CONGREGATIONALISTS. – Designation of Protestants who profess absolute independence from every community (congregation) of the faithful. The pseudo-Reformation in England developed along three different lines, leading to Anglicanism, Puritanism, and separatism. Anglicanism, especially in its primitive form under Henry VIII, had retained many doctrines and customs of the Catholic Church, and even at the present day retains some of them, such as the episcopate. Puritanism, formed from Calvinizing elements, adhered indeed to Anglicanism as the Church of the State, but wanted a purer Church, that is, one without so many vestiges of Catholicism and with greater participation by the faithful in the choice of ministers and in the government of the Church. Separatism, constituted by the so-called “Independents,” condemned the whole Church of England, from which in conscience it believed it had to separate, because it held the episcopate to be contrary to Sacred Scripture. For a long time, the lines separating one party from another were not so clearly defined that one could not find among the members of one party at least partial adherents of the other: hence great confusion. One of the principal exponents of separatism, later called Congregationalism, was Roberto Browne (v.). His doctrines first developed in England and then chiefly in Holland, where his adherents and he himself had to take refuge in order to escape persecution by the State Church. But the principal organizer was Giovanni Robinson (1575–1625), who, although an Anglican minister, embraced Browne’s doctrines and likewise had to take refuge in Holland. From that country he organized the expedition of part of his followers and of some Puritan refugees (1620–21), known as the “Pilgrim Fathers,” who, having emigrated to the English colony of North America, gave rise to American Congregationalism.
English Congregationalism. Four years before the expedition of the “Pilgrim Fathers,” that is, in 1616, Enrico Jacob, a friend of Robinson who had returned from Holland to England, secretly founded a Congregationalist Church there. Several others were subsequently established, also secretly; but only at the time of Oliviero Cromwell (v. 1647–58) did they gain some respite, and indeed were able to formulate a declaration of their principles and doctrines, which they presented to the government shortly after Cromwell’s death. This is the famous Savoy Declaration, so called after the palace in which they met. This Declaration, which is still regarded as a fundamental charter, asserts the absolute independence of the local Churches or congregations, declares that the civil authority may not interfere in religious matters, recognizes as ministers of worship only those whom the individual local Churches have chosen, calls for religious toleration, etc. When the monarchy was restored in 1660, and with it the official Church, the c. were again persecuted; but after the Revolution of 1688 they were granted full freedom. The extreme individualism of the local Churches caused certain difficulties, to remedy which recourse was had to the formation of partial unions of the nearer Churches, and in 1833 to a more general one, the “Congregational Union of England and Wales.” Yet
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 Congregationalists, with a few Puritans, who nevertheless adopted the doctrines and system of the majority. In North America too, the need for some union among the independent local Churches became apparent, and thus there arose, among others, the Synods of Cambridge in 1648, of Boston in 1680 and 1865, and above all the National Council of Oberlin in 1871, but without any authority over the Churches. The Unitarians, led by G. Elleri Channing, separated from the American Congregationalists. In 1929 they united with the Christians. The Congregationalist system of the absolute independence of local Churches is the system adopted by many sects, such as the Baptists, Christadelphians, Disciples, etc.
The American Congregationalists organized the oldest and one of the most active American Protestant missionary societies, 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., that is, “American secretariat or board of delegates for Foreign Missions.” It is the oldest of the American Protestant missionary societies. It originated in 1810 among some students who decided to devote themselves to Foreign Missions. Their plan was accepted by the General Association of the Congregationalist Churches of Massachusetts. The purpose of the secretariat was to preach the Gospel in foreign countries, establish indigenous Churches that could be self-directing, self-supporting, and self-expanding, set up preparatory schools for leaders and instructors, and cooperate with the other sects. Attracted by the idea of Foreign Missions, some sects joined the American Board, but later separated from it in order to devote themselves to their own missions, and the Congregationalists remained almost alone in forming the A. B., a very well-organized society, with an active and effective prudential committee composed of experienced former missionaries, who study all the missionary questions submitted to II. The A. B. gives special preference to the missions it supports among Catholics. In Italy the Congregationalists were invited in 1872 by the “Free Italian Church,” but abandoned it in 1874 because of the difficulty of finding a suitable field there, since so many other “evangelical” agencies were already present. Indeed, in those years Methodist, Baptist, and other missionaries were flocking there. The missionary activity of the A. B. can be inferred from the 17 missions it supports, spread throughout the world, among which are five in what it calls “papal lands or countries” and considers “Christian in name only,” namely the Philippine Islands, the Carolines, Mexico, Spain, and Czechoslovakia.