Position · 1580

Congregational Polity

Church government in which each local congregation is self-governing under Christ, choosing its own ministers and making its own decisions, with no higher church authority over it.

Early forms appeared among the Anabaptist groups of the 1520s and among English Separatists from c. 1580. It became the norm for Baptist churches, which often join voluntary associations while keeping local independence. Many Pentecostal churches follow it, though some Pentecostal denominations have bishops or central bodies. It contrasts with Episcopal Polity and Presbyterian Polity, where authority runs beyond the local church.