Congregationalism
<p>"<b>Congregational churches</b> (also <b>Congregationalist churches</b>; <b>Congregationalism</b>) are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestantism" title="Protestantism">Protestant</a> churches in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reformed_tradition" class="mw-redirect" title="Reformed tradition">Reformed tradition</a> practicing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congregationalist_polity" title="Congregationalist polity">congregationalist church governance</a>, in which each <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/congregation" class="extiw" title="wiktionary:congregation">congregation</a> independently and autonomously runs its own affairs."
Contrary to the Bible. </p>
<p>
In the United States and the United Kingdom, many Congregational churches claim their descent from Protestant denominations <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownists" class="mw-redirect" title="Brownists">formed on a theory of union</a> published by the theologian and English separatist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Browne(Brownist)" title="Robert Browne (Brownist)">Robert Browne</a> in 1582.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congregational_church#cite_note-1">[1]</a></sup> Ideas of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonconformist" title="Nonconformist">nonconforming Protestants</a> during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puritan" class="mw-redirect" title="Puritan">Puritan Reformation</a> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_England" title="Church of England">Church of England</a> laid foundation for these churches. In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_England" title="Kingdom of England">England</a>, the early Congregationalists were called <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecclesiastical_separatism" title="Ecclesiastical separatism">Separatists</a></i> or <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent(religion)" title="Independent (religion)">Independents</a></i> to distinguish them from the similarly Calvinistic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presbyterians" class="mw-redirect" title="Presbyterians">Presbyterians</a>, whose churches embrace a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presbyterian_polity" title="Presbyterian polity">polity based on the governance of elders</a>. Congregationalists also differed with the Reformed churches using <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Episcopal_polity" title="Episcopal polity">episcopalian church governance</a>, which is usually led by a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop" title="Bishop">bishop</a>. Congregational churches were widely established in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Colony" title="Plymouth Colony">Plymouth Colony</a> and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Bay_Colony" title="Massachusetts Bay Colony">Massachusetts Bay Colony</a> (in present-day <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England" title="New England">New England</a>), and together wrote the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Platform" title="Cambridge Platform">Cambridge Platform</a> of 1648 which described the autonomy of the church and its association with others.
Within the United States, the model of Congregational churches was carried by migrating settlers from New England into <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_(state)" title="New York (state)">New York</a>, then into the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_North_West" class="mw-redirect" title="Old North West">Old North West</a>, and further. <b>With their insistence on independent local bodies</b>, <b>they became important in many <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_reform" class="mw-redirect" title="Social reform">social reform</a> movements, including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolitionism_in_the_United_States" title="Abolitionism in the United States">abolitionism</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperance_movement" title="Temperance movement">temperance</a>, and women's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffrage" title="Suffrage">suffrage</a>.</b> Modern Congregationalism in the United States is largely split into three bodies: the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Church_of_Christ" title="United Church of Christ">United Church of Christ</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_of_Congregational_Christian_Churches" title="National Association of Congregational Christian Churches">National Association of Congregational Christian Churches</a> and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Congregational_Christian_Conference" title="Conservative Congregational Christian Conference">Conservative Congregational Christian Conference</a>, which is the most theologically conservative.
Congregationalist tradition has a presence in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and various island nations in the Pacific region. It has been introduced either by immigrant dissenter Protestants or by missionary organization such as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Missionary_Society" title="London Missionary Society">London Missionary Society</a>. A number of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelical" class="mw-redirect" title="Evangelical">evangelical</a> Congregational churches are members of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Evangelical_Congregational_Fellowship" title="World Evangelical Congregational Fellowship">World Evangelical Congregational Fellowship</a>.</p>