Presbyterianism in England is practised by followers of the
Reformed tradition
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the Christian theology, theological tradition and forms of Christianity, Christ ...
within
Protestantism
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
who practise the
Presbyterian form of
church government
Ecclesiastical polity is the operational and governance structure of a church or of a Christian denomination. It also denotes the ministerial structure of a church and the authority relationships between churches. Polity relates closely to e ...
. Dating in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
as a movement from 1588, it is distinct from
Continental
Continental may refer to:
Places
* Continent, the major landmasses of Earth
* Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US
* Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US
Arts and entertainment
* ''Continental'' (al ...
and
Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
forms of Presbyterianism. The
Unitarian historian Alexander Gordon Alexander Gordon may refer to:
* Alexander Gordon, 1st Earl of Huntly (died 1470), Scottish magnate
* Alexander Gordon (bishop of Aberdeen) (died 1518), Precentor of Moray and Bishop-elect of Aberdeen
* Alexander Gordon, 3rd Earl of Huntly (died 15 ...
(1841-1931) stated that, whereas in Scotland, church government is based on a meeting of delegates, in England the individual congregation is the primary body of government. This was the practice in Gordon's day, however, most of the sixteenth and seventeenth century English theoreticians of Presbyterianism, such as
Thomas Cartwright,
John Paget, the
Westminster Assembly of Divines
The Westminster Assembly of Divines was a council of Divinity (academic discipline), divines (theologians) and members of the English Parliament appointed from 1643 to 1653 to restructure the Church of England. Several Scots also attended, and ...
and the London Provincial Assembly, envisaged a Presbyterian system composed of congregations, classes and synods. Historically Presbyterians in England were subsumed into the
United Reformed Church
The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2022 it has approximately 40,000 members in 1,284 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers.
Origins and history
The United Reformed Church resulte ...
in 1972. In more recent years the
Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales (EPCEW) ( cy, Eglwys Bresbyteraidd Efengylaidd yng Nghymru a Lloegr) is a reformed and conservative evangelical Presbyterian denomination in England and Wales with churches in Germany, Swit ...
and the
International Presbyterian Church
The International Presbyterian Church (IPC) is a Reformed church in the United Kingdom, the European Union and South Korea, that holds to the Presbyterian confession of faith, with common commitments, purpose and accountability and government.
...
have seen modest growth in England.
16th and early 17th centuries
Though the word ''Presbyterian'' dates to 1607, English Presbyterianism had its beginnings in 1558, the year of
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
's accession, when
Protestant exiles, who had fled
Mary I's revived heresy laws and
the associated executions, began to return to England. Some of these Elizabethan
puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...
s began to campaign for ecclesiastical reform from within the
established (i.e.
state-supported)
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
. They sought to recreate the pattern of church life recorded in
Scripture
Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual prac ...
, without vestments and prelates, when church government was in the hands of presbyters.
Civil War and Interregnum
English Presbyterianism itself dates to the tumultuous year 1641, which saw the execution of the
Earl of Stafford
Baron Stafford, referring to the town of Stafford, is a title that has been created several times in the Peerage of England. In the 14th century, the barons of the first creation were made earls. Those of the fifth creation, in the 17th century ...
, the
Imprisonment of the Twelve Bishops
The Clergy Act (1640), also known as the Bishops Exclusion Act, or the Clerical Disabilities Act, was an Act of Parliament, effective 13 February 1642.
Prior to the Act, bishops of the Church of England sat in the House of Lords, where they comp ...
, the publication of the
Grand Remonstrance
The Grand Remonstrance was a list of grievances presented to King Charles I of England by the English Parliament on 1 December 1641, but passed by the House of Commons on 22 November 1641, during the Long Parliament. It was one of the chief even ...
, and most importantly the beginning of a great debate within and without Parliament on the subject of church government. On 11 December 1640, 15,000 Londoners presented the
Root and Branch petition
The Root and Branch Petition was a petition presented to the Long Parliament on December 11, 1640. The petition had been signed by 15,000 Londoners and was presented to the English Parliament by a crowd of 1,500. The petition called on Parliamen ...
to Parliament, which led to the
Westminster Assembly of Divines. The Assembly reported in July 1645. Later that year, Parliament enacted for the establishment in every parish of a "congregational assembly", consisting of ruling elders elected by the minister and members of the congregation, and meeting weekly. In practice, few parish assemblies became established. The
execution of Charles I
The execution of Charles I by beheading occurred on Tuesday, 30 January 1649 outside the Banqueting House on Whitehall. The execution was the culmination of political and military conflicts between the royalists and the parliamentarians in Eng ...
in 1649 horrified the Presbyterians and led to a serious rupture between them and the
Independents. English Presbyterians came to be representative of those Puritans who still cherished further reformation in church, but were unwavering in their fundamental loyalty to
the Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
.
Restoration and Post-Restoration
Following the
Restoration of the monarchy under
King Charles II, and of the
episcopal
Episcopal may refer to:
*Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church
*Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese
*Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name
** Episcopal Church (United State ...
(bishop-led) system within the Church of England, Anglican ministers who favoured a
Presbyterian polity
Presbyterian (or presbyteral) polity is a method of church governance ("ecclesiastical polity") typified by the rule of assemblies of presbyters, or elders. Each local church is governed by a body of elected elders usually called the session or ...
found themselves in a dilemma. The
Act of Uniformity 1662
The Act of Uniformity 1662 (14 Car 2 c 4) is an Act of the Parliament of England. (It was formerly cited as 13 & 14 Ch.2 c. 4, by reference to the regnal year when it was passed on 19 May 1662.) It prescribed the form of public prayers, adm ...
required that they accept the
Book of Common Prayer
The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...
in its entirety, as well as the requirement of
episcopal ordination
Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...
. Ministers who did not accept, some 2,000 of them, were removed from their posts (and, usually, their homes as well) on
St Bartholomew's Day
Bartholomew (Aramaic: ; grc, Βαρθολομαῖος, translit=Bartholomaîos; la, Bartholomaeus; arm, Բարթողիմէոս; cop, ⲃⲁⲣⲑⲟⲗⲟⲙⲉⲟⲥ; he, בר-תולמי, translit=bar-Tôlmay; ar, بَرثُولَماو ...
, in what became known as the
Great Ejection
The Great Ejection followed the Act of Uniformity 1662 in England. Several thousand Puritan ministers were forced out of their positions in the Church of England, following The Restoration of Charles II. It was a consequence (not necessarily ...
. This was followed by more than a century of persecution, including further acts of Parliament such as the
Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act of 1753.
The Church of England had difficulty filling the vacancies caused by the ejection of so many ministers. In some cases, ministers continued to baptise, marry, and preach in the parish church, quite illegally. In general, the ejected ministers continued to preach to dispersed congregations, making use of now unused
chapels of ease
A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently.
Often a chapel of ease is deliberately bu ...
(most of which had been built with privately donated funds), and from their own homes. However, by the end of the seventeenth century, the Church of England had reclaimed these chapels of ease, and Dissenting congregations began to build their own chapels.
Aside from
Quaker
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...
meetings, the
English Dissenters
English Dissenters or English Separatists were Protestant Christians who separated from the Church of England in the 17th and 18th centuries.
A dissenter (from the Latin ''dissentire'', "to disagree") is one who disagrees in opinion, belief and ...
styled themselves as either ‘Independent’ or ‘Presbyterian’. The
’Independents’, who might have a
Calvinistic
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Calv ...
or a
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
creed, regarded themselves as exclusive, and distinct from the parish church. The Presbyterians, on the other hand, though each congregation was as independent and autonomous as any Independent chapel, used the name ‘Presbyterian’ because they regarded the doors of their chapels as open to all members of the parish; or, at least, all members of the parish who were of good character. In effect, they regarded each chapel as just another parish church. It was this attitude which, at first, caused particular animosity towards Presbyterians from some Anglicans, who regarded them as
schismatics, actively seeking to divide the
Church in England. Outwardly, though, there was initially little difference between ‘Independents’ and ‘Presbyterians’, except that they received financial assistance from the Independent and the Presbyterian Fund boards, respectively.
The exclusivity of Independent congregations tended to perpetuate a conservatism in
Christian doctrine
Christian theology is the theology of Christian belief and practice. Such study concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Christian tradition. Christian theologians use biblical exegesis, ...
, which kept the congregations orthodox and Calvinistic. The more open attitude of Presbyterian congregations led them to appoint ministers with a more liberal viewpoint, which, amongst other factors such as their ministers being trained in the
Dissenting Academies
The dissenting academies were schools, colleges and seminaries (often institutions with aspects of all three) run by English Dissenters, that is, those who Nonconformist (Protestantism), did not conform to the Church of England. They formed a sign ...
, led to a growing heterodoxy into
Arminianism
Arminianism is a branch of Protestantism based on the theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609) and his historic supporters known as Remonstrants. Dutch Arminianism was originally articulated in the ''Re ...
,
Arianism
Arianism ( grc-x-koine, Ἀρειανισμός, ) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (), a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God ...
, and eventually
Christian Unitarianism
Unitarianism (from Latin ''unitas'' "unity, oneness", from ''unus'' "one") is a nontrinitarian branch of Christian theology. Most other branches of Christianity and the major Churches accept the doctrine of the Trinity which states that there is ...
.
Presbyterian Church of England
The
Presbyterian Church of England The Presbyterian Church of England was a late-19th century and 20th century Presbyterian denomination in England. The church's origins lay in the 1876 merger of the English congregations of the chiefly Scottish United Presbyterian Church with vario ...
was founded in 1876 by merging of the English congregations of the chiefly Scottish
United Presbyterian Church with various other Presbyterian congregations in England.
United Reformed Church
In 1972, virtually all congregations of the Presbyterian Church of England combined with the majority of churches in 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.
The Congregational churches emerged from the Puritan movement, each church operating independently ...
to form the
United Reformed Church
The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2022 it has approximately 40,000 members in 1,284 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers.
Origins and history
The United Reformed Church resulte ...
in England.
International Presbyterian Church
In 1969 the
International Presbyterian Church
The International Presbyterian Church (IPC) is a Reformed church in the United Kingdom, the European Union and South Korea, that holds to the Presbyterian confession of faith, with common commitments, purpose and accountability and government.
...
was founded in England with its first congregation in Ealing. As of 2019 it has nine English churches which are part of its wider British Presbytery. It also has seven Korean-speaking congregations in England as well, as part of the Korean Presbytery.
Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales
In 1996 the
Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales (EPCEW) ( cy, Eglwys Bresbyteraidd Efengylaidd yng Nghymru a Lloegr) is a reformed and conservative evangelical Presbyterian denomination in England and Wales with churches in Germany, Swit ...
was established as a presbytery. As of 2016 it had 17 congregations (12 in England, 3 in Wales, 1 in Sweden, and 1 in Germany.
See also
{{Portal, Calvinism, Christianity, Religion, England
*
Nonconformism
Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to:
Culture and society
* Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior
*Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity
** ...
References
Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...