English Presbyterianism

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Presbyterianism in England is practised by followers of 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.

16th and early 17th centuries

See also:
History of the Puritans under James I

Though the word Presbyterian dates to 1607,

Scripture, without vestments and prelates, when church government was in the hands of presbyters.[3]

Civil War and Interregnum

See also:
Religion during the Interregnum

English Presbyterianism itself dates to the tumultuous year 1641, which saw the execution of the

Imprisonment of the Twelve Bishops, the publication of the Grand Remonstrance, and most importantly the beginning of a great debate within and without Parliament on the subject of church government. On 11 December 1640, 15,000 Londoners presented the Root and Branch petition to Parliament, which led to the Westminster Assembly of Divines. The Assembly reported in July 1645. Later that year, Parliament enacted for the establishment in every parish of a "congregational assembly", consisting of ruling elders elected by the minister and members of the congregation, and meeting weekly. In practice, few parish assemblies became established. The execution of Charles I in 1649 horrified the Presbyterians and led to a serious rupture between them and the Independents. English Presbyterians came to be representative of those Puritans who still cherished further reformation in church, but were unwavering in their fundamental loyalty to the Crown.[4]

Restoration and Post-Restoration

See also:
History of the Puritans from 1660

Following the

Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act of 1753
.

The Church of England had difficulty filling the vacancies caused by the ejection of so many ministers. In some cases, ministers continued to baptise, marry, and preach in the parish church, quite illegally. In general, the ejected ministers continued to preach to dispersed congregations, making use of now unused chapels of ease (most of which had been built with privately donated funds), and from their own homes. However, by the end of the seventeenth century, the Church of England had reclaimed these chapels of ease, and Dissenting congregations began to build their own chapels.

Aside from

Church in England.[5][6][7]
Outwardly, though, there was initially little difference between ‘Independents’ and ‘Presbyterians’, except that they received financial assistance from the Independent and the Presbyterian Fund boards, respectively.

The exclusivity of Independent congregations tended to perpetuate a conservatism in

Dissenting Academies, led to a growing heterodoxy into Arminianism, Arianism, and eventually Christian Unitarianism
.

Presbyterian Church of England

The Presbyterian Church of England was founded in 1876 by merging of the English congregations of the chiefly Scottish United Presbyterian Church with various other Presbyterian congregations in England.[8]

United Reformed Church

In 1972, virtually all congregations of the Presbyterian Church of England combined with the majority of churches in the

Congregational Church in England and Wales to form the United Reformed Church
in England.

International Presbyterian Church

In 1969 the International Presbyterian Church was founded in England with its first congregation in Ealing. As of 2019 it has nine English churches which are part of its wider British Presbytery.[9] It also has seven Korean-speaking congregations in England as well, as part of the Korean Presbytery.

Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales

In 1996 the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales was established as a presbytery. As of 2016 it had 17 congregations (12 in England, 3 in Wales, 1 in Sweden, and 1 in Germany.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ Gordon, Alexander (1888), "English Presbyterianism", The Christian Life, p. 597.
  2. Rogers, Thomas
    (1607), The English Creede, London; later edition as The Catholic Doctrine of the Church of England.
  3. ^ Bolam, CG; Goring, Jeremy (1968), "English Presbyterian Beginnings", The English Presbyterians, London: George Allen & Unwin.
  4. ^ Bolam & Goring 1968, p. 45.
  5. ^ This, indeed, was the subject of the first book published in Birmingham: Jeacock, Abraham (1702), A discourse concerning church-communion, Birmingham: Andrew Johnson, bookseller.
  6. ^ Some animadversions on a book, intituled A treatise of church-communion; written by Abraham Jeacock, London, 1702.
  7. ^ Bladon, Thomas (1702), Presbyterian meetings where there is a parish-church, are no schisms; and they that go thither are no schismaticks, London.
  8. ^ "Presbyterian and United Reformed Church".
  9. ^ "International Presbyterian Church -". Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2015-08-23.
  10. ^ "Congregations | EPCEW".
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