The Congregational Union of England and Wales brought together churches in England and Wales in the Congregational tradition between 1831 and 1966.
The Congregational churches emerged from the Puritan movement, each church operating independently and autonomously. The movement grew with the Evangelical revival of the 18th century, and in urban areas following the Industrial Revolution. Despite their independence, many churches built links with each other, and several county unions of churches were formed. [1] [2] [3]
In 1831, the Congregational Union of England and Wales was established. [1] It had no authority over the affiliated churches, but instead aimed to advise and support them. [3] By 1901, it claimed 400,000 members and 2,806 ministers. That year, its chairman, Joseph Parker, proposed that the churches set aside their independence to become the "United Congregational Church", but the idea was rejected. [2]
The Congregational Union was based at the Congregational Memorial Hall in London from 1875 to 1968.
In 1966, the organisation became the Congregational Church in England and Wales, a change which prompted a few churches to leave and form the Evangelical Fellowship of Congregational Churches. In 1972, it merged with the Presbyterian Church of England, to form the United Reformed Church. [1] Many of those churches which did not wish to join the new body instead formed the Congregational Federation. [4] A smaller number of churches chose not to join any of these bodies and chose to be unaffiliated. Provision for them was made through the Unaffiliated Congregational Churches Charities. [5]
The London Missionary Society was the overseas mission arm of the Congregational churches.
Congregational ministers were trained at:[ citation needed ]
The Congregational Library is administered by the Congregational Memorial Hall Trust. It was originally housed in the Congregational Memorial Hall in Farringdon Street in London and was then moved to Dr Williams's Library, London, when the Hall site was sold. Dr Willkiams's Library also holds the former library of New College London. As of 2024 [update] , the Library is moving to Westminster College, Cambridge. [6]
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.
Baptists Together, formally the Baptist Union of Great Britain, is a Baptist Christian denomination in England and Wales. It is affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance and Churches Together in England. The headquarters is in Didcot.
Ridley Hall is a theological college located on the corner of Sidgwick Avenue and Ridley Hall Road in Cambridge, which trains men and women intending to take Holy Orders as deacon or priest of the Church of England, and members of the laity working with children and young people as lay pioneers and within a pastoral capacity such as lay chaplaincy.
The Congregational Union of Scotland was a Protestant church in the Reformed tradition.
Trefeca, located between Talgarth and Llangorse Lake in what is now south Powys in Wales, was the birthplace and home of the 18th-century Methodist leader Howell Harris (1714–1773),. It was also the site of two Calvinistic Methodist colleges at different times; the first sponsored by Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, in the late-18th century; the second supported by the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church in the later 19th century.
Rowland Hill A.M. was a popular English preacher, enthusiastic evangelical and an influential advocate of smallpox vaccination. He was founder and resident pastor of a wholly independent chapel, the Surrey Chapel, London; chairman of the Religious Tract Society; and a keen supporter of the British and Foreign Bible Society and the London Missionary Society. The famous instigator of penny postage, Rowland Hill, is said to have been christened 'Rowland' after him.
The Evangelical Fellowship of Congregational Churches (EFCC) is an association of around 100 independent local churches in the United Kingdom, each practising congregationalist church governance. The EFCC was founded in 1967 by those evangelical Congregationalists who did not want to lose their independence with the formation of the Congregational Church of England and Wales and the subsequent formation of the United Reformed Church in 1972. The EFCC is an Affinity partner.
New College London (1850–1980) was founded as a Congregationalist college in 1850.
The Congregational Federation is a small Christian denomination in Great Britain comprising 235 congregations, down from 294 in April 2014. The Federation brings together Congregational churches, and provides support and guidance to member churches both financially and otherwise.
Andrew Reed was an English Congregational minister and hymnwriter, who became a prominent philanthropist and social reformer. He was the father of Sir Charles Reed and grandfather of Talbot Baines Reed.
An exempt charity is an institution established in England and Wales for charitable purposes which is exempt from registration with, and oversight by, the Charity Commission for England and Wales.
The Colonial Missionary Society was formed in May 1836 as a "distinct society for the Colonies" following the report of a deputation to Canada by representatives of Congregational churches from Britain. Its principal mission effort was directed towards promoting Congregationalist forms of Christianity among "British or other European settlers" rather than indigenous peoples. At first it functioned as part of the Congregational Union, which Andrew Reed, an early honorary secretary, described as 'a crippled and dependent existence'. In time it became an independent body.
Peter Toon was a priest and theologian and an international advocate of traditional Anglicanism.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Cambridge, England.
Rudbaxton is a village, parish and a local government community in the county of Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is 81 miles (130 km) from Cardiff and 208 miles (335 km) from London.
Thomas William Davids (1816–1884) was a Welsh nonconformist minister and ecclesiastical historian.
The Congregational Memorial Hall in Farringdon Street, London was built to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Great Ejection of Black Bartholomew's Day, resulting from the 1662 Act of Uniformity which restored the Anglican church. The two thousand puritan ministers who refused to take the oath of conformity thereby established non-conformism.
The Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide (CCCW) is a study, teaching and research centre in Cambridge, England and a member of the Cambridge Theological Federation which is affiliated with the University of Cambridge.
Joseph Hughes (1769–1833) was an English Baptist minister, best known for his role as a founder of the British and Foreign Bible Society.