LOREM IPSUM DOLOR

A BRIEF HISTORY

"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty"

II Corinthians 3 : 17

The New Testament Church

[1200 A.D. DIVISION]

Eastern Church & Western Church

[1520 A.D. THE REFORMATION]

Lutheran Church Church of England Presbyterian

[1560 A.D.Baptist and Congregational Churches

Modern Congregationalism traces its origins to the beginning of the Sixteenth Century Reformation, but iits antecedents sre clear and diverse. Its essence isimplicit in the New Testament and is evident throughout the ages. When King Henry VIII broke with the Papacy in 1534 the immediate consequence was a re-formation of the Church's government and administration ratherthan a spiritual or moral revival. The Sovereign was now the Supreme Governor of the Church of England and the Church was primarily to be governed by him through Parliament in whose hands would lie the appointment of the Archbishop, the Primate and Bishops.

Robert Browne, Henry Barrow, John Greenwood, William Brewster and John Robinson were notable people who, in defiance of Royal Command, established Churches separate from the Church of England. The first Congregational Church was established by Browne in 1560.

During the reign of Elizabeth I Non-Conformists were persecuted, with many being imprisoned and some, like Barrow, Greenwood and Perry, be

hanged. others escaped to Holland and, later still in 1620, some, the "Pilgrims", sailed to the New World of North America in the "Mayflower" in order to worship God in freedom. Originally intending to establish a colony along the Hudson River they made their first landfall at Cape Cod in present-day Massachusetts and resolved to remain there.

Though we extol and defend the wholeness and completeness of each gathered local Church as ourdistinctive and cherished witness, we do jot narrowly deny the validity of other Church Orders, nor esteem them to be ways off darkness.

"The lamps are many; the Light is One".