Free church, in the United Kingdom and Ireland, means a Protestant church that is distinct from the region’s national churches—the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, the Church in Wales, and the Church of Ireland. The leading free churches include the Baptists, the Methodists, and the United Reformed Church. Other free churches include the Brethren; the Churches of Christ; the Salvation Army; the Society of Friends, also called the Quakers; and the Unitarians.
Beliefs.
The Baptist, Methodist, and United Reformed churches all believe in the central principles of classical Christianity. These principles hold that Jesus is the Son of God, that he died and was resurrected to bring about salvation for humanity, and that he sent the Holy Spirit to the church.
The main difference between the free churches and the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England lies in methods of church government. Roman Catholics and Anglicans accept a succession of bishops, who have handed down faith and authority from the time of Christ. The free churches respect tradition and succession but believe that churches do not need to have bishops. They also are wary of developing too close of a connection with the state and do not endorse the idea of a national church.
Organization.
Baptists practice a congregational system of church government. Each local congregation is a church in its own right, manages its own affairs, and calls (appoints) its own ministers. The congregations group themselves into associations or unions at county and national levels.
Methodists practice a connexional system of church government. Members regard the connexion—that is, the whole company of their church throughout the country—as the seat of authority and the center of administration and leadership.
In most free churches, a national assembly or conference meets once a year. It represents the membership of the church. An appointed president, chairman, or moderator presides over it. A national secretary and other appointed officers assist the president. A minister, who is aided by voluntary helpers known as elders, deacons, preachers, or stewards, leads the local church.
Activities.
Services in free churches consist of readings from the Bible, prayers, hymn or chorus singing, and a sermon. Most free churches observe, in a simple manner, the sacraments of baptism and Holy Communion. The Baptists and some other free churches baptize adults by total immersion, but most free churches practice infant baptism (see Baptism ).
Since the 1790’s, free churches have conducted missionary work throughout the world. Free churches act together through the Free Church Federal Council.
History.
The Church of England separated from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534. It retained the king as its civil head, the archbishops and bishops as its leaders, and the creeds and liturgies as the basis of its services. But some reformers felt churches should be free from civil rulers and should base their beliefs and practices only on the Bible. These reformers rejected the authority of bishops. They believed that authority should reside in the whole company of a church, guided by the Holy Spirit.
A Puritan movement with these ideals developed rapidly in the Church of England. When they saw that the Church of England would not change, some Puritans broke away from it. In the 1600’s, these breakaway groups became the Baptists and Congregationalists.
During the English Civil War and the Commonwealth, from 1642 to 1660, Puritan ideas seemed likely to prevail. But with the restoration of the king in 1660, the authorities began opposing the Puritans. In 1662, the Act of Uniformity confirmed that the Church of England would retain the bishops, the creeds, the Book of Common Prayer, and the king as its civil head. About 2,000 ministers and many lay people rejected this act and left the Church of England. They became known as Dissenters or Nonconformists.
The authorities persecuted the Nonconformists until 1689, when the government passed the Act of Toleration, allowing the Nonconformists freedom of worship. The Baptists, Congregationalists, English Presbyterians, Society of Friends, and Unitarians all developed as separate denominations in the 1600’s. The Methodists arose in the mid-1700’s.
In 1972, the Presbyterian Church of England and the Congregational Church in England and Wales joined to form the United Reformed Church. A small number of Congregationalists did not accept the union and continued to worship separately.
In the 1970’s and 1980’s, the house church movement developed a new type of free church. Its members gather in small groups in private homes for worship and prayer meetings. Many house churches quickly grew into larger churches. Pentecostal churches and house churches comprise the fastest growing church movements in the United Kingdom.
Today, the leading free churches in the United Kingdom are the Baptists, the Methodists, and the United Reformed Church.
Although the Church of Scotland has no bishops and is governed by an assembly of ministers and elders with divisional areas called presbyteries, it is a national church, but in a different way than the Church of England is a national church. As well as Baptists and Methodists, free churches in Scotland include the Free Church of Scotland.
In Wales, free churches exist on the same pattern as elsewhere in the United Kingdom. There is also the Presbyterian Church of Wales, which dates from the 1730’s.
In Ireland, the main free churches are the Baptists, the Methodists, the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland, the Presbyterian Church, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland.
