Congregationalism is basically a form of church government where each individual church is autonomous and there is no structured organization of denominational hierarchy. Each individual church covenants together under Jesus Christ, and He alone is the authority. In other words there are no Popes, arch-bishops, bishops, superintendents above the local congregation, only Christ himself. Each church governs its own affairs claiming the promise of Christ that where two or three are gathered in His name, there He promises to be. (Matthew 18:20). This government is done through church meetings where guidance and the will of God is sought through God's Word, the Holy Scriptures. Individual Congregational churches, if they wish, link together to form associations for mutual love and support.
So where did Congregationalism first come from? Where are its origins to be found? I am indebted to the Rev Christopher Damp of Kentish Town Congregational Church London, who has given permission for the following article to appear on this web-page.
Pastor Rod Church
During the reign of Elizabeth I, many who had been influenced by the continental Reformation believed that the Church of England still contained the "remnants of Popery". In 1567, some small groups of Christians were meeting together independently of the Church of England. The best known of these congregations was the one which met in the Plumber's Hall, London. It seems to have contained as many as a hundred people, of whom number were in time imprisoned for holding illegal religious worship. These men and women had separated themselves from what they believed was only a partially reformed Church of England. They were known as Separatists. In 1593, John Penry, Henry Barrow, and John Greenwood were hanged for their dissent from the Church of England. There were other martyrs around the country, and many Separatists died in prison. Robert Browne, meanwhile wrote his famous Treatise of Reformation without Tarying for Anie. In this book Browne expounded the principles of Congregationalism. In 1620, a groups of Separatists who had fled to Holland with their minister, John Robinson, sailed to New England America in the Mayflower and are known as the Pilgrim Fathers. In New England they established a Congregational church. In the 1630's Congregationalism in New England grew with the emigration of Puritans from this country.
Whilst the Separatists worshipped outside the Church of England, many people who longed for further reformation of the English church continued to work within this church. These people were called Puritans because they wished to purify the church. During the English Civil War, a conference at Westminster produced the Westminster Confession of Faith. This statement of faith is still seen today as a great declaration of the Reformed Faith. After the Civil War, Congregationalism as Cromwell himself was a Congregationalist. In 1658, just after Cromwell's death, two hundred representatives from 120 Congregational churches met at the Savoy Palace and produced the Savoy Declaration of Faith and Order. This statement is the most admirable statement of the ecclesiastical principles of English Congregationalism. With the restoration of the monarchy, persecution of Congregationalists and other Dissenters became very severe. In 1662, almost two thousand Puritan ministers were ejected from the Church of England by the Act of Uniformity. Many ministers continued to preach to their followers and many Congregational churches trace their formation to this date. With the Act of Uniformity, English Nonconformity was permanently established. Persecution continued until 1689, when the Toleration Act was passed. Dissenters were now able to build Meeting Houses and register these buildings as places of worship.