Congregational Heritage of the Massachusetts Conference

The Early Days

Did You Know That...?

.....The General Court of Massachusetts has been called the FIRST MISSIONARY SOCIETY of PROTESTANT CHRISTENDOM? This court was provided for in the 1629 English charter which created the Massachusetts Bay Company. Led by John Winthrop, this company founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which operated essentially as a commercial trading enterprise until 1684. The Bay Colony's General Court oversaw the gathering of new Congregational churches within the colony. It also called for the Cambridge Synod which created THE CAMBRIDGE PLATFORM in 1648. This famous Platform sought to clarify issues of church government and discipline for the "New England Way," in part to protect the autonomy of New England's Congregational churches from Presbyterian challenges.

.....Historically, the Congregational churches in Massachusetts tended to be more INDEPENDENT than their sister churches in Connecticut? This is reflected in Connecticut's acceptance of the SAYBROOK PLATFORM in 1708 which provided for the existence of Consociations. In a Presbyterian-like way, those Consociations could exercise some ecclesiastical control over local Congregational churches and their clergy; whereas, efforts at that time in Massachusetts to adopt the same were thwarted. Reflective of this difference, Connecticut Congregationalists formed the first state-wide organization of Congregational ministers in 1709. It was almost another century before Massachusetts Congregationalists did the same, in their creation of the General Association of Massachusetts Proper in 1802/1803.

.....The MASSACHUSETTS MISSIONARY SOCIETY was founded in 1799 primarily by HOPKINSIANS? They were conservative Calvinists who ascribed to the views of REV. SAMUEL HOPKINS (1721-1803), who served in GREAT BARRINGTON, then in Newport, Rhode Island. Hopkins had been a student of Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), whose "New England Theology" Hopkins further developed. Hopkins stressed "disinterested benevolence," the doing of deeds for the greatest good of all beings, sacrificing one's own welfare, if necessary. Hopkins was known for saying that true Christians should be willing to be damned for the glory of God. Hopkins stressed conversions and missionary work, as important ways to prepare for God's coming Kingdom. Hopkins believed that Kingdom would gradually begin to appear, once the 19th century began. Hopkins was a social reformer and one of the first Congregationalists to speak out against slavery, which was very courageous, as Newport was a center of the slave trade.

.....Although unintended, INTERDENOMINATIONAL CO-OPERATION was said to have caused Congregationalists to LOSE 2,000 [!] CHURCHES in states beyond the Hudson River, as our country expanded? Modern historians consider that estimated number "excessive." Nonetheless, a great many churches were lost. In 1801, Congregational ministers in Connecticut [who were already inclined toward Presbyterianism], entered into the PLAN OF UNION with the Presbyterian General Assembly, to spread the gospel out west. To conserve resources in frontier settlements, this Plan allowed Presbyterian and Congregational clergy to serve either type of church, and churches of either type were allowed to affiliate with the other denomination's general association or presbytery in their area. In actual practice, many fledgling frontier churches gravitated to the stronger, more centralized structure offered by presbyteries. Unfortunately, at that time many Congregationalists in New England were also doubtful that the independence so characteristic of their churches, was well suited to frontier life. In 1837, conservative, "Old School" Presbyterians withdrew from this Plan, due to their concerns about emerging liberal trends within Congregationalism. Finally realizing their many loses, and beginning to see themselves as a national denomination, Congregationalists themselves rejected this Plan, when they met at their first national convention, held in Albany, New York in 1852. Grieving the loss of so many churches, one Congregationalist is said to have complained: "They have milked our Congregational cows, but have made nothing but Presbyterian butter and cheese."

...One of the earliest Congregational churches to split along UNITARIAN/TRINITARIAN lines was the church of the Pilgrims in PLYMOUTH, in 1801? Up through 1833, church and state were not separate in Massachusetts, and many of the Commonwealth's Congregational churches were still supported by public tax dollars. Since 1780, Commonwealth law held that there would be "no taxation without representation" in religious matters. Thus, from a legal point of view, towns--not church bodies themselves--owned the church buildings and had the right to select the ministers their tax dollars supported. In eastern Massachusetts, townspeople often sympathized with a liberal interpretation of the Christian faith, which came to be known as Unitarianism. Yet, many Congregational church members still adhered to the Trinitarian Calvinism of early Congregationalism. When such theological differences became an issue, the town [or the ecclesiastical Society or Parish representing the town] had the law on its side. It's been estimated that by 1840, about 96 Massachusetts Congregational churches had passed over into Unitarianism, while another 30 Parish committees were keeping Trinitarian preaching out of their meeting houses. Some Congregational churches made the transition to Unitarianism smoothly. A number of Congregational congregations withdrew, willingly or under pressure, from their town's meeting house in which they had long worshipped, in order to maintain their Trinitarianism. It's been said, that Unitarianism gained 20 of the first 25 Congregational churches gathered in Massachusetts. In the midst of this great difficulty, which was sometimes contested bitterly, the General Association of Massachusetts became a haven and strong support for Trinitarian Congregational clergy and the interests of their churches.

.....From its beginning in 1802, the GENERAL ASSOCIATION OF MASSACHUSETTS specified in its By-laws, that the articles of faith "generally expressed" in the WESTMINISTER ASSEMBLY'S SHORTER CATECHISM were the "basis of union and fellowship" for the clergy who made up its membership? This catechism was staunchly Calvinistic and used for centuries in American Congregational churches both to summarize and teach their basic beliefs. Created in 1646, this catechism grew out of THE CONFESSION OF FAITH OF THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES. That Assembly met at Westminster Abbey from 1643 to 1652. It was called into being by the British Parliament, when Parliament was under the control of Puritans. By explicitly espousing this Trinitarian catechism, the General Association essentially set itself apart from those more "liberal" Congregational clergy in Massachusetts, who eventually became known as Unitarians. The General Association continued to cite this Shorter Catechism in its By-laws until the year 1868, when it merged with the General Conference of Congregational Churches in Massachusetts. In its By-laws, this newly merged organization had a much more general statement of its faith basis, which made no explicit reference to the Shorter Catechism.

....In the early 19th century, Congregational clergy in the BERKSHIRE ASSOCIATION of ministers strongly criticized one of their colleagues and his church for wishing to sever their relationship after a SHORT PASTORATE of only TEN YEARS? Called to meet with that church and its minister in a dismissing Ecclesiastical Council, those clergy noted that such "...quick changes made for spiritual weakness in both the community and the ministry."

....Today's MACUCC is indebted to the clergy and churches in BROOKFIELD and SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES on two counts? The Brookfield Association of Congregational clergy was formed on June 22, 1757--one of the earliest Congregational clergy groups in the Commonwealth. In 1802, this clergy Association initiated and led the effort to form the GENERAL ASSOCIATION OF MASSACHUSETTS PROPER. Years later, on June 13, 1821, this same Brookfield Association welcomed lay representatives from their churches into their membership, at which point the group's name was changed to the Brookfield Associational Conference. This new organization of clergy and lay church representatives was the FIRST ASSOCIATION [then called a "Conference"] in Massachusetts Congregationalism. In 1827, a creed was written for the churches in this Conference. In 1887, this Conference divided to form two separate organizations: the Brookfield Conference for area churches and their clergy and a Brookfield area minister's group. Today, that Brookfield Conference is part of the CENTRAL ASSOCIATION, one of eleven such Associations in our modern MACUCC.

This page is copyrighted by Rev. Dr. Doug Showalter of Falmouth, who is writing a history of the Conference. You are welcome to use the information above in your personal study and church work, but duplication of the text on this page in any form for distribution requires the author's permission. Comments and corrections are welcomed. Look for updates of this page. You may contact Doug at dougshow@cape.com.

Page last updated December 20, 2002