The Congregational Federation is a small

Christian denomination A Christian denomination is a distinct Religion, religious body within Christianity that comprises all Church (congregation), church congregations of the same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, particular history, organization, leadersh ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

comprising 235 congregations, down from 294 in April 2014. The Federation brings together

Congregational church Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently a ...

es, and provides support and guidance to member churches both financially and otherwise.

History

The Federation was formed in 1972 from those Congregational churches which did not enter the union of the

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

Church of England with the

Congregational Church in England and Wales The Congregational Union of England and Wales brought together churches in England and Wales in the Congregational tradition between 1831 and 1966. Background The Congregational churches emerged from the History of the Puritans from 1649, Puri ...

to form the

United Reformed Church The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2024 it had approximately 44,000 members in around 1,250 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers. The URC is a Trinitarian church whose theolog ...

. The leaders at the time were Reginald Cleaves, Margaret, Viscountess Stansgate, John Wilcox and Elsie Chamberlain. Margaret, Viscountess Stansgate became the Federation's first President. The Federation was expanded in 2000 by member churches of the Congregational Union of Scotland that chose not to join their merger with the

. It is a member of the International Congregational Fellowship, an international network of Congregational churches and their national associations. Some of its churches are also in membership of the Evangelical Fellowship of Congregational Churches. The offices of the Congregational Federation are in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

, England.

Ecumenical relations

The Congregational Federation is a member of: * Action of Churches Together in Scotland * Churches Together in Britain and Ireland * Churches Together in England * Cytûn

Churches

The churches are organised into 10 geographical regions. CC stands for Congregational Church/Chapel.

Eastern

References

External links

*
Official website of the Congregational History Society
Congregationalism in the United Kingdom Congregational denominations established in the 20th century Organisations based in Nottingham Reformed denominations in the United Kingdom Christian organizations established in 1972 {{congregationalism-stub