Congregational Profession of Faith

Forming a new Congregational Congregation was an involved process. The occasion for forming a new Congregation arose from two reasons. The first was the result of the rapid expansion in New England. With each new land grant a new community arose. The first item of business, in a new community, was the registration of its "Land Grant Charter" which provided the legal status necessary for the distribution of land. Once established as a legal entity the next item of business was to obtain permission from the Congregational Governing Body to establish a Congregational Society. The process was an acknowledgement of the doctrinal concept of authority. Authority to act in God's name was passed down from one who held the authority to one seeking to obtain it. In response to a request, which was sent to the Church leadership, a committee of ministers was assigned the task of guiding the formation of a new congregation. There were several important items to be resolved. The first and often the foremost was the allocation of tithes collected in the form of taxes. Congregations all ready established in nearby areas were not eager to give up a share of their tithing money. The other issues to be considered were the ability of a new town to support a minister and the availability of an ordained minister. With the given that it was essential that everyone attend church, was the new town so located, that traveling to church each Sunday to an existing congregation posed too much of a burden? This later consideration was the second reason for forming new congregations. Using the example of Killingworth the original Killingworth Congregational Congregation was formed in present day Clinton. As the community expanded northward it became a problem for the people living in North Killingworth to make the trip south each Sunday to church. As in many communities there also arose a division of interests. The northern neighbors where primarily farmers, Southern Killingworth was dominated by the sea. This division of interests was also a factor in their desire for their own congregation. Thus Killingworth divided into two congregations the First and Second Societies. The use of the term "Society" was universal in the Congregational world. The word itself is descriptive of the Congregational mindset, the idea that communial life or "society" in any community existed within a religious framework. With the granting of permission to form a new congregation the first order of business was to record a religious charter which set forth a declaration of their faith. Each was essentially a declaration of Congregational concepts. The point was that each person who joined agreed with the principals so stated and made a pledge to live up to those principals. A part of the larger charter was the "Profession of Faith" which played a primary role in the processes of formal acceptance into the congregation. This copy of the "Profession of Faith" comes from Guilford.