregational Church''' is a [[Protestant]] [[Church]], distinguished from many of the other [[Protestant]] [[denomination]]s by its insistence that each congregation, i.e., each local [[church]] or group of members in a particular locality, has complete [[autonomy]] and is free to manage its own affairs as it thinks best. The word '''Congregationalist''', either as an [[adjective]] or as a [[noun]], may be applied to a member of the '''Congregational Church''', and the set of doctrines on which the '''Congregational Church''' is based is known as '''Congregationalism'''.

The '''Congregational Church''' is the oldest of the [[Nonconformist]] [[denomination]]s, and traces its origins to the followers of a sixteenth-century [[Anglican]] clergyman, Robert Browne (c1550-c1633), who challenged the doctrine of [[episcopal]] authority, i.e., the doctrine that all local [[church]]es and their clergy should be subject to the authority of a [[bishop]]. In fact Browne himself recanted his '''Congregationalist''' views and returned to the [[Church of England]], but they were taken up and developed by others, most conspicuously by Henry Barrow (c1550-1593) and John Greenwood (c1550-1593). Barrow and Greenwood maintained that there should be no connection between [[Church]] and [[State]], thereby challenging the status of the [[Church of England]] as the [[Established Church]] and the position of Queen Elizabeth I as Head of the [[Church]]; they refused to acknowledge the authority of the [[Thirty-Nine Articles]] in matters of religious doctrine; and they insisted that each local group of [[Christian]]s, i.e., each congregation, had the right to select its own clergy. In 1593 Barrow and Greenwood were hanged for 'devising and circulating seditious books', and for much of the seventeenth century '''Congregationalists''' were persecuted in England and forced to live in Holland - there were, e.g., many '''Congregationalists''' among the Pilgrim Fathers, i.e., those [[Protestant]]s who in 1620 sailed on the ''Mayflower'' to America to escape religious persecution in Europe. It was only with the accession of William III (1650-1702, reigned 1689-1702) and the Act of Toleration (1689) that '''Congregationalists''' in England were free to practise their faith openly.

What distinguishes '''Congregationalism''' from most other forms of [[Protestantism]] - and indeed gives the [[denomination]] its name - is its doctrine with regard to the organisation and government of the [[Church]]. '''Congregationalists''' believe that each congregation, i.e., each local [[church]], has complete freedom to manage its own affairs and is not subject to any higher authority such as a [[bishop]]: it cannot be required by any external authority, whether ecclesiastical or secular, to accept any particular religious beliefs or to follow any particular patterns of worship; it has the freedom to choose its own clergy, and it associates with other like-minded congregations only on the basis of mutual consent. All this notwithstanding, in 1833 the various '''Congregational Churches''' in England and Wales agreed to join together to form the '''Congregational Union of England and Wales''', and in 1972 the majority of the [[church]]es in the '''Congregational Union''' agreed to unite with the [[Presbyterian Church]] in England to form the [[United Reformed Church]]. Those '''Congregational Churches''' which did not become part of the [[United Reformed Church]] formed the '''Congregational Federation'''.

[[Category:Religion]][[Category:Culture]][[Category:European culture]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 The '''Congregational Church''' is a [[Protestant]] [[Church]], distinguished from many of the other [[Protestant]] [[denomination]]s by its insistence that each congregation, i.e. each local [[church]] or group of members in a particular locality, has complete [[autonomy]] and is free to manage its own affairs as it thinks best. The word '''Congregationalist''', either as an [[adjective]] or as a [[noun]], may be applied to a member of the '''Congregational Church''', and the set of doctrines on which the '''Congregational Church''' is based is known as '''Congregationalism'''.
-The '''Congregational Church''' is the oldest of the [[Nonconformist]] [[denomination]]s, and traces its origins to the followers of a sixteenth-century [[Anglican]] clergyman, Robert Browne (c.1550-c.1633), who challenged the doctrine of [[episcopal]] authority, i.e. the doctrine that all local [[church]]es and their clergy should be subject to the authority of a [[bishop]]. In fact Browne himself recanted his '''Congregationalist''' views and returned to the [[Church of England]], but they were taken up and developed by others, most conspicuously by Henry Barrow (c.1550-1593) and John Greenwood (c.1550-1593). Barrow and Greenwood maintained that there should be no connection between [[Church]] and [[State]], thereby challenging the status of the [[Church of England]] as the [[Established Church]] and the position of Queen Elizabeth I as Head of the [[Church]]; they refused to acknowledge the authority of the [[Thirty-Nine Articles]] in matters of religious doctrine; and they insisted that each local group of [[Christian]]s, i.e., each congregation, had the right to select its own clergy. In 1593 Barrow and Greenwood were hanged for 'devising and circulating seditious books', and for much of the seventeenth century '''Congregationalists''' were persecuted in England and forced to live in Holland - there were, e.g.,  many '''Congregationalists''' among the Pilgrim Fathers, i.e. those [[Protestant]]s who in 1620 sailed on the ''Mayflower'' to America to escape religious persecution in Europe. It was only with the accession of William III (1650-1702, reigned 1689-1702) and the Act of Toleration (1689) that '''Congregationalists''' in England were free to practise their faith openly.
+The '''Congregational Church''' is the oldest of the [[Nonconformist]] [[denomination]]s, and traces its origins to the followers of a sixteenth-century [[Anglican]] clergyman, Robert Browne (c.1550-c.1633), who challenged the doctrine of [[episcopal]] authority, i.e. the doctrine that all local [[church]]es and their clergy should be subject to the authority of a [[bishop]]. In fact Browne himself recanted his '''Congregationalist''' views and returned to the [[Church of England]], but they were taken up and developed by others, most conspicuously by Henry Barrow (c.1550-1593) and John Greenwood (c.1560-1593). Barrow and Greenwood maintained that there should be no connection between [[Church]] and [[State]], thereby challenging the status of the [[Church of England]] as the [[Established Church]] and the position of Queen Elizabeth I as Head of the [[Church]]; they refused to acknowledge the authority of the [[Thirty-Nine Articles]] in matters of religious doctrine; and they insisted that each local group of [[Christian]]s, i.e., each congregation, had the right to select its own clergy. In 1593 Barrow and Greenwood were hanged for 'devising and circulating seditious books', and for much of the seventeenth century '''Congregationalists''' were persecuted in England and forced to live in Holland - there were, e.g.,  many '''Congregationalists''' among the Pilgrim Fathers, i.e. those [[Protestant]]s who in 1620 sailed on the ''Mayflower'' to America to escape religious persecution in Europe. It was only with the accession of William III (1650-1702, reigned 1689-1702) and the Act of Toleration (1689) that '''Congregationalists''' in England were free to practise their faith openly.
 What distinguishes '''Congregationalism''' from most other forms of [[Protestantism]]  - and indeed gives the [[denomination]] its name - is its doctrine with regard to the organisation and government of the [[Church]]. '''Congregationalists''' believe that each congregation, i.e. each local [[church]], has complete freedom to manage its own affairs and is not subject to any higher authority such as a [[bishop]]: it cannot be required by any external authority, whether ecclesiastical or secular, to accept any particular religious beliefs or to follow any particular patterns of worship; it has the freedom to choose its own clergy, and it associates with other like-minded congregations only on the basis of mutual consent. All this notwithstanding, in 1833 the various '''Congregational Churches''' in England and Wales agreed to join together to form the '''Congregational Union of England and Wales''', and in 1972 the majority of the [[church]]es in the '''Congregational Union''' agreed to unite with the [[Presbyterian Church]] in England to form the [[United Reformed Church]]. Those '''Congregational Churches''' which did not become part of the [[United Reformed Church]] formed the '''Congregational Federation'''.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-The '''Congregational Church''' is a [[Protestant]] [[Church]], distinguished from many of the other [[Protestant]] [[denomination]]s by its insistence that each congregation, i.e., each local [[church]] or group of members in a particular locality, has complete [[autonomy]] and is free to manage its own affairs as it thinks best. The word '''Congregationalist''', either as an [[adjective]] or as a [[noun]], may be applied to a member of the '''Congregational Church''', and the set of doctrines on which the '''Congregational Church''' is based is known as '''Congregationalism'''.
+The '''Congregational Church''' is a [[Protestant]] [[Church]], distinguished from many of the other [[Protestant]] [[denomination]]s by its insistence that each congregation, i.e. each local [[church]] or group of members in a particular locality, has complete [[autonomy]] and is free to manage its own affairs as it thinks best. The word '''Congregationalist''', either as an [[adjective]] or as a [[noun]], may be applied to a member of the '''Congregational Church''', and the set of doctrines on which the '''Congregational Church''' is based is known as '''Congregationalism'''.
-The '''Congregational Church''' is the oldest of the [[Nonconformist]] [[denomination]]s, and traces its origins to the followers of a sixteenth-century [[Anglican]] clergyman, Robert Browne (c1550-c1633), who challenged the doctrine of [[episcopal]] authority, i.e., the doctrine that all local [[church]]es and their clergy should be subject to the authority of a [[bishop]]. In fact Browne himself recanted his '''Congregationalist''' views and returned to the [[Church of England]], but they were taken up and developed by others, most conspicuously by Henry Barrow (c1550-1593) and John Greenwood (c1550-1593). Barrow and Greenwood maintained that there should be no connection between [[Church]] and [[State]], thereby challenging the status of the [[Church of England]] as the [[Established Church]] and the position of Queen Elizabeth I as Head of the [[Church]]; they refused to acknowledge the authority of the [[Thirty-Nine Articles]] in matters of religious doctrine; and they insisted that each local group of [[Christian]]s, i.e., each congregation, had the right to select its own clergy. In 1593 Barrow and Greenwood were hanged for 'devising and circulating seditious books', and for much of the seventeenth century '''Congregationalists''' were persecuted in England and forced to live in Holland - there were, e.g.,  many '''Congregationalists''' among the Pilgrim Fathers, i.e., those [[Protestant]]s who in 1620 sailed on the ''Mayflower'' to America to escape religious persecution in Europe. It was only with the accession of William III (1650-1702, reigned 1689-1702) and the Act of Toleration (1689) that '''Congregationalists''' in England were free to practise their faith openly.
+The '''Congregational Church''' is the oldest of the [[Nonconformist]] [[denomination]]s, and traces its origins to the followers of a sixteenth-century [[Anglican]] clergyman, Robert Browne (c.1550-c.1633), who challenged the doctrine of [[episcopal]] authority, i.e. the doctrine that all local [[church]]es and their clergy should be subject to the authority of a [[bishop]]. In fact Browne himself recanted his '''Congregationalist''' views and returned to the [[Church of England]], but they were taken up and developed by others, most conspicuously by Henry Barrow (c.1550-1593) and John Greenwood (c.1550-1593). Barrow and Greenwood maintained that there should be no connection between [[Church]] and [[State]], thereby challenging the status of the [[Church of England]] as the [[Established Church]] and the position of Queen Elizabeth I as Head of the [[Church]]; they refused to acknowledge the authority of the [[Thirty-Nine Articles]] in matters of religious doctrine; and they insisted that each local group of [[Christian]]s, i.e., each congregation, had the right to select its own clergy. In 1593 Barrow and Greenwood were hanged for 'devising and circulating seditious books', and for much of the seventeenth century '''Congregationalists''' were persecuted in England and forced to live in Holland - there were, e.g.,  many '''Congregationalists''' among the Pilgrim Fathers, i.e. those [[Protestant]]s who in 1620 sailed on the ''Mayflower'' to America to escape religious persecution in Europe. It was only with the accession of William III (1650-1702, reigned 1689-1702) and the Act of Toleration (1689) that '''Congregationalists''' in England were free to practise their faith openly.
-What distinguishes '''Congregationalism''' from most other forms of [[Protestantism]]  - and indeed gives the [[denomination]] its name - is its doctrine with regard to the organisation and government of the [[Church]]. '''Congregationalists''' believe that each congregation, i.e., each local [[church]], has complete freedom to manage its own affairs and is not subject to any higher authority such as a [[bishop]]: it cannot be required by any external authority, whether ecclesiastical or secular, to accept any particular religious beliefs or to follow any particular patterns of worship; it has the freedom to choose its own clergy, and it associates with other like-minded congregations only on the basis of mutual consent. All this notwithstanding, in 1833 the various '''Congregational Churches''' in England and Wales agreed to join together to form the '''Congregational Union of England and Wales''', and in 1972 the majority of the [[church]]es in the '''Congregational Union''' agreed to unite with the [[Presbyterian Church]] in England to form the [[United Reformed Church]]. Those '''Congregational Churches''' which did not become part of the [[United Reformed Church]] formed the '''Congregational Federation'''.
+What distinguishes '''Congregationalism''' from most other forms of [[Protestantism]]  - and indeed gives the [[denomination]] its name - is its doctrine with regard to the organisation and government of the [[Church]]. '''Congregationalists''' believe that each congregation, i.e. each local [[church]], has complete freedom to manage its own affairs and is not subject to any higher authority such as a [[bishop]]: it cannot be required by any external authority, whether ecclesiastical or secular, to accept any particular religious beliefs or to follow any particular patterns of worship; it has the freedom to choose its own clergy, and it associates with other like-minded congregations only on the basis of mutual consent. All this notwithstanding, in 1833 the various '''Congregational Churches''' in England and Wales agreed to join together to form the '''Congregational Union of England and Wales''', and in 1972 the majority of the [[church]]es in the '''Congregational Union''' agreed to unite with the [[Presbyterian Church]] in England to form the [[United Reformed Church]]. Those '''Congregational Churches''' which did not become part of the [[United Reformed Church]] formed the '''Congregational Federation'''.
-[[Category:Religion]][[Category:Culture]][[Category:European culture]]
+[[Category:Religion]]