Christian congregation

“ Children may learn their catechism, and repeat their responses at school; but when they become men and women, will they resist the temptations by which they are surrounded? Numerous congregations are often suddenly formed by the planting of an eloquent and earnest divine into a densely peopled and neglected locality; but where does the congregation in general come from? Go into the thinned or deserted churches or chapels in its vicinity, and you will find you have only transferred the serious and Christian community from one place of worship to another. ”

“ Whosoever will preach, or minister in any way, in our church must either have been sent by our fathers and benefactors in Europe, or be in connection with our united congregations and ministers, and have been examined to see that he holds the true Evangelical doctrine and leads a Christian life, for this church has been established and consecrated for this doctrine and for no other. ”

“ Each member of the congregation had something to contribute for the edification of the Church. The experience, the thought, the gifts, of the individual were made available for the benefit of all. One with a natural aptitude for poetry threw his devotional feeling into a metrical form, and furnished the Church with her earliest hymns. Another with innate exactness of thought set some important aspect of Christian truth so clearly before the mind of the congregation that it at once took its place as an article of faith. ”

“ But if members are unable to be present through sickness or other causes, or if those present are not of one mind, the majority shall decide.
"9. When the church council (Kirchen Collegium) meets, the pastor shall begin with prayer to God, and then he shall present the matters to be considered. He himself shall have two votes, and he shall take diligent care that all things be done in an honorable, Christian and orderly way, for God loves order and hates disorder. ”

“ His congregation too, composed of educated ladies and gentlemen, is sure to be critical, and therefore all but impossible to teach. If he inclines a hair's breadth to the right or the left beyond the point at which they themselves stand, he is held to be unsound. His sermons are gravely canvassed in the afternoon conclaves which meet at each other's houses to discuss the excitement of the Sunday morning in the new arrivals or the new toilets. Has he dwelt on the humanity underlying the Christian faith? ”

“ A congregation of that size elsewhere in the Christian world, to edify, to instruct them, would require considerable preparation upon the part of the minister. But it is not so with us as a people. Elders are called to the stand without a moment's warning, or time to prepare what they may have to say, or what they may be expected to say; and it looked strange to me when I first entered a congregation of the Saints and saw this manner of procedure. It doubtless looks strange to many to-day who visit us. ”

“ Those who hold that every congregation, however small, is a complete church in itself, are quite unable to explain why the system of ecclesiastical organization should be thus circumscribed. The New Testament inculcates the unity of all the faithful, as well as the unity of particular societies; and the same principle of Christian brotherhood which prompts a number of individuals to meet together for religious fellowship, should also lead a number of congregations in the same locality to fraternize. ”

“ That letter has been brought to the notice of the two General Assemblies of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. Those assemblies represent nearly five thousand ministers of the gospel, and a still larger number of Christian congregations.
"Believing, as we do, that it is the will of Christ that his church on earth should be one; and recognizing the duty of doing all we consistently can to promote Christian charity and fellowship, we deem it right to say in few words why we cannot comply with your invitation, or participate in the deliberations of the approaching council. ”

“ Having thus laid down the principles which are to guide Christian congregations in the subject-matter of their prayers and thanksgivings, he passes on now to give some directions respecting the behaviour of men and women, when they meet together for common worship of the one God and the one Mediator between God and man, Christ Jesus. ”

“ They shall strive, as they hope for their soul's salvation, that the Evangelical doctrine, according to the foundation of the apostles and prophets and our symbolical books, be ever more fully apprehended by their own souls, and that it may be adorned by their godly conversation, to the end that they not only rule well their own households but also be examples to the whole congregation. ”

“ If there is any body of people on earth who ought to be enthusiastic, it is the church of Christ! We are working in the Lord’s kingdom, and we know that our labor will not be in vain. If so much can be accomplished by the little that has been done, I want you to think about what could be accomplished if we were all doing our best! It yet remains to be demonstrated what can be accomplished by a congregation which is wholly and completely dedicated unto the work of the Lord. ”

“ Every denomination of Christians who number enough to make a congregation can readily secure a house of worship, not only by gifts from its members, but by contributions made by other professing Christians. ”

“ Organization corresponded to the life distinctive of the new Ecclesia. This was one of essential equality among “the saints” or “the brethren,” turning on common possession of and by the one Spirit of Christ. “The whole congregation of the faithful was responsible for the whole life of the church—for its faith, its worship, and its discipline” (Dale) . ”

“ Now it has sometimes been questioned whether a Congregational organization, working on thoroughly Congregational principles, could so well plant the Christian church among an ignorant, degraded people, needing guidance, oversight, care, government. ”

“ But every church regards these evangelists as its servants; and, therefore, they have no control over any congregation, each congregation being subject to its own choice of presidents or elders, whom they have appointed. Perseverance in all the work of faith, labor of [pg 064] love, and patience of hope, is inculcated, by all the disciples, as essential to admission into the heavenly kingdom. ”

“ Article 47 And although the particular congregation be distinct and several bodies, every one a compact and knit city in itself; yet are they all to walk by one and the same Rule, and by all means convenient to have the counsel and help one of another in all needful affairs of the church, as members of one body in the common faith under Christ their only Head. ”

“ A congregation is answerable before the Head of the Church; it must keep its membership and roster clear; it dare not permit among its membership impenitent and manifest sinners, those who are despisers of God's means of grace, the Word and the Sacrament, whose morals are a blot, whose lives are a stench in the nostrils of the believers and of the world. ”

“ The regular pastor and the church councilmen shall take care that no strange preacher outside of our communion, let him bear what name he will, shall preach or administer the sacraments in our Augustus church or school-house, that the congregation may not be thrown into strife. ”

“ Since the man who was now called the bishop was head of the mother congregation, you can see how it would be very easy for the same man to become the head of this group of churches. Thus, less than two hundred years after Christ, there came into being a form of church organization quite opposite the plan revealed in the Bible. Instead of a group of men, with equal authority under Christ, overseeing one congregation there was one man over a group of congregations. ”

“ Whether, where a church of Christ is situate, it is the duty of the women of that congregation, ordinarily, and by appointment, to separate themselves from their brethren, and so to assemble together, to perform some parts of divine worship, as prayer, &c. without their men? ”

“ A congregation is a mysterious and subtle social force. Its effect on a minister he can neither analyze nor explain. But he knows that its power is mesmeric and cannot be escaped. He goes into its presence from an hour of exalted and uplifted prayer, serene, happy, strong, and prepared to speak words of power and life. Gazing at his people—he can never tell why—the words freeze on his lips. An icy hand seems laid upon his heart, and he makes a cold and formal presentation of his glowing theme, and wonders who or what has done it all. ”

“ Side by side with this evident end of the Church's existence is the other one of Worship. Not only from the individual heart does God require ascriptions of praise and expressions of confidence, but from the organized congregation of His people, He desires to hear the voice of adoration, contrition, and supplication. The cultivation of such worship, and the offering of it in a manner acceptable to God, is a work worthy of the Church's most earnest care. ”

“ I want my brethren to do the same, that the hearts and faith of the congregation may have an opportunity to join in the worship of God. When any one rises to preach, pray, sing, exhort, or bless the sacramental emblems, let him do so with voice sufficient for all to hear. ”

“ If all who move away from places where the church is strong, would simply take Christ and the Bible with them and start a congregation wherever they go, it would be the most far-reaching, the most effective, the most practical, and the most economical missionary work that could possibly be conceived! ”

“ If we receive into this one some who are strong and healthy, it is that they may wait upon the weak and delicate, for whom this Congregation has chiefly been instituted, and to put in practice that holy command: Bear ye one another's burdens, and so you shall fulfil the law of Christ. ”

“ Number 7 here refers to the organization of the church. According to the Bible every local congregation is entirely independent under God to manage its own affairs, with its elders overseeing its work. Acts 14:23: “When they had ordained them elders in every church and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.” Acts 20:28 says, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” ”

“ In visiting a church of a different belief from your own, pay the utmost respect to the services and conform in all things to the observances of the church—that is, kneel, sit and rise with the congregation. No matter how grotesquely some of the forms and observances may strike you, let no smile or contemptuous remark indicate the fact while in the church. ”

“ A single church organized on the right basis, watched over with painstaking care, so that her members shall adorn the doctrines they profess, will do more for the prosperity of Congregationalism in this part of the country than would a score of churches hastily organized and unsuitably located. We think the officers of this society have been wise in their movements thus far; nearly all the churches organized having made a history that deserves the admiration of Christian people everywhere. ”

“ The community bow down and worship: that is the attitude of the congregation. Nor can there be any doubt as to the relation which the god bears, in the common consciousness, to his worshippers: he is bound to them by special ties—from him they expect the help which they have received in ages past. They have faith in him—else they would not worship him—faith that he will be what he has been in the past, a very help in time of trouble. ”

“ Tiring of one church, discontented with the pastor, or encountering personal difficulties with other members, it is easy and convenient to join some other congregation, and of split-ups and break-offs there seems no end. ”

“ The congregation is exhorted on the Sunday before election to pray God that pious and devout men may be chosen. The Preachers, Elders and Deacons select twice the number of persons to be elected, whose names are publicly presented to the congregation, and any who have well-founded objection to make against any one proposed, is exhorted to present it. ”

“ From the plenty of ministers and preachers in the church of Corinth, it is evident it was a presbyterial church, and not only a single congregation; for to what end should there be many laborers in a little harvest, many teachers over one single congregation? ”

“ When one speaks thus of the Church one is conscious of a confusion of thought in the use of the word. The teaching of the formal documents of the Church is not here in question; what we necessarily mean is the effect that the existing membership of the Church is having upon contemporary life. What we have especially in mind is the attitude of the clergy and the action of the congregation in the way of moral force. What sort of a front is the church presenting to the world, what sort of moral influence is it exercising? ”

“ And as a Church is the immediate bond of union to each individual with the Church, so is a congregation the immediate company with which the individual joins, and the immediate sign of his adherence to the congregation of saints. Thus, in the Order of Confirmation, the preface declares that before the Church children should ratify their baptismal vow, and they are consequently asked by the bishop whether they do this “in the presence of God and of this congregation.” ”