FAQs: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Who was the founder of Congregationalism?
Robert Browne (c. 1550-1633) is generally regarded as the first Congregationalist. He was born in Tolethorpe, Rutland (England’s smallest county) shortly before Elizabeth I ascended to the throne in 1558.
He attended Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, graduating in 1572.
His best-known writing is A Treatise of Reformation without Tarying for Anie, written in 1582.

Why do we know so little about Robert Browne?
Browne was a reformer and a man of principle. However, he could be eccentric, difficult and quarrelsome; perhaps for part of his life he was mentally-ill. The Anglicans called him ‘Troublechurch Browne.’
The most appealing early Congregationalists were the Pilgrim Fathers. If we were Americans, we would know a great deal about them.

Who were the Independents?
Congregationalists. They were known first as Brownists, then Independents or Separatists and finally Congregationalists.

Is it hard to identify Congregationalists from the past?
Yes. My great-grandfather’s brother, George Parker Saxton, whom I know to have been a Congregational minister, when he signed his name as his brother’s trustee in the nineteenth century, gave his occupation as “Protestant Dissenting Minister.” This title would have applied as well to Presbyterians and Baptists.
Some historical figures worshipped at some stage of their lives with Congregationalists, at other times with Presbyterian dissenters, and at times within the Anglican church.
It is tempting to claim the more attractive and gifted of them and forget those who were more of a problem.

Were Congregationalists Puritans?
Yes. All early Congregationalists were Puritans, but not all Puritans were Congregationalists. The Puritans were Calvinistic in outlook and at first looked for the purification of the Church of England.
In time, some Puritan groups came to despair of reform within the Anglican church. Some hoped to set up churches on Presbyterian principles; others, the Separatists or Independents, began to set up their own churches independently of any other church body.

Were there Congregational martyrs?
Yes. Henry Barrow(e) and John Greenwood were hanged together at Tyburn in the time of Elizabeth I on 6 April 1593. Both were Separatists; both had condemned the Church of England in print.
John Penry (1559−1593), a Welsh evangelist, who was sometimes known as “The Morning Star of the Reformation in Wales” was executed on 29 May, 1593.
He had drafted a petition to Elizabeth I which began, “You are not so much an adversary unto us poor men as unto Jesus Christ, and the wealth of his kingdom . . .” He was charged with writing false scandals against the monarchy and with intent to instigate rebellion.

As Congregationalists were once Puritans, were they narrow-minded wowsers?
No. Congregationalists in Australia were liberal, rational people with a strong social conscience. They were people of great integrity who were always ready to work for social reform. Many of them danced, drank socially, smoked and enjoyed life.

Where do the Pilgrim Fathers fit in?
A group of Separatists from Scrooby left England for Holland at the time of the persecutions under Elizabeth I, where they joined the congregation of Pastor John Robinson. In 1620, as the Pilgrim Fathers, some of Robinson’s congregation sailed for the New World on the Mayflower. Robinson’s parting words to his people are immortalised in the great Congregational hymn, ‘We Limit Not the Truth of God to Our Poor Reach of Mind.’

In America, Congregationalism reached its greatest public influence and largest membership. Congregationalists founded Harvard and Yale Universities and Williams, Amhurst and Oberlin Colleges. There is considerable status in America for those who trace their ancestry to the Pilgrim Fathers.

In 1957 in America, many Congregational churches merged with the Evangelical and Reformed Church to form the United Church of Christ. The National Association of Congregation Christian Churches was formed by those congregations choosing not to merge.

Are there any Australian Congregationalists now?
Yes, but very few. One continuing Congregational Church exists in Burnley, Victoria. There are several in other states. Most Congregational Churches voted to enter the Uniting Church in 1977.

Were Congregationalists fundamentalists?
No. They were broad-minded, rational people, unafraid to question traditional beliefs.

Was Congregationalism a sect?
No. They were a small group in Australia, as are the Quakers, but were far more like the Quakers in ideals and practice then like any sect. The denomination was so small, however, that when people stated, “You’re a Congregationalist; you would know so-and-so . . . ” this was very often true.



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