THE NEW ENGLAND WAY
being a
page of Documents
Pertaining to the Formation and Sustainance
OF
THE
CONGREGATIONAL ORDER OF CHURCHES
Published
gratis by
Wm.
Wells, A. B., M. Div.
MANY church bodies organize themselves under Congregational polity, a form of governance where the local congregation is the final decision-making body. Most come from, or were born in reaction to, the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition. While Baptists and Disciples can be accounted this way, the "Congregational Order" in the United States was birthed in New England among the Puritans and Pilgrims. This page is dedicated to sharing vital documents related to the formation of this form of church government.
The Documents
The True Constitution of a particular visible Church, by John Cotton. (1642)
The Way of the Churches of Christ in New-England, by John Cotton (1645)
The Cambridge Platform (1648)
Chapter 1:Of the form of Church-Government; and that it is one, immutable, and prescribed in the Word of God.
Chapter 2:Of the nature of the Catholick Church in Generall, & in speciall, of a particular visible Church.
Chapter 3:Of the matter of the Visible Church Both inrespect of Quality and Quantity.
Chapter 4:Of the Form of A Visible Church & of Church Covenant.
Chapter 5:Of the first subject of church powr or, to whom church powr doth first belong.
Chapter 6:Of the Officers of the Church, especially of Pastors & Teachers.
Chapter 7:Of Ruling Elders & Deacons.
Chapter 8:Of the Election of Church-Officers.
Chapter 9:Of Ordination, & Imposition of hands.
Chapter 10:Of the powr of the Church, & its Presbytery.
Chapter 11:Of the maintenance of Church Officers.
Chapter 12:Of Admission of members into the Church
Chapter 13:Of Church-members their removall from one Church to another, & of letters of recomendation & dismission
Chapter 14:Of excommunication & other Censures
Chapter 15:Of the comunion of Churches one with another.
Chapter 16:Of Synods
Chapter 17:Of the Civil Magistrates powr in Matters Ecclesiastical
Special thanks go to the Rev. Dan Hotchkiss, of Falmouth, Massachusetts, for his help in preparing these documents.
The New England response to the Presbyterian-polity of the Westminister Assembly, occuring simultaneously in England.
The text of the Westminister Confession from the Presbyterian Free Church web page.
The Heirs
The later impact of Enlightenment and Evangelicalism led to a split in the New England Order into two wings: the "liberals" (Unitarians) and the "evangelicals" or "orthodox" (Congregationalists). The following links will lead you to the successor associations to the New England Way.
Conservative Congregational Christian Conference ("the four Cs")
In Great Britain: