A Congregational church is by the institution of Christ... a company of Saints by calling, united into one body by a holy covenant, for the public worship of God, and the mutual edification of one another, in the Fellowship of the Lord Jesus.
Cambridge Platform (1648), ch. II, s. 6.
Congregationalism began in the late sixteenth century in England. The Church of England had broken away from the Roman Church and was beginning to adopt Reformed doctrine. There was widespread disagreement, however, regarding how the Church should be run. Some supported episcopalism, where authority flows top-down, while others promoted a presbyteral polity, where authority flows back and forth from top to bottom.
A third group, however, insisted that church authority flow from the congregation upward - that there is no authority over a church except for the lordship of Jesus Christ. These Puritans, so-called for wanting to "purify" the Church, found their way to the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies, where they began the great experiment known today as Congregationalism.
A major emphasis of Congregationalism is the importance of covenant. A covenant is an agreement between two or more parties. Just as God initiated a New Covenant with the world through Jesus Christ - "that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16) - the members of a Congregational church are gathered by a covenant with each other. This covenant is an agreement between all members of the church, that they each will take seriously their commitment to the Lord, to the church, and to each other.
We are united in striving to know the will of God as taught in the Holy Scriptures, and in our purpose to walk in the ways of the Lord, made known to us or to be made known to us.
We hold it to be the mission of the Church of Christ to proclaim the Gospel to all humanity, exalting the worship of the one true God, and laboring for the progress of knowledge, the promotion of justice, the reign of peace, and the realization of human brother/sisterhood, depending, as did our forebears, upon the continued guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth.
We work and pray for the transformation of the world into the Kingdom of God, and we look with faith for the triumph of righteousness and the life everlasting.
Adopted circa 1954.
Authority in the local Congregational church is vested in the congregation - in the people. This means that all practical decisions, such as calling and ordaining clergy and church officers, maintaining an order to worship, authorizing missions, or supervising building projects, are discussed and voted upon by the congregation, rather than passed down from a diocese or ratified by a conference.
This does not mean that the local church can invent its own beliefs, for we recognize one authority above us: the Lord Jesus Christ our King. The autonomy of the local church cannot supersede the Word of God, which was made flesh in Christ.
This does not mean that local churches should be isolated and left to themselves, for it is good and healthy to maintain fellowship with neighboring churches - just as our church members covenant with each other to share fellowship. The First Church in Weymouth is a member of two associations of Congregationalist churches: the Massachusetts Association of Congregational Christian Churches (MACCC) and the United Church of Christ (UCC).