Congregational Christian Churches
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| Merged into | United Church of Christ | ||||
| Defunct | 1957 | ||||
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The Congregational Christian Churches was a
The body came into being in
Heritages
Congregationalism
Established by settlers in present-day
These ethical convictions would propel the Congregational churches into the forefront of social reform movements during the next 150 years or so. Most notable of these was strong support for the abolition of
In the midst of this political involvement, Congregationalists held firmly to the notion that each local church was ruled directly by
On the homefront, Congregationalism became primarily a grouping found among townspeople and affluent urban residents of New England,
Theologically, during the 19th century the Congregationalists shifted gradually from adherence to orthodox
Congregationalist losses to Presbyterianism increased greatly in the decades in which the Plan of Union, was in effect. Although it was designed by Connecticut Congregationalists and the Presbyterian General Assembly to avoid duplication of effort in evangelizing the frontier regions, this plan resulted in numerous Congregational-founded parishes being annexed to presbyteries, usually through the pastor's affiliation and often without the local church's assent. The need to dissolve that failed attempt at inter-denominationalism, which had already taken place among the Presbyterians, prompted a national gathering of Congregationalists in 1865 at Boston, Massachusetts. This was the first national meeting in more than 200 years, since the 1648 synod that produced the
This was not the first time American Congregationalism had been shaken to its foundations by theological change; the
Meanwhile, despite the cherished commitments to independence and freedom, Congregationalists increasingly began to espouse the main aims of the
The Christian Churches ("Connection")
While Puritans were consolidating their domination of religious, political and intellectual life in New England, elsewhere in America, during the period immediately before the American Revolution, many newly arrived settlers became dissatisfied with theology, preaching, liturgy, and ecclesiology inherited from Europe. Many of these people had turned to
However, in different parts of the country, several preachers led dissenting movements against the leadership of some of those churches. In the 1790s,
Several hundred miles to the north in Vermont, a Baptist preacher by the name of Abner Jones began to refute the then-prevalent Calvinist dogmas within his fellowship. He led some of his followers out of his congregation into a new fellowship founded upon a platform similar to O'Kelly's, with a strong emphasis upon open communion and freedom of conscience. Later in the first decade of the 19th century, he and a New Hampshire pastor began publishing a newspaper for the movement, Herald of Gospel Liberty, reputed by some historians to have been the first general-interest religious periodical in the U.S. The movement progressed throughout New England, especially within those two states, as well as Maine and Massachusetts. Adherents of the Congregational "Standing Order" treated the new churches in a generally hostile fashion.
Both movements were
The geographically disparate Northern and Southern wings of the Christian movement did eventually discover each other, and they formed a convention in 1820. At that time, they agreed on a general list of five (some scholars have claimed six) principles unifying the otherwise diverse congregations. The unity did not survive engrossing controversies over slavery and the ensuing Civil War. The "Christian Connection," as was also the case with American Protestant groups such as the Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists, split once again into Northern and Southern factions. The Northern group catalyzed the split, as many of its leaders, much like those of the Congregationalists, strongly denounced slavery. The Northerners used the schism as an occasion to legally take denominational form, in 1850. Despite the bitterness of the split, Christians in both sections reunited much sooner than did the other separated groups, forming the General Convention of the Christian Church in 1890.
Many Southern/O'Kelly Christians owned slaves, some of whom formed churches of their own in that tradition after the
Theologically, the Christian Churches did not encourage a highly elaborate system of doctrine or Biblical interpretation. Relatively few of their ministers were educated past the elementary grades, a characteristic that persisted well into the early 20th century. Their leanings were toward
By the time that the Congregationalists had approached Christian leaders about possible union, some disaffected adherents of the wing of
The Christians founded schools such as Ohio's Defiance College and Antioch College and North Carolina's Elon University; during the early 20th century, an academy and seminary for African-Americans operated in Franklinton, North Carolina. Defiance continues to relate to the United Church of Christ today.
Early post-merger years
After the 1931 merger, relatively few practices and customs changed drastically within either of the uniting traditions, largely because its members, like most Americans, were overwhelmed by, first, the Great Depression, and, later, World War II. It would not be until after the latter concluded that the CC churches would embark on anything like a major church extension program; this was the case, of course, with most U.S. denominations during this period, as their churches often struggled to merely stay open, with little or nothing left over for mission work.
Congregationalists constituted about 85-90% of the membership of the new denomination; this caused few if any resentments or conflicts because, by and large, the two groups did not overlap each other geographically, except in parts of New England, upstate New York, Ohio, and among African-American churches in North Carolina. Regional judicatories and national domestic and foreign mission agencies merged quite smoothly, often continuing to use varying terminologies (e.g., "convention," "conference," "association"), depending on custom. On the domestic front, most of the new church planting efforts were concentrated in newly developing areas such as southern California, Arizona, Florida, and suburbs of major Midwestern cities (e.g., Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis). Abroad, many CC missionary efforts shifted their emphases toward medical and social services, particularly after many of the churches Congregationalists had founded in earlier decades had formed autonomous bodies of their own.
One distinguishing trait of the new fellowship, aside from its unusually tolerant attitude regarding subscription to ancient doctrines, was its bold enthusiasm for
UCC merger talks
The Rev. Dr. Truman Douglass, pastor of
"Continuing Congregationalism"
However, a small but vocal minority of ministers and laymen protested the developments, charging that any merger with a confessional, presbyterial body such as the E&R Church would destroy the heritage and structure of American Congregationalism. These opponents formed groups that published pamphlets and attempted to persuade churches to reject the proposed merger. An anti-merger congregation in Brooklyn filed suit against the CC moderator, Helen Kenyon, in 1949 to legally stop the merger proceedings; the major legal contention made by the church and the anti-union advocates was that the CC General Council possessed no authority to enter into a merger as a national entity. After some initial victories in lower courts, a New York state Court of Appeals declined jurisdiction and judged in favor of Ms. Kenyon and the CC Churches in 1953. With this defeat, the anti-merger forces turned instead toward forming a new denomination, which became the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, founded in 1955; a preponderance of these churches were located in non-metropolitan New England, southeastern Michigan, parts of Wisconsin and Illinois, and southern California. Some years before that, motivated by different concerns, chiefly doctrine, a group of evangelical-leaning congregations formed the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, in 1948.
Union approved
The final vote on participation by the General Council of Congregational Christian Churches
The CC Churches brought into the new UCC approximately 1.4 million members, about 60 percent of the total number of members in the new denomination. In order to attend to necessary legal business continuing from years past, the General Council remained incorporated until 1984, when it finally dissolved.
See also
- S. Parkes Cadman, prominent minister and leader of the Congregational Christian Churches in the early 20th century
- Christian Connection
References
- ISBN 0829813454.
- ^ Constitution of the United Church of Christ
Sources
- The Shaping of American Congregationalism: 1620-1957, John von Rohr. Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 1992.
- UCC "Short History Course": The Christian Churches Archived 2013-09-19 at the Wayback Machine
- The Shaping of the United Church of Christ: An Essay in the History of American Christianity, Louis H. Gunnemann; Charles Shelby Rooks, ed. Cleveland: United Church Press, 1999.
- A History of Black Congregational Christian Churches of the South, J. Taylor Stanley. New York, United Church Press, 1978.
- The Creeds and Platforms of Congregationalism, Williston Walker; Douglas Horton, foreword. Boston, Pilgrim Press, 1960.
- The Living Theological Heritage of the United Church of Christ, volume 6, Growing Toward Unity, Elsabeth Slaughter Hilke, ed.; Thomas E. Dipko, postscript; Barbara Brown Zikmund, series ed. Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 2001.
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