The Congregational Churches

Churches that govern themselves: each congregation gathered by covenant under Christ alone, with no bishop, synod or conference over it. Today they are the mainline United Church of Christ and the smaller conservative bodies that would not join it.

Williston Walker, The Creeds and Platforms of Congregationalism (New York: Scribner, 1893), full text, Internet Archive (carries the Cambridge Platform of 1648 and the Savoy Declaration of 1658 with its Platform of Polity)

United Church of Christ, Testimonies, not tests of the faith

United Church of Christ, Preamble to the Constitution of the United Church of Christ

The Constitution of the United Church of Christ (PDF, ucc.org)

United Church of Christ, Statement of Faith (original version, 1959)

United Church of Christ, A Short Course in UCC History: The United Church of Christ

United Church of Christ, History

United Church of Christ, Statistical Profile 2024 (PDF, ucc.org)

United Church of Christ, Elected Officers

United Church of Christ, Marriage Equality

First Reformed United Church of Christ, What to Expect

First Congregational Church of Blue Hill (UCC), Sunday Service

Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, Constitution (Statement of Faith, Statement of Polity)

Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, About Us

Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, Applications and Forms

Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, Our Leadership: Officers and Staff

CCCC Position Paper, Statement Regarding the Charismatic Movement

CCCC Position Paper, Statement Regarding Ministerial Standing of Women

CCCC Position Paper, The Nature of Our Fellowship

CCCC Position Paper, Homosexuals and the Christian Fellowship

Forestdale Community Church, Malden, Massachusetts (a CCCC member church), Visit; Worship; Beliefs, Values & Affiliations

National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, 2026 Yearbook (PDF), Articles of Association and Bylaws

NACCC, 2026 Annual Meeting & Conference: Church Membership list, July 2025 to June 2026 (PDF)

NACCC, New Executive Director Announced (2025)

Conservative Congregational Christian Conference (Wikipedia; a last resort, used for dates and counts only)

Congregationalism began as the conviction that a church is a gathered company of believers who answer to Christ and not to a bishop. English Separatists said so in the 1580s, the Pilgrims carried it to Plymouth in 1620, and the Puritans of Massachusetts wrote it into the Cambridge Platform of 1648. The English Savoy Declaration of 1658 said it again. In the twentieth century the Congregational churches joined the union that became the UCC in 1957, and a minority of churches refused. That is why "Congregational" now names a mainline denomination and also a handful of small conservative ones.

Robert Browne states Congregational principles

Williston Walker opens his collection of the Congregational standards with Robert Browne's statement of Congregational principles, printed at Middelburg in the Netherlands in 1582. It is the earliest document in his book. Walker calls them "the three treatises of 1582." The UCC's history adds that Browne had gathered a congregation at Norwich in 1581.

The Scrooby company goes to Leyden

Walker says that in 1605 or more probably 1606 a part of the Gainsborough church "organized separately and met statedly at the house of William Brewster, the postmaster at Scrooby." Richard Clyfton and John Robinson were probably its officers. They found England "a hard place in which to worship God after the Congregational fashion," went to Amsterdam in 1607 and 1608, and in 1609 "emigrated" to Leyden.

The Mayflower Compact

Walker's collection gives the Seven Articles of 1617 and the Mayflower Compact of 1620 together in one chapter. The Compact is the covenant of the settlers who came to Plymouth, and it belongs in the line of church covenants this body keeps.

The Cambridge Platform

Walker names the Cambridge Synod and Platform, 1646–1648. It was the New England churches' statement of church order. Its chapters take in the church, its officers, the admission of members, censures, the communion of churches, synods and the civil magistrate.

The Savoy Declaration

Congregational ministers in England drew up the Savoy Declaration of Faith and Order in 1658. It follows the Westminster Confession of Faith, with changes, and it adds a Platform of Polity on the Institution of Churches. Its preface says a confession is "no way to be made use of as an imposition upon any." The CCCC says the Savoy "was itself a modification of the Westminster Confession including a more flexible view of the role of creeds."

The Half-Way Covenant

A synod of the Massachusetts churches ruled in 1662 on the children of church members who had been admitted "in minority," that is, as minors. Its conclusions held that where such members were "not scandalous in life," publicly assented to the doctrine of faith and solemnly owned the covenant, to "give up themselves and their children to the Lord," then "their children are to be Baptised," although the parents were not in full communion. The system took its name, the Half-Way Covenant, from this half membership. Jonathan Edwards's An Humble Inquiry (Boston, 1749) is the first work Walker lists among the opponents of it.

The Unitarian separation begins

The UCC's own history says the liberal path taken in eastern Massachusetts "would lead in the next century to the Unitarian separation from Congregationalism." Henry Ware, the liberal professor of divinity at Harvard, "set off a controversy that sparked the establishment of the Congregational Andover Theological Seminary in 1808, a bulwark of Calvinist orthodoxy." In 1819 William Ellery Channing, a Congregational minister in Boston, preached his sermon "Unitarian Christianity," and by it "proclaimed his leadership of the Unitarian movement." The liberal churches went out from the Congregational order, and the orthodox kept it.

Two denominations take their shape

The UCC's own history says that in 1957 the Evangelical and Reformed Church was "23 years old" and the Congregational Christian Churches "26 years old." The Congregational Christian Churches were therefore formed in 1931, and the Evangelical and Reformed Church in 1934. The Congregational Christian Churches were "a fellowship of biblical people under a mutual covenant for responsible freedom in Christ."

The CCCC is formed

Conservative members of the Congregational Christian Churches formed a Conservative Congregational Christian Fellowship in 1945. They feared that the proposed merger with the Evangelical and Reformed Church would compromise Congregational polity. In 1948 the Fellowship constituted itself the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference.

The NACCC is organized

Delegates of Congregational Christian churches met at Detroit on 9 and 10 November 1955 and "first organized and elected temporary officers" of the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches. They adopted articles of association at Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, on 25 October 1956.

The United Church of Christ is formed

"On Tuesday, June 25,1957, at Cleveland, Ohio," the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches "joined together as the United Church of Christ." The new church joined "presbyterian with congregational polities." A message to the churches said that the two companies held "the same basic belief: that Christ and Christ alone is the head of the Church."

Statement of Faith and Constitution

The Second General Synod, at Oberlin in 1959, approved the Statement of Faith. The Third General Synod, at Philadelphia in 1961, adopted the Constitution and By-Laws and elected Ben Herbster as the first president.

The UCC General Synod and marriage

"On July 4, 2005, at the 25th General Synod of the United Church of Christ in Atlanta, delegates voted to adopt the resolution, “Equal Marriage Rights for All”" The resolution is the General Synod's own word, and it does not bind the local churches (see the distinctive on marriage).

Robert Browne

The author of the first statement of Congregational principles in Walker's collection, printed at Middelburg in 1582. The principles he set out were that a church is a gathered company, answerable to Christ.

John Robinson

A man of Cambridge training who, Walker writes, had labored near Norwich, "where his Congregational sentiments had attracted the unfavorable notice of his ecclesiastical superiors." He came to Gainsborough about 1604, and with Richard Clyfton was chosen an officer of the Scrooby company. He went with them to Amsterdam and then, in 1609, to Leyden.

Thomas Goodwin and Philip Nye

Walker calls them "the most powerful debaters on the Congregational side" in the Westminster Assembly. They had suffered under Laud, had gone to Holland, and had ministered to English congregations there. With four others they signed the Apologeticall Narration of 1643, which agreed with the Presbyterians in doctrine and asked for liberty in church government.

Karen Georgia A. Thompson

The UCC's Elected Officers page names her General Minister and President and Chief Executive Officer, and says she is "the first woman and first woman of African descent to serve as leader of the denomination." On 9 May 2026 the Special Meeting of the Thirty-fifth General Synod elected Jennifer Sowell Associate General Minister.

David McKinley and Marc Gauthier

The CCCC lists David McKinley, of Schwenksville, Pennsylvania, as President for the 2026–2029 term. He has served the Central Schwenkfelder Church in Lansdale since 2002. Marc Gauthier is the Conference Minister, in Lake Elmo, Minnesota. He joined the CCCC in 1989 and served 26 years as an Army chaplain.

Gerry Krupp

The NACCC announced in 2025 that Rev. Dr. Gerry Krupp, after serving multiple years as its Director of Programs, was selected as Executive Director after a national search.

Two bodies, two answers on a creed. The UCC and the CCCC both come out of the Congregational Christian Churches, yet they answer the question of a binding creed in opposite ways. The UCC receives the historic creeds as "testimonies, but not tests of the faith." The CCCC requires every church and minister to "affirm without reservation" its Statement of Faith and Statement of Polity. The NACCC's founding preamble speaks of fellowship "free from the bondage of creed or ecclesiastical control." Each is Congregational by its own account.

The Savoy and the CCCC. In "The Nature of Our Fellowship" the CCCC says: "We do not claim that the theological breadth of our Conference today is a precise extension of all the doctrines of the Savoy Declaration of 1658." It adds that there is freedom in the CCCC "to believe and practice the strictest Reformed theology of our early fathers, as well as other essentially Christian theology which differs in certain ways from the Reformation perspective."

What is not in this chart. The sources read give no date and no first-hand account for Jonathan Edwards's dismissal from Northampton, the ending of the Massachusetts church tax in 1833, or the 1972 ordination of William R. Johnson. None is claimed here.

Christ is the only head and Scripture the rule. The UCC receives the creeds as testimonies and not tests; the CCCC holds the Bible as inerrant and binds its own statement on churches and ministers; the NACCC is free of creed.

All the Congregational bodies say that Christ alone is head of the church. After that they part. The United Church of Christ says it "affirms the Bible as the authoritative witness to the Word of God," and it also names "the creeds of the ecumenical councils, and the confessions of the Reformation." It receives these as "testimonies, but not tests of the faith," so no creed is binding on a member or a congregation. The Conservative Congregational Christian Conference states that the Bible is "the only inspired, inerrant, infallible, authoritative Word of God written," and it requires every church and minister to "affirm without reservation" its Statement of Faith and Statement of Polity. The NACCC has no creed: its founding preamble speaks of fellowship "free from the bondage of creed or ecclesiastical control." The historic Savoy Declaration (1658) joins the two: it is a long confession, and its preface says a confession is "no way to be made use of as an imposition upon any."

The UCC therefore receives the historic creeds and confessions of our ancestors as testimonies, but not tests of the faith.

We believe the Bible consisting of the Old and New Testament, to be the only inspired, inerrant, infallible, authoritative Word of God written.

Whatever is of force or constraint in matters of this nature causeth them to degenerate from the name and nature of Confessions

The UCC says why it has no binding creed: "The UCC has roots in the “covenantal” tradition—meaning there is no centralized authority or hierarchy that can impose any doctrine or form of worship on its members. Christ alone is Head of the church." The Constitution's Preamble adds that the UCC "looks to the Word of God in the Scriptures, and to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit." The CCCC's rule on membership: "Churches seeking membership in the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference must affirm without reservation our Statement of Faith and our Statement of Polity." The CCCC also says in its own paper on fellowship that Christians in it "do not have to agree on everything." The NACCC: "no individual, either elected or appointed, serving the NACCC, may speak for the member churches."

Faith alone justifies. Infants are baptized in the Savoy Declaration and in the UCC, and pouring or sprinkling is allowed; the CCCC's statement is silent on baptism.

The historic Savoy Declaration says that faith "is the alone instrument of justification," that it works by love, and that "Not onely those that do actually profess faith in, and obedience unto Christ, but also the Infants of one or both believing parents are to be baptized, and those onely." It adds that "Dipping of the person into the water is not necessary" and that baptism "is rightly administred by pouring or sprinkling water upon the person," and that grace and salvation "are not so inseparably annexed" to baptism that none can be saved without it. The United Church of Christ recognizes two sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and one of its congregations says "The UCC recognizes baptism of infants, children, youth, and adults." Its Statement of Faith says that God "promises to all who trust him forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace." The CCCC states that "for salvation of lost and sinful man regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential." Its Statement of Faith does not mention baptism, and the pages read give nothing on its mode or purpose in CCCC churches.

Faith thus receiving and resting on Christ, and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification

Not onely those that do actually profess faith in, and obedience unto Christ, but also the Infants of one or both believing parents are to be baptized, and those onely.

Dipping of the person into the water is not necessary, but Baptism is rightly administred by pouring or sprinkling water upon the person.

The CCCC states: "We believe that for salvation of lost and sinful man regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential." The UCC's Statement of Faith: "He seeks in holy love to save all people from aimlessness and sin." The same Statement says God calls us into the church "to share in Christ’s baptism and eat at his table." A UCC congregation's page: "The UCC recognizes baptism of infants, children, youth, and adults." The Savoy says: "Although it be a great sin to contemn or neglect this Ordinance, yet grace and salvation are not so inseparably annexed unto it, as that no person can be regenerated or saved without it."

A sacrament of Christ's death, received spiritually. The UCC churches read serve it about monthly at an open table; the CCCC church read serves it on two Sundays a month.

The Savoy Declaration says that worthy receivers "receive and feed upon Christ crucified" in the Supper, and that Christ's body and blood are "spiritually present to the Faith of Believers" as the elements are to the senses. It rejects the Mass, the lifting up of the elements and the withholding of the cup. The United Church of Christ counts the Lord's Supper, with Baptism, as one of two sacraments, in accordance with "the teaching of our Lord and the practice prevailing among evangelical Christians." In the UCC churches read, it is served about once a month, with an open table: "all are welcome to participate." In the CCCC church read, it is served on the first and third Sundays of the month. The CCCC's Statement of Faith does not mention the Supper. None of the pages read says the Supper is kept every first day of the week.

yet not carnally and corporally, but spiritually, receive and feed upon Christ crucified, and all benefits of his death

In accordance with the teaching of our Lord and the practice prevailing among evangelical Christians, it recognizes two sacraments: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion.

We celebrate Communion on the first Sunday of every month. We practice open Communion, and all are welcome to participate.

The UCC's Statement of Faith speaks of the church's call "to share in Christ’s baptism and eat at his table." First Reformed UCC: "We celebrate Communion about once a month. Everyone is invited to participate, including children." Forestdale Community Church (CCCC): "with communion served on the first and third Sundays of the month." The Savoy on the unfit: "ignorant and ungodly persons, as they are unfit to enjoy communion with Christ, so are they unworthy of the Lords Table."

Each congregation is complete in itself and calls its own officers: pastors, teachers, elders and deacons. No bishop, synod or conference rules it.

The Savoy Declaration's Platform of Polity says that Christ has given each gathered church "all that Power and Authority, which is any way needfull" for its worship and discipline, and that "there is not instituted by Christ any Church more extensive or Catholique entrusted with power." Its officers "are Pastors, Teachers, Elders, and Deacons," chosen "by the common suffrage of the Church it self." Synods may advise but have no "Jurisdiction over the Churches themselves." The Cambridge Platform of 1648 said that the Apostles' office ended with themselves and that Elders "are also in Scripture called Bishops." The UCC writes it into its Constitution: "The autonomy of the Local Church is inherent and modifiable only by its own action." The CCCC says each local church "is ultimately answerable only to Jesus Christ, and not to any association, conference, council, synod or any other ecclesiastical body." The NACCC describes a church as one "complete under God in spiritual authority and ecclesiastical power." In the CCCC church read there is a pastor and a board of deacons, and the CCCC's Credentials Committee recognizes ordination. The UCC ordains women, and its history counts Antoinette Brown, ordained by the Congregational church at Butler, New York, in 1853, among its forebears. The CCCC leaves the question to each congregation.

Besides these particular Churches, there is not instituted by Christ any Church more extensive or Catholique entrusted with power for the administration of his Ordinances, or the execution of any authority in his name.

The autonomy of the Local Church is inherent and modifiable only by its own action.

We believe that each local church is ultimately answerable only to Jesus Christ, and not to any association, conference, council, synod or any other ecclesiastical body.

Savoy, Platform of Polity: "The Officers appointed by Christ to be chosen and set apart by the Church so called, and gathered for the peculiar administration of Ordinances, and execution of Power or Duty which he intrusts them with, or calls them to, to be continued to the end of the world, are Pastors, Teachers, Elders, and Deacons." On councils: "these Synods so assembled are not entrusted with any Church-Power, properly so called, or with any Jurisdiction over the Churches themselves." Cambridge Platform: "Of Elders (who are also in Scripture called Bishops)." On women in office the CCCC says: "Each congregation ordains whom it freely chooses, thus preserving its own autonomy," and it recognizes as ordained "Whoever is duly ordained in a local church, whether male or female."

Scripture, preaching, prayer, psalms and the sacraments; the churches read use organ, piano and praise songs. Each congregation orders its own worship.

The Savoy Declaration names the parts of worship: "reading of the Scriptures, Preaching, and hearing the word of God, singing of Psalms, as also the administration of Baptism and the Lords Supper." It keeps the first day of the week as "the Christian Sabbath." Beyond this the Congregational bodies leave worship to each church. The UCC Constitution lists among the rights of a local church "to retain or adopt its own methods of organization, worship and education." A UCC congregation describes worship that is "mostly traditional with a pipe organ or piano and a mix of hymns and songs sung by a choir and the congregation," and a CCCC church describes "a blend of contemporary praise songs and traditional hymns." Neither the Savoy nor the pages read call for singing without instruments.

reading of the Scriptures, Preaching, and hearing the word of God, singing of Psalms, as also the administration of Baptism and the Lords Supper, are all parts of religious Worship of God

Our style of worship is mostly traditional with a pipe organ or piano and a mix of hymns and songs sung by a choir and the congregation.

Our worship services have a blend of contemporary praise songs and traditional hymns and last about one hour

The Savoy on the day: "from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, which in Scripture is called the Lords day, and is to be continued to the end of the World as the Christian Sabbath." The UCC Constitution says nothing in it shall give the General Synod "the power to abridge or impair the autonomy of any Local Church in the management of its own affairs, which affairs include, but are not limited to, the right to retain or adopt its own methods of organization, worship and education." The NACCC preamble speaks of "the right of the local Church to self-government in all matters temporal and spiritual."

The Savoy says God's former ways of revealing his will have ceased. The CCCC's board urges neither promoting nor forbidding sign gifts. The UCC confesses the Spirit as the one who creates and renews the church.

The historic Savoy Declaration says that God committed his will to writing, "those former ways of Gods revealing his Will unto his people, being now ceased." The CCCC states belief "in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by Whose indwelling power and fullness the Christian is enabled to live a godly life." On the sign gifts its Board of Directors says it wants "neither evangelism on behalf of the spectacular gifts nor forbidding thereof," respects "those who hold to the view that the sign gifts were withdrawn when the canon of Scripture was closed" and "those who hold that these same gifts are still among us today," and is "firm in our belief that messages received by means of these gifts are not equal to the revelation of God in Holy Scripture." The UCC Statement of Faith says God "bestows upon us his Holy Spirit, creating and renewing the church of Jesus Christ." The pages read give no UCC teaching on miraculous gifts.

those former ways of Gods revealing his Will unto his people, being now ceased

We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by Whose indwelling power and fullness the Christian is enabled to live a godly life in this present evil world.

He bestows upon us his Holy Spirit, creating and renewing the church of Jesus Christ, binding in covenant faithful people of all ages, tongues, and races.

CCCC Board of Directors, in full on the point: "We respect those who hold to the view that the sign gifts were withdrawn when the canon of Scripture was closed. We also respect those who hold that these same gifts are still among us today." And: "To use either the Annual Meeting or regional gatherings for the promoting of these spectacular gifts is not in order as it will engender division." The paper itself says that "The Conference as a body would find it difficult, because of our congregational structure, to make a definitive policy statement."

The Savoy and the CCCC confess the return of Christ, the resurrection of the saved and the lost and the final judgment. The UCC Statement of Faith speaks of eternal life in his kingdom and does not mention the return or the resurrection.

The historic Savoy Declaration says that God "hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the World in righteousness by Jesus Christ," when the wicked "shall be cast into eternal torments" and the righteous "go into everlasting Life." The CCCC holds "the resurrection of both the saved and the lost" and believes in Christ's "personal return in power and glory." The United Church of Christ Statement of Faith says that God "judges men and nations by his righteous will declared through prophets and apostles" and promises "eternal life in his kingdom which has no end." It does not mention the return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead or the final judgment of persons, and the pages read give no further UCC teaching on them.

hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the World in righteousness by Jesus Christ

We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.

and eternal life in his kingdom which has no end

The CCCC states belief "in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory." The Savoy, on the dead: "their souls (which neither die nor sleep) having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them." The UCC Statement of Faith: "He judges men and nations by his righteous will declared through prophets and apostles."

The gathered church and its covenant

A church is a company of believers who covenant together under Christ, and each such church is complete in itself. This is the thing the whole family exists to keep.

The Savoy Declaration's Platform of Polity says that Christ calls his people "to walk together in particular Societies or Churches," and that the members "are Saints by Calling." They give themselves "to the Lord, and to one another" by a covenant. The Cambridge Platform calls a church "a company of people combined" together "by covenant for the worship of God." The UCC keeps this in its Constitution: "The autonomy of the Local Church is inherent and modifiable only by its own action." The CCCC says each local church "is in itself a complete church." The NACCC says its churches are bound by "a mutually owned covenant."

Those thus called (through the Ministery of the Word by his Spirit) he commandeth to walk together in particular Societies or Churches, for their mutual edification, and the due performance of that publique Worship, which he requireth of them in this world.

The Members of these Churches are Saints by Calling, visibly manifesting and evidencing (in and by their profession and walking) their obedience unto that Call of Christ

We believe that each local church is in itself a complete church, and therefore autonomous and possesses all rights and responsibilities of the church by the Holy Spirit as set forth in the Holy Scriptures.

And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

And if he refuse to hear them, tell it unto the church: and if he refuse to hear the church also, let him be unto thee as the Gentile and the publican.

in the name of our Lord Jesus, ye being gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus,

Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood.

This is the New Testament pattern, and the Congregational bodies hold it with a clarity that few churches have. The apostles appointed elders "in every church" (Acts 14:23), each church dealt with its own members when "tell it unto the church" was the last step (Matthew 18:17), and Paul charged the elders of Ephesus to feed "the church of the Lord" (Acts 20:28). There is no bishop, no synod, no conference and no pope over them, and on that these churches stand on the line. What they add is a written covenant as the door of membership. The apostles baptized penitent believers into Christ, and no covenant document is in the text. The Savoy says rightly that a member must be one who professes faith and "walks," yet the churches that baptize infants (see salvation) have joined to the church people who have professed nothing.

The NACCC: "which is complete under God in spiritual authority and ecclesiastical power, regularly meeting and worshiping, united by a mutually owned covenant, in fellowship with sister Congregational Christian Churches." The Cambridge Platform adds that "Christ should have no visible political churches upon earth" if believers neglected joining particular congregations. Only the New Testament sets the covenant of the church: it is the gospel obeyed, and a written church covenant adds a rule where Scripture is silent.

Councils that advise and do not rule

Churches may meet in council and give counsel, but no council may rule a church. The Savoy and the Cambridge Platform say so, and the UCC and CCCC write it into their documents.

The Savoy Declaration says that many churches may "by their Messengers meet in a Synod or Councel, to consider and give their advice," yet such synods "are not entrusted with any Church-Power, properly so called, or with any Jurisdiction over the Churches themselves," and "there are not instituted by Christ any stated Synods in a fixed Combination of Churches." The Cambridge Platform acknowledged properly assembled synods "as the ordinance of Christ." The UCC Constitution says its General Synod's powers shall not "invade the autonomy of Conferences, Associations, and Local Churches." The CCCC says each church seeks "fellowship and counsel of other such local churches" and is not answerable to any body above it.

Besides these occasional Synods or Councels, there are not instituted by Christ any stated Synods in a fixed Combination of Churches, or their Officers in lesser or greater Assemblies; nor are there any Synods appointed by Christ in a way of Subordination to one another.

no power vested in the General Synod shall invade the autonomy of Conferences, Associations, and Local Churches

We believe that it is proper and beneficial for each local church to seek fellowship and counsel of other such local churches.

Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men out of their company, and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren:

For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that ye abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which if ye keep yourselves, it shall be well with you. Fare ye well.

And as they went on their way through the cities, they delivered them the decrees to keep which had been ordained of the apostles and elders that were at Jerusalem.

The council at Jerusalem is the pattern for counsel, and these churches follow it in what they refuse: they will not turn a gathering of churches into a government over churches. They are right that Christ appointed no standing ladder of assemblies above the congregation. The Jerusalem decision, though, was not advice. "it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us" (Acts 15:28), the apostles said, and the churches were to keep the decrees (Acts 16:4). That authority was the apostles' own and ended with them, and what is left to churches is counsel. The Congregational bodies see this better than the churches that kept a council with power.

The CCCC board states the same limit in its own papers: it says it would find it "difficult, because of our congregational structure, to make a definitive policy statement" on the charismatic movement. The Cambridge Platform says that the constituting of a synod "is a church act," and not the magistrate's.

A confession that is a testimony and not a test

The Savoy said a confession must never be forced on anyone. The UCC takes that to mean no creed binds a member; the CCCC takes the opposite road and binds its Statement of Faith as the price of membership.

The Savoy Declaration's preface says that when a company of Christians joins in a confession, it is "a meet or fit medium or means whereby to express that their common faith and salvation," and that "Whatever is of force or constraint in matters of this nature causeth them to degenerate from the name and nature of Confessions." The UCC puts it in a sentence: it "receives the historic creeds and confessions of our ancestors as testimonies, but not tests of the faith." The CCCC reads the Savoy differently. It says its fellowship is not "a precise extension of all the doctrines of the Savoy Declaration of 1658," yet it requires its churches and ministers to "affirm without reservation" its Statement of Faith. The NACCC is bound together "free from the bondage of creed."

Churches seeking membership in the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference must affirm without reservation our Statement of Faith and our Statement of Polity

the fellowship of Churches in the spirit of love, without compulsion or restraint and free from the bondage of creed or ecclesiastical control

But though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach unto you any gospel other than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema. As we have said before, so say I now again, If any man preacheth unto you any gospel other than that which ye received, let him be anathema.

holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict the gainsayers.

Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints.

Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other.

A church is right to refuse to let a human document stand beside Scripture, and the Savoy's preface says it well. The conclusion the UCC draws goes too far: if a creed is only a testimony, no one is held to anything, yet the apostles taught that error is not to be tolerated: "though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach unto you any gospel other than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema" (Galatians 1:8). The CCCC errs the other way, making its own Statement a test of membership, which sets a human document beside the text (1 Corinthians 4:6). The right line is the apostles' teaching itself: hold it, "contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 1:3), and put out the one who teaches otherwise, with the Scriptures as the only test.

The CCCC's own paper on its fellowship says: "There is freedom in the CCCC today to believe and practice the strictest Reformed theology of our early fathers, as well as other essentially Christian theology which differs in certain ways from the Reformation perspective." The two statements, one of breadth and one of subscription, sit side by side in the same Conference.

Marriage and the ministry: the UCC and the CCCC

The UCC General Synod voted in 2005 for "Equal Marriage Rights for All," and the UCC ordains women. The CCCC's papers state that homosexual practice is sin and leave the ordination of women to each congregation.

The two bodies answer the questions of marriage and ministry in opposite ways. The UCC General Synod adopted the resolution "Equal Marriage Rights for All" on 4 July 2005. The UCC Constitution says nothing in it shall give the General Synod "the power to abridge or impair the autonomy of any Local Church in the management of its own affairs." The UCC ordains women. Its history tells of Antoinette Brown, "ordained in 1853" by the Congregational church at Butler, New York, and an Antoinette Brown Award is presented at each General Synod to "two ordained women." The CCCC states: "God in His Holy Word plainly condemns the practice of homosexuality as an abomination in His sight (Leviticus 18:22), as a degrading and unnatural passion (Romans 1:26,27)," and it says that people who have been involved in it may be received "after confession of faith and evidence of repentance." On women in the ministry, the CCCC says that Christians "equally committed to the authority of Holy Scripture, may disagree," and that "Each congregation ordains whom it freely chooses."

On July 4, 2005, at the 25th General Synod of the United Church of Christ in Atlanta, delegates voted to adopt the resolution, “Equal Marriage Rights for All”

God in His Holy Word plainly condemns the practice of homosexuality as an abomination in His sight

Each congregation ordains whom it freely chooses, thus preserving its own autonomy.

Her life and ministry are memorialized at each General Synod of the United Church of Christ when the Antoinette Brown Award is presented to two ordained women whose ministries exemplify her dedication and leadership.

And he answered and said, Have ye not read, that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh? So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

For this cause God gave them up unto vile passions: for their women changed the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another, men with men working unseemliness, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was due.

Or know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.

But I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness.

The bishop therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, orderly, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

Christ answered the question of marriage from the beginning: "he who made them from the beginning made them male and female," and "the two shall become one flesh" (Matthew 19:4-5). The UCC General Synod's resolution departs from this, and Paul names the same sin in Romans 1:26-27 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, where he also says that some of the Corinthians had been such and were washed. The CCCC stands with the text, and its statement stands out for saying plainly that the sinner is to be forgiven and received on repentance, which is how Paul ends the passage. On the ordination of women both bodies stand short, the UCC by ordaining women and the CCCC by leaving it to each congregation. Paul writes "I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man" (1 Timothy 2:12), and he says the overseer "must be" "the husband of one wife" (1 Timothy 3:2). A church that leaves the question to choice leaves the apostle's word unobeyed.

The pages read for this chart do not cover how the UCC's local churches have acted on the 2005 resolution, so no count is given. The CCCC adds in the same paper that "we do believe that every expression of that orientation is sinful, just as every expression of adulterous desire is sinful," and it says: "We specifically renounce any unbiblical prejudice against persons who are homosexual simply because of their orientation."

The first day as the Christian Sabbath

The Savoy Declaration teaches that the Sabbath was moved from the last day of the week to the first and binds Christians as the Christian Sabbath.

The Savoy Declaration says that God "hath particularly appointed one day in seaven for a Sabbath," which "from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, which in Scripture is called the Lords day, and is to be continued to the end of the World as the Christian Sabbath." Those who keep it rest "all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly imployments." This is the historic teaching of the Congregational order. The pages read for this chart give no present teaching on it by the UCC or the CCCC.

from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, which in Scripture is called the Lords day, and is to be continued to the end of the World as the Christian Sabbath

And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight.

Upon the first day of the week let each one of you lay by him in store, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come.

I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a sabbath day: which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.

The Savoy is right that the first day of the week is the day the churches gathered: "upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread" (Acts 20:7), with the collection laid by "Upon the first day of the week" (1 Corinthians 16:2) and "the Lord’s day" (Revelation 1:10). It is wrong to call it a Sabbath. Paul puts the sabbath day among the shadows: "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a sabbath day" (Colossians 2:16). What binds on the first day is the assembly and the breaking of bread, and the Savoy, having the first day right, leaves the weekly Supper out.

The plumb line is the New Testament: what the apostles commanded, and what the churches practiced with their approval. Each position above is set against it, and the wall below shows how far each one stands from it. Choose a course to read the Scripture and the reason. The Congregational churches took the New Testament's own picture of a church more seriously than most, and they are credited plainly for it. Where they stand short, that is said too, and the verdicts name the body, because the UCC, the CCCC and the NACCC hold different things.

Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.

But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men. Ye leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.

The Congregational bodies refuse a pope, a council that binds, and tradition set above the text, and the Savoy's preface rightly says that a confession is "no way to be made use of as an imposition upon any." They stand short in two ways. The UCC names "the creeds of the ecumenical councils, and the confessions of the Reformation" beside the Bible and calls the Bible an "authoritative witness to the Word of God," which puts Scripture among its witnesses and does not leave it alone. The CCCC says the Bible is the "only" inspired Word and then makes its own Statement of Faith a test of membership, so a human document stands beside the text. The rule is "not to go beyond the things which are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6).

The NACCC's founding words, "free from the bondage of creed or ecclesiastical control," are nearer the line than either, though the pages read give no doctrinal statement of its own to weigh.

And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name.

We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

And as they went on the way, they came unto a certain water; and the eunuch saith, Behold, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

Ye see that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith.

The Savoy and the CCCC confess what the gospel confesses: that sinners are saved by Christ's death, and that the Holy Spirit must regenerate. They stand far from the New Testament on the entry into Christ. The Savoy and the UCC baptize infants, who believe nothing, where the apostles baptized those who "believed Philip preaching good tidings" (Acts 8:12), and the Savoy says that "Dipping of the person into the water is not necessary, but Baptism is rightly administred by pouring or sprinkling water upon the person," when the New Testament calls baptism a burial (Romans 6:4) and shows the eunuch and Philip going "down into the water" (Acts 8:38). Pouring and sprinkling bury no one. It calls baptism "a signe and seal" of remission of sins, where Peter commands it "unto the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38), and it makes faith "the alone instrument of justification," when "by works a man is justified, and not only by faith" (James 2:24). The CCCC's Statement says nothing of baptism, and its silence leaves the question open.

This placement follows the Savoy, the UCC's two sacraments and the infant baptism its congregations practice. The CCCC, whose statement is silent on baptism, may stand differently in its congregations; the pages read do not say.

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.

For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come.

The Congregational bodies keep the Supper as a memorial of Christ's death, with no priest, no sacrifice, no lifted host and no withheld cup, and the Savoy rejects all of that. They stand short on the day. The churches read keep it once a month or on two Sundays of the month, and the Savoy names no weekly Supper, while Troas shows the disciples "gathered together to break bread" on "the first day of the week" (Acts 20:7).

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge;

And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to him the elders of the church.

The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.

This is where the Congregational churches stand nearest the line. Each church is complete in itself, answerable to Christ alone, with officers it chooses, as the elders "in every church" (Acts 14:23) were appointed in each. Paul wrote to the saints "at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons" (Philippians 1:1), the officers of one church with no office above them, and the Congregational churches have rightly refused every bishop, synod and crown that would stand over the congregation. The Savoy names Elders among the church's officers, and the Cambridge Platform notes that Elders "are also in Scripture called Bishops," as Paul calls the Ephesian elders "bishops" (Acts 20:17, 28). They fall short in practice: the churches read name a single pastor and a board of deacons, where the apostles appointed a plurality of elders. The UCC also has Conferences and a General Synod beside the local church, and the CCCC a Conference with a Credentials Committee, though both state that these have no power over the congregation.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.

speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

The Congregational churches worship with Scripture, preaching, prayer and song, and they pray to the Father through Christ, with no saints and no images. They stand short in what they add. The apostles commanded "singing with grace in your hearts unto God" (Colossians 3:16), the singing of the congregation, and the churches read use an organ, a piano, a choir or praise songs with them.

how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation? which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard; God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will.

Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money,

And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ: till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

The Savoy says rightly that God's "former ways" of revealing his will "being now ceased," and the CCCC says rightly that messages from any gift "are not equal to the revelation of God in Holy Scripture." The gifts of the Spirit were given through the apostles' hands (Acts 8:17-18) and confirmed the word at the first (Hebrews 2:3-4). The CCCC, by saying it desires "neither evangelism on behalf of the spectacular gifts nor forbidding thereof," leaves the question open, so it respects as sound the view that the gifts continue. The UCC's Statement confesses the Spirit and has nothing on gifts.

Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.

And these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life.

For we must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

The Savoy and the CCCC confess what Christ taught: a day of judgment, the resurrection of "life" and of "judgment" (John 5:29), and a return in glory. They stand on the line. The UCC's Statement of Faith, the one UCC document read on this, speaks of judgment on "men and nations" and of "eternal life in his kingdom," and it says nothing of Christ's return, the resurrection of the dead or the judgment of persons. A statement of faith that omits what Christ and the apostles taught of the end is short of them, and the placement follows the mainline body's silence.

The Congregational churches hold much that Scripture also teaches, and it should be said plainly. They confess one God in three persons, and Christ truly God and man, who died, rose and will come again. They hold that Christ alone is head of the church, and they have no pope, no bishop over the congregation, no priest who offers a sacrifice, no purgatory and no prayers to saints. They hold that the church is a company of believers who answer to Christ for themselves, and each church chooses its own officers and deals with its own members. They keep the Supper as a memorial, without the Mass, the lifted host or the withheld cup. The CCCC holds the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God and calls the sinner to repentance and forgiveness. They kept this faith across centuries when the state church would have had them conform, from the Scrooby company's flight to Leyden to the CCCC's refusal of the 1957 union.

Measured by the New Testament alone, the Congregational churches stand nearer the pattern than most churches on the shape of the church, and they stand short in five places: the bond of a confession, the entry into Christ, the day of the Supper, the voice of a plurality of elders, and the words of worship. A church is a local company under Christ, and it needs no bishop or synod. It still needs a rule above its own documents, and that rule is the apostles' word, which the UCC treats as a witness and the CCCC sets beside its own statement. The entry into Christ is the faith of a penitent believer, buried in baptism for the remission of sins, and an infant sprinkled by a pastor is neither believer nor buried. The Supper is the first-day meal of the disciples, and a monthly Supper is not that.

These are churches that went back to the New Testament and stopped short at the font. What remains is to finish it: to hold the congregation's freedom as the Savoy and the Cambridge Platform framed it, and to let the text alone decide what the congregation does, as Browne asked in 1582.

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