Middle East Information Resource
Religions/Belief Systems - Congregationalists
The Congregationalists are the oldest of the Nonconformist sects. The Nonconformists believed that each church should be independent of external ecclesiastical authority. The positions of the Nonconformists were that (1) the only head of the Christian Church is Jesus Christ, (2) the Church should have no relationship with the State, (3) that the Bible was the only Christian law, and (4) that each congregation should choose its own ministers.
The movement was much persecuted and had to flee from place to place. They were among the `Pilgrim Fathers` who came to the New World in 1620.