1. Polity

The term “Congregationalism” is used in both a more general and a more specific sense. In the former, it denotes a type of church polity in which episcopal and synodic elements have no place, with authority being concentrated in the local congregation and with extralocal conferences having only an advisory function. Today most Baptists, Quakers (Friends, Society of), the Disciples of Christ (Christian Church [Disciples of Christ]), and individual free churches are Congregationalists in this sense (see 2).

In the more specific sense …