It should be remembered that decisions taken at general meetings have no force without the free consent of the individual local Churches. They can only give advice and promote mutual cooperation and understanding in matters of common interest to all the congregationalist Churches.
American Congregationalism. The expeditions of the "pilgrim fathers" transported by the Mayflower to North America were followed by many others. Almost all the emigrants were independents or c., a few being Puritans, who, however, adopted the doctrines and system of the majority. Even in North America the need was felt for some union among the independent local Churches, and so there arose, among others, the Synods of Cambridge in 1648, of Boston in 1680 and 1865, and especially the national Council of Oberlin in 1871, but without any authority over the Churches. From the American c. there separated the Unitarians, led by G. Ellerich Channing. In 1929 they united with the Christians. The congregationalist system of the absolute independence of the local Churches is the system adopted by many sects such as the Baptists, the Christadelphians, the Disciples, etc.
The American c. have organized the oldest and one of the most active Protestant missionary societies in America, namely the American Board or American Secretariat. Its full name is American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, with the abbreviation A. B. C. F. M., i.e. "American Secretariat or Board of Delegates for Foreign Missions." It is the oldest of the American Protestant missionary societies. It was founded in 1810 by some students who decided to dedicate themselves to Foreign Missions. Their plan was adopted by the General Association of the Congregationalist Churches of Massachusetts. The aim of the Secretariat was to spread the Gospel in foreign countries, to found indigenous Churches that were self-governing, self-supporting and self-propagating (self-directing, self-supporting, self-expanding), to establish preparatory schools for leaders and institutes, and to cooperate with other sects. Attracted by the idea of Foreign Missions, some sects joined the American Board, but later separated to devote themselves to their own missions, and the c. remained almost alone in forming the A. B. society, very well organized, with a prudent and zealous committee, composed of veteran and experienced missionaries, who study all the missionary questions that arise. The A. B. shows a special preference for the missions it supports among Catholics. In Italy the c. were invited in 1872 by the "Italian Free Church," but they abandoned it in 1874 because of the difficulty of finding a suitable field there, since there were already so many "evangelical" agencies. In fact, in those years missionaries of the Methodist, Baptist, etc., persuasions were flocking there. The missionary activity of the A. B. can be inferred from the 17 missions it supports throughout the world, including five in what it calls "papal lands" and considers "only nominally Christian," namely the Philippine Islands, the Carolines, Mexico, Spain and Czechoslovakia.