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FREE CHURCH FEDERATION

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 70 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also:

FREE See also:CHURCH FEDERATION , a voluntary association of See also:British See also:Nonconformist churches for co-operation in religious, social and See also:civil See also:work. It was the outcome of a unifying tendency displayed during the latter See also:part of the 19th See also:century. About 1890 the proposal that there should be a Nonconformist Church See also:Congress analogous to the See also:Anglican Church Congress was seriously considered, and the first was held in See also:Manchester on the 7th of See also:November 1892. In the following See also:year it was resolved that the basis of See also:representation should be neither See also:personal (as in the Anglican Church Congress) nor denominational, but territorial. See also:England and See also:Wales have since been completely covered with a network of See also:local See also:councils, each of which elects its due proportion of representatives to the See also:national gathering. This territorial arrangement eliminated all sectarian distinctions, and also the possibility of committing the different churches as such to any particular policy. The representatives of the local councils attend not as denominationalists but as Evangelical Free Churchmen. The name of the organization was changed from Congress to National See also:Council as soon as the See also:assembly ceased to be a fortuitous concourse of atoms, and consisted of duly appointed representatives from the local councils of every part of England. The local councils consist of representatives of the Congregational and Baptist Churches, the Methodist Churches,the Presbyterian Church of England, the Free Episcopal Churches, the Society of See also:Friends, and such other Evangelical Churches as the National Council may at any See also:time admit. The constitution states the following as the See also:objects of the National Council: (a) To facilitate fraternal intercourse and co-operation among the Evangelical Free Churches; (b) to assist in the organization of local councils; (c) to encourage devotional fellowship and mutual counsel concerning the spiritual See also:life and religious activities of the Churches; (d) to See also:advocate the New Testament See also:doctrine of the Church, and to defend the rights of the associated Churches; (e) to promote the application of the See also:law of See also:Christ in every relation of human life. Although the objects of the Free Church councils are thus in their nature and spirit religious rather than See also:political, there are occasions on which See also:action is taken on See also:great national affairs. Thus a thorough-going opposition was offered to the See also:Education See also:Act of 1902, and whole-hearted support accorded to candidates at the See also:general See also:election of 1906 who pledged them-selves to altering that measure.

A striking feature of the See also:

movement is the See also:adoption of the parochial See also:system for the purpose of local work. Each of the associated churches is requested to look after a See also:parish, not of course with any See also:attempt to exclude other churches, but as having a See also:special responsibility for those in that See also:area who are not already connected with some existing church. Throughout the See also:United See also:Kingdom local councils are formed into federations, some fifty in number, which are intermediate between them and the national council. The local councils do what is possible to prevent overlapping and excessive competition between the churches. They also combine the forces of the local churches for evangelistic and general devotional work, open-See also:air services, efforts on behalf of See also:Sunday observance, and the prevention of gambling. Services are arranged in connexion with workhouses, hospitals and other public institutions. Social work of a varied See also:character forms a large part of the operations of the local councils, and the Free Church Girls' Guild has a See also:function similar to that of the Anglican Girls' Friendly Society. The national council engages in See also:mission work on a large See also:scale, and a considerable number of See also:periodicals, hymn-books for special occasions, and See also:works of different kinds explaining the See also:history and ideals of the Evangelical Free Churches have been published. The churches represented in the National Council have 9966 ministers, 55,828 local preachers, 407,991 Sunday-school teachers, 3,416,377 Sunday scholars, 2,178,221 communicants, and sitting See also:accommodation for 8,555,460. A remarkable manifestation of this unprecedented See also:reunion was the fact that a See also:committee of the associated churches prepared and published a See also:catechism expressing the See also:positive and fundamental agreement of all the Evangelical Free Churches on the essential doctrines of See also:Christianity (see The Contemporary See also:Review, See also:January 1899). The catechism represents substantially the creed of not less than 8o,000,000 Protestants. It has been widely circulated throughout Great See also:Britain, the British Colonies and the United States of See also:America, and has also been translated into Welsh, See also:French and See also:Italian.

The movement has spread to all parts of See also:

Australia, New See also:Zealand, See also:South See also:Africa, See also:Jamaica, the United States of America and See also:India. It is perhaps necessary to add that it differs essentially from the Evangelical See also:Alliance, inasmuch as its unit is not an individual, private See also:Christian, but a definitely organized and yisible Church. The essential doctrine of the movement is a particular doctrine of churchmanship which, as explained in the catechism, regards the See also:Lord Jesus Christ as the See also:sole and Divine See also:Head of every See also:branch of the See also:Holy See also:Catholic Church throughout the See also:world. For this See also:reason those who do not accept the deity of Christ are necessarily excluded from the national council and its local constituent councils.

End of Article: FREE CHURCH FEDERATION

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