Congregational Church

Definition and Meaning

The Congregational Church is a Protestant denomination governed by congregational polity, a system in which a meeting of the entire membership decides the affairs of the church. Church polity is commonly divided into three types: episcopal polity, in which bishops govern; presbyterian polity, in which representative assemblies of elders hold authority over multiple churches; and congregational polity. Congregational churches have no higher governing bodies, such as presbyteries or general assemblies. Instead, each church makes its own decisions through its Church Meeting. In doctrine, Congregationalism stands in the same Calvinist tradition as Presbyterianism. Congregationalists describe this structure as the application of the principle of the priesthood of all believers to church governance.

Biblical and Historical Background

Churches that follow congregational polity point to New Testament passages in which believers made decisions together, such as Acts 6:1-6, Acts 13:1-3, and Acts 15:22. According to Baptist explanations, even under this system the ultimate authority in the church rests not with the congregation but with Jesus Christ. Denominations that follow episcopal or presbyterian polity read the same passages but place greater weight on the roles of officeholders and governing assemblies.

Congregationalism originated in a reform movement in England that criticized the established church.

• In 1582 Robert Browne published writings calling for reform, and Puritan ministers such as John Robinson carried the movement forward.
• Some within this movement, calling themselves Pilgrims, emigrated to North America.
• Together with the Puritans who migrated to Massachusetts in 1629, they drew up the Cambridge Platform in 1648, setting congregational polity down in writing.
• John Owen is regarded as its leading theologian, and its representative confession of faith is the Savoy Declaration.
• In 1662 England enacted the Act of Uniformity, which made the Book of Common Prayer the sole standard for worship. Thereafter Congregationalism became one of the principal streams of Nonconformity, the movement of those who did not conform to the established church.

Congregationalism in Korea

During the Japanese colonial period in Korea, the Japanese Congregational Church (Nihon Kumiai Kyōkai) established a Korea Mission Headquarters and evangelized among Koreans. The headquarters was abolished in 1921 by decision of its director, Watase Tsuneyoshi, and its work was taken over by the Korean Congregational Christian Church. Scholars have published studies documenting the colonialist character of this activity. After Korea's liberation, no independent Congregational denomination continued, and today the churches in Korea that use this name are reportedly limited to a small number founded by foreign missionaries.

Although Congregational denominations are rare in Korea, the principles of congregational polity appear in different forms across several denominations there.

• Baptists emphasize the autonomy of the local church and hold that congregational polity best reflects the governance of the New Testament church.
• In Presbyterianism, the session governs the church, while the presbytery and the general assembly serve as higher governing bodies. There is also a congregational meeting of the entire membership, but the session holds comparatively greater authority. The Korean term for this meeting (gongdong uihoe) is sometimes used to translate the Church Meeting of English Congregational churches.
• Independent churches resemble congregational polity in that each church operates independently without any higher governing body.