Congregationalism is a form of church government as well as a denominational tradition. It refers to the fact that the power of the denomination lies in individual congregations rather than in a hierarchy of bishops or priests. Every congregation owns its own property, elects its own minister, and decides its own policies. It is democracy in its purest form, with each church member having one vote. Not even the minister can veto or act against the will of the majority of the congregation.
The concept was brought to the shores of New England by the first European settlers. In 1648, the Pilgrims of Plymouth Plantation and the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony agreed on certain principles of church governance in a statement called the Cambridge Platform. In those days, church membership was a prerequisite for voting in secular elections (See Half-way Covenant). Although Puritan Roger Williams (1600-1683), founder of the State of Rhode Island, felt the church had too much say over the politics of the community, it was a long time before the white meeting house on the town common no longer served as the place of town meeting, with its minister as town moderator.
The first Congregationalists were staunch Calvinists. They believed that God, through his predestined will, had brought them to this "New Jerusalem" to subdue the Indians, kill off the wolves, and cut down the forests so honest farmers could build stone walls and harvest their crops. Remembered for their "scarlet letters" and community stocks, they were a no-nonsense people who also built Harvard University and sent forth their worshipers on only a minute's notice to fight the British.
Over the years, as was the case for most Protestant churches, they split and formed offshoot denominations. But their democratic form of church government led to some uniquely difficult historical dilemmas.
The Trinitarian/Unitarian split following the Revolutionary War offers a good illustration. A spirit of independence permeated New England. A new liberal social consciousness was abroad. Part of this consciousness, popular with shopkeepers and schoolteachers alike, was what was called "natural religion" or "essential Christianity." "Progress" was the new watchword, and part of progress meant freedom from church dogma as well as freedom from taxation without representation.
Many of the founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson being only one example, were not Christians so much as they were Deists. They believed in God but didn't accept the Trinitarian definition of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit interceding in human lives. They perceived God in Unitarian terms, with one aspect, not three, and as something like the "Great Watchmaker" (See God) who had wound up the universe and now expected it to run on its own.
Picture, now, a typical church scenario: It's time to call a new minister. The church in question has an even one hundred members, all of whom have one vote. After much discussion and argument, the church finally decides, by a vote of forty-nine to fifty-one, to call a preacher who was educated at conservative, Trinitarian Yale rather than liberal, Unitarian-leaning Harvard.
The people have voted, but there are still forty-nine closet Unitarians who are members of the church. And being stubborn Yankees, they will not quietly accept the decision of the majority. They might decide to build another church across the street and call the minister they voted for. Or they might decide to stay and fight a guerrilla war from within the ranks.
In an age of denominational organization, it was only a matter of time before churches started banding together in a formal way. The voluntary denomination known as Congregationalists, mostly in New England, began to morph and jockey for position in various ways. Some churches voted to stay independent of any denominational ties. Others joined together according to theological similarities. Groups such as the Conservative Christian Congregational Churches and the Congregational Christian Churches were formed. In 1957 the Congregational Christian Churches, a large group of predominantly liberal congregations especially concerned with what they considered key issues of social justice, voted to make an ecumenical attempt to undo the divisive aspect of the Protestant Reformation. Merging with the Evangelical and Reformed Church, another like-minded Protestant tradition, they formed the United Church of Christ (See United Church of Christ).
But again church polity raised some barriers. Theological talks of pulpit unity with a Lutheran denomination almost broke down when the structured Lutheran representatives asked, "All your churches are independent of one another. Who do we talk to?"
It is inevitable, given today's social pressure on growth and "bottom line" efficiency, that big churches tend to get bigger while small churches tend to struggle on, merge with other congregations, or simply grow old and die. Traditional Congregationalism is difficult to maintain. Although each church is independent, those who formalize ties necessarily have a central office or headquarters for mutual aid. The custom of paying, to denominational headquarters, what amounts to a "head tax" on each individual member is difficult for small churches to continue when they are desperately trying to maintain historic, old buildings according to modern building codes. The plaintive cry is heard often from the historic New England common, "Do we fix the steeple, build an access ramp, or give to the denomination's mission fund?"
Sources: Hudson, Winthrop S. Religion in America. New York: Charles Scribner, 1965. United Church of Christ. http: //www.ucc.org/. September 14, 2003.
