The Cambridge Platform is a statement of congregational church government for the churches of colonial New England. It was written in 1648 in response to Presbyterian criticism and served as the religious constitution of Massachusetts until 1780. [1] The platform's preface also endorsed the Westminster Confession. [2] The document was shaped primarily by the Puritan ministers Richard Mather and John Cotton.
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The Puritans who settled colonial New England were Calvinists who believed in congregational church government and that the church should include only regenerated persons as full members. Because of this, they became known as Congregationalists and their churches became known as Congregational churches. In New England, Congregationalism was the established religion—Congregational churches were supported financially by taxation and, in Massachusetts, only Congregational church members could vote. [3]
In the 1640s, Congregationalism faced heighteined scrutiny from English Presbyterians, who were gaining power due to the English Civil War. As Calvinists, Congregationalists and Presbyterians were nearly identical in their beliefs with the exception of church government. Presbyterian polity gave authority to a presbytery of elders outside of the local church. In addition, Presbyterians did not insist upon a regenerate church membership and allowed all "non-scandalous" churchgoers to receive the Lord's Supper. [4]
In 1645, local Presbyterians led by William Vassal and Robert Child staged a protest against Massachusetts' policies on church membership and voting. Child threatened to take his complaints to Parliament, provoking fear among colonial leaders that the English government might intervene to force Presbyterianism on New England. The Cambridge Synod was called in response to these attacks on Congregationalism. [5]
In May 1646, a group of Massachusetts ministers asked the colony's General Court to call for a meeting of the colony's churches for the purpose of establishing a uniform set of practices. Specific points of concern involved church membership and baptism of the children of non-members. [6] The Cambridge Synod first met on September 1, 1646, and would continue to meet periodically until August 1648 when its work was completed. Its membership included ministers and lay delegates from all but four of the 29 churches in Massachusetts, and it also had the support of the 24 churches in the other Puritan colonies of New Hampshire, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Haven. Some churches in these colonies also sent ministers and delegates. [7]
The synod tasked John Cotton, Richard Mather and Ralph Partridge of Duxbury to each write a model of church government for the group's consideration. Ultimately, Mather's Platform of Church Discipline was adopted by the synod, and it included much that had been previously written on church government by Mather and Cotton. [1] The General Court also requested that the synod adopt a confession of faith. By this time, the Westminster Confession of Faith, which had been written by English Puritans, had already been adopted by Parliament. The synod unanimously voted to accept the doctrinal portions of the confession, stating that they "do judge it to be very holy, orthodox, and judicious in all matters of faith; and do therefore freely and fully consent thereunto, for the substance thereof." [1] The synod disagreed with portions of the Confession dealing with presbyterian church polity.
The platform is organized into a preface and 17 chapters. The preface, written by John Cotton, counters various criticisms leveled against the New England churches and defends their orthodoxy. [1] The first four chapters explain that congregational polity is the only form of church government authorized in the Bible. [1]
A Congregational church is defined as "a company of saints by calling, united into one body by a holy covenant, for the public worship of God, and the mutual edification one of another, in the fellowship of the Lord Jesus." [8] A local church is a "visible political union" that saints enter into by voluntary, mutual consent on the basis of a church covenant. [9] This distinguished the Congregationalists from the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England, in which everyone within a certain region was given membership in the church. [10]
The platform states that a church should operate under a mixed government, with elements of monarchy (Jesus Christ is king and head of the church), democracy (congregational governance) and aristocracy (rule by officers). [11] The authority given to the congregation includes choosing its own officers, admitting new church members, public censure, excommunication, and restoration to church fellowship. [12]
The extraordinary offices of the church are Apostle, Prophet and Evangelist; extraordinarily called during Christ's ministry and whose offices "ended with themselves." [13]
The ordinary (ongoing) offices are Pastor, Teacher, Ruling Elder [14] and Deacon. [13] [1]
Pastor, teacher and ruling elder are each types of elder.
Of elders, who are also in scripture called bishops, some attend chiefly to the ministry of the word, as the pastors and teachers ; others attend especially unto rule, who are therefore called ruling elders. [13]
The office of pastor and teacher, appears to be distinct. The pastor's special work is, to attend to exhortation, and therein to administer a word of wisdom ... [13]
... the teacher is to attend to doctrine, and therein to administer a word of knowledge [13]
The ruling elder's work is to join with the pastor and teacher in those acts of spiritual rule which are distinct from the ministry of the word and sacraments committed to them [13]
The office of a deacon is instituted in the church by the Lord Jesus ; sometimes they are called helps [13]
Both pastors and teachers can administer sacraments and execute church discipline, but pastors "attend to exhortation, and therein to administer a word of wisdom", while teachers "attend to doctrine, and therein to administer a word of knowledge". [15]
Ruling elders, along with the ministers, are responsible for overseeing the spiritual affairs of the church, including examining any potential officers or members before being approved by the church, ordaining officers chosen by the church, receiving and preparing accusations to be presented to the church, pronouncing sentence of censure or excommunication with consent of the church, moderating church business meetings, acting as guides and leaders in church administration, and admonishing church members when needed. [16] Deacons oversee the worldly or financial affairs of the church, which include collecting contributions and gifts, paying the ministers and distributing charity to the poor. In addition to the two offices, the platform also states that elderly widows may also have a ministry within the church, including "giving attendance to the sick, and to give succor unto them, and others in the like necessities." [17]
Church members elect their officers and can depose them as well. [18] The platform recommends that when possible neighboring churches be consulted concerning the trial of officers. It rejects any right of government officials, diocesan bishops or patrons to appoint church officers. [19] After election, officers are to be ordained by laying on of hands, prayer and fasting; nevertheless, the platform notes that it is election that makes one an officer, not ordination. Normally, elders are to perform the laying on of hands. If a church lacked elders, however, church members themselves could ordain their officers or the church could invite elders from neighboring churches to perform the ordination. [20]
Chapter 12 stipulates that individuals seeking church membership must first undergo examination by the elders for evidence of repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ. The person would then be expected to give a "relation" or public account of their conversion experience before the entire congregation prior to becoming a member. Those who suffered from "excessive fear or infirmity" could give their confession to the elders in private, however. [20] Those who were baptized as children are also required to be examined before they can exercise the privileges of full membership, such as participating in the Lord's Supper. [21]
Chapter 13 describes procedures for transferring from one Congregational church to another, and chapter 14 describes procedures for censuring and excommunicating members who refuse to repent of offenses. [1]
Though distinct and lacking authority over one another, the platform affirms the importance of maintaining communion among Congregational churches. Six ways of showing the communion of churches are identified:
Congregational churches may call for elders and other congregational representatives to meet together in a synod or church council to argue, debate and determine matters of religion. Civil authorities may also call synods to provide religious advice and counsel. Because each Congregational church is self-governing, synods can only advise and recommend. Synods cannot exercise jurisdiction or authority over a local church. [23]
Chapter 17 affirms that church officers may not interfere with the civil government nor government officials with the church. However, the government should punish idolatry, blasphemy, heresy, and "the venting of corrupt and pernicious opinions". [24]
The synod completed the Cambridge Platform in 1648, and after the churches were given time to study the document, provide feedback, and finally ratify it, the General Court commended it as an accurate description of Congregational practice While the platform was legally nonbinding and intended only to be descriptive, it soon became regarded by ministers and lay people alike as the religious constitution of Massachusetts, guaranteeing the rights of church officers and members. [25]
Congregational minister Albert Elijah Dunning wrote that it was "the most important document produced by the Congregationalists of the seventeenth century, for it most clearly represents the belief of the churches and their system of government for more than one hundred years." [24] In Connecticut, it was replaced by the Saybrook Platform of 1708, which brought the Congregational churches closer to a presbyterian form of government. [26]
The document has significant ramifications for the polity of certain denominations today. For example, the congregations of the United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalist churches, and other present-day descendants of the Puritan churches maintain congregational polity as their local church organization, while establishing extensive denominational administrations to ensure ministerial oversight and facilitate communication between denominations. When some Churches of the Standing Order in New England became Unitarian following the Unitarian Controversy, they kept a congregational polity. This polity had a profound influence on the organization and polity of the American Unitarian Association, and, in turn, that of the Unitarian Universalist Association—an organization that, while despite significant theological differences from the signers of the 1648 document, still shares many aspects of the same polity.
Its influence extended beyond what is today the United States. The platform played a role in shaping the Savoy Declaration of 1658, which was produced by English Congregationalists. [27]
Congregational polity, or congregationalist polity, often known as congregationalism, is a system of ecclesiastical polity in which every local church (congregation) is independent, ecclesiastically sovereign, or "autonomous". Its first articulation in writing is the Cambridge Platform of 1648 in New England.
Presbyterianpolity is a method of church governance typified by the rule of assemblies of presbyters, or elders. Each local church is governed by a body of elected elders usually called the session or consistory, though other terms, such as church board, may apply. Groups of local churches are governed by a higher assembly of elders known as the presbytery or classis; presbyteries can be grouped into a synod, and presbyteries and synods nationwide often join together in a general assembly. Responsibility for conduct of church services is reserved to an ordained minister or pastor known as a teaching elder, or a minister of the word and sacrament.
Continental Reformed Protestantism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that traces its origin in the continental Europe. Prominent subgroups are the Dutch Reformed, the Swiss Reformed, the French Huguenots, the Hungarian Reformed, and the Waldensian Church in Italy.
The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2024 it had approximately 44,000 members in around 1,250 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers.
Congregationalism is a Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs. These principles are enshrined in the Cambridge Platform (1648) and the Savoy Declaration (1658), Congregationalist confessions of faith. The Congregationalist Churches are a continuity of the theological tradition upheld by the Puritans. Their genesis was through the work of Congregationalist divines Robert Browne, Henry Barrowe, and John Greenwood.
John Cotton was a clergyman in England and the American colonies, and was considered the preeminent minister and theologian of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He studied for five years at Trinity College, Cambridge, and nine years at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He had already built a reputation as a scholar and outstanding preacher when he accepted the position of minister at St. Botolph's Church, Boston, in Lincolnshire, in 1612.
Henry Martyn Dexter was an American Congregational clergyman and author.
The Congregational Christian Churches was a Protestant Christian denomination that operated in the U.S. from 1931 through 1957. On the latter date, most of its churches joined the Evangelical and Reformed Church in a merger to become the United Church of Christ. Others created the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches or joined the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference that formed earlier in 1945. During the forementioned period, its churches were organized nationally into a General Council, with parallel state conferences, sectional associations, and missionary instrumentalities. Congregations, however, retained their local autonomy and these groups were legally separate from the congregations.
The Half-Way Covenant was a form of partial church membership adopted by the Congregational churches of colonial New England in the 1660s. The Puritan-controlled Congregational churches required evidence of a personal conversion experience before granting church membership and the right to have one's children baptized. Conversion experiences were less common among second-generation colonists, and this became an issue when these unconverted adults had children of their own who were ineligible for baptism.
In Welsh and English church history, Independents advocated local congregational control of religious and church matters, without any wider geographical hierarchy, either ecclesiastical or political. They were particularly prominent during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms as well under the Commonwealth and Protectorate. The New Model Army became the champion of Independent religious views and its members helped carry out Pride's Purge in December 1648.
The reformed confessions of faith are the confessional documents of various Reformed churches. These express the doctrinal views of the churches adopting the confession. Confessions play a crucial part in the theological identity of reformed churches, either as standards to which ministers must subscribe, or more generally as accurate descriptions of their faith. Most confessions date to the 16th and 17th century.
The Savoy Declaration is a Congregationalist confession of Faith. Its full title is A Declaration of the Faith and Order owned and practised in the Congregational Churches in England. It was drawn up in October 1658 by English Independents and Congregationalists meeting at the Savoy Hospital, London. It consists of a preface, a confession, and a platform of discipline.
The Saybrook Platform was a constitution for the Congregational church in Connecticut in the 18th century.
Ecclesiastical polity is the government of a church. There are local (congregational) forms of organization as well as denominational. A church's polity may describe its ministerial offices or an authority structure between churches. Polity relates closely to ecclesiology, the theological study of the church.
The Conservative Congregational Christian Conference is a Congregationalist denomination of Protestant Christianity that is based in the United States. It is the most conservative and oldest Congregationalist denomination in America following the dissolution of the Congregational Christian Churches. It is a member of the World Evangelical Congregational Fellowship and the National Association of Evangelicals.
The Plan of Union of 1801 was an agreement between the Congregational churches of New England and the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America for mutual support and joint effort in evangelizing the American frontier. It lasted until 1852.
Presbyterianism in England is practised by followers of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism who practise the Presbyterian form of church government. Dating in England as a movement from 1588, it is distinct from Continental and Scottish forms of Presbyterianism. The Unitarian historian Alexander Gordon (1841–1931) stated that, whereas in Scotland, church government is based on a meeting of delegates, in England the individual congregation is the primary body of government. This was the practice in Gordon's day, however, most of the sixteenth and seventeenth century English theoreticians of Presbyterianism, such as Thomas Cartwright, John Paget, the Westminster Assembly of Divines and the London Provincial Assembly, envisaged a Presbyterian system composed of congregations, classes and synods. Historically Presbyterians in England were subsumed into the United Reformed Church in 1972. In more recent years the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales and the International Presbyterian Church have seen modest growth in England.
In the early 17th century, thousands of English Puritans settled in North America, almost all in New England. Puritans were intensely devout members of the Church of England who believed that the Church of England was insufficiently reformed, retaining too much of its Roman Catholic doctrinal roots, and who therefore opposed royal ecclesiastical policy. Most Puritans were "non-separating Puritans" who believed there should be an established church and did not advocate setting up separate congregations distinct from the Church of England; these were later called Nonconformists. A small minority of Puritans were "separating Puritans" who advocated for local, doctrinally similar, church congregations but no state established church. The Pilgrims, unlike most of New England's puritans, were a Separatist group, and they established the Plymouth Colony in 1620. Puritans went chiefly to New England, but small numbers went to other English colonies up and down the Atlantic.
The National Council of Congregational Churches of the United States was a mainline Protestant, Christian denomination in the United States. Its organization as a denomination was delayed by the Civil War. Congregational leaders met again in Boston, Massachusetts in 1865, where they began to hammer out standards of church procedures (polity) and adopted a statement of faith, known as the Burial Hill Declaration. Denominational organization came in 1871 with formation of the National Council of Congregational Churches, which existed until its merger in 1931. In 1928, there were 5,497 Congregational churches in the U.S. with a membership of 939,130. These churches were served by 5,648 ministers.
Congregationalism in the United States consists of Protestant churches in the Reformed tradition that have a congregational form of church government and trace their origins mainly to Puritan settlers of colonial New England. Congregational churches in other parts of the world are often related to these in the United States due to American missionary activities.