The Congregational Federation of Australia and New Zealand is a

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

denomination originally comprising fourteen congregations in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

but now including congregations in New Zealand.

History

Forty congregations of the

Congregational Union of Australia The Congregational Union of Australia was a Congregational denomination in Australia that stemmed from the Congregational Church in England as settlers migrated from there to Australia. Congregational Churches existed in all states and territo ...

decided not to join the

Uniting Church in Australia The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) was founded on 22 June 1977, when most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and almost all the churches of the Congregational Uni ...

in 1977, and some formed the New South Wales based

Fellowship of Congregational Churches The Fellowship of Congregational Churches is a conservative Congregational denomination in Australia. It was formed by the forty congregations of the Congregational Union of Australia who chose not to join the Uniting Church in Australia in 197 ...

. Other remained independent. Others formed the Queensland Congregational Fellowship. In July 1995 the ecumenically minded congregations left the Fellowship of Congregational Churches because of its conservative and non-ecumenical orientation and with other churches who had remained outside the Uniting Church including the Queensland Congregational Fellowship formed the Congregational Federation of Australia, now the Congregational Federation of Australia and New Zealand. The Federation has also attracted Samoan, Western Samoan, Filipino and Tokelauan churches meeting in Australia and New Zealand.

Affiliations

National Council of Churches in Australia The National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) is an ecumenical organisation bringing together a number of Australia's Christian churches in dialogue and practical cooperation. The NCCA works in collaboration with state ecumenical council ...

International Congregational Fellowship The International Congregational Fellowship is an international coordinating body formed in 1995 from among those Congregationalist groups that had not joined with other reformed churches during the heyday of ecumenical mergers in the 1960s and 197 ...

World Communion of Reformed Churches The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) is the largest association of Calvinist churches in the world. It has 230 member denominations in 108 countries, together claiming an estimated 80 million people, thus being the fourth-largest Chris ...

References

*Source
Description of The Congregational Federation of NSW
at

, Christian Unity site "Appendix 2. Understanding the Member Churches of the NSW Ecumenical Council" Members of the World Communion of Reformed Churches Christian organizations established in 1995 Christian denominations in Australia Reformed denominations in Oceania Congregational denominations established in the 20th century Congregationalism {{Christian-denomination-stub