NR #1995-108: Reformed Congregationalists Convene New Fellowship at Site of Charles Finney's Heresy Trial Meeting at the site where Charles Finney defended himself against accusations that his new measures in evangelism violated the fundamentals of the Reformed faith, a group of Reformed Congregational ministers, elders, and other church leaders convened a new fellowship dedicated to the promotion of Reformed Congregational principles. The August 15-16 convention at the meetinghouse of New Lebanon Congregational Church in upstate New York elected officers, finalized a form of government, signed an adopting act, and explicitly reaffirmed the historic Reformed Congregational confessions as a summary of the Reformed Congregational system of faith and order. "We're trying to return historic confessional Congregationalism to America," said Rev. David Green, moderator of the new General Association of Reformed Congregationalists. NR #1995-108: For Immediate Release Reformed Congregationalists Convene New Fellowship at Site of Charles Finney's Heresy Trial NEW LEBANON, NY (October 31, 1995) URNS - New Lebanon Congregational Church in the rural upstate New York town of New Lebanon has few claims to fame, but one such claim earned it a footnote in many American church history textbooks. In 1827, the church hosted the New Lebanon Convention called by the Boston Congregationalist Rev. Lyman Beecher at which Rev. Charles Finney, then a Presbyterian evangelist, united with a group of his supporters to defend themselves against accusations by the Congregational evangelist Rev. Ashael Nettleton that their new measures of altar calls, "anxious benches," and other methods of evangelism violated the fundamentals of the Reformed faith. Finney's methods and the Arminian theology underlying them subsequently spread throughout the American evangelical world and the New Lebanon Convention is usually regarded as the watershed year in which the dominance of Calvinistic theology was replaced by Arminianism in American church life. A quite different meeting was held at the church in August of this year. Following up on an initial meeting held last year, eighteen ministers, elders, and other leaders from eleven churches met on August 15 and 16 and reaffirmed an earlier vote "to adopt the Savoy Declaration and Cambridge Platform as a summary of the Reformed Congregational system of faith and order." The majority of those present then formally covenanted together as a confessionally Reformed association of Congregationalists, while other delegates chose to seek explicit approval from their churches before formally subscribing to the documents. "We're trying to return historic confessional Congregationalism to America," said Rev. David Green, moderator of the newly-organized General Association of Reformed Congregationalists. "It is a significant historical consequence that we return to the site of the commencement of the downgrading of American evangelicalism to begin again and seek out the old paths," said Green. "By God's grace, hopefully we've found them and will proceed therein if God prospers us." Green noted that the new group had intentionally avoided early publicity or recruitment of a large number of initial signatories. However, the mailing list already numbers over three dozen actively interested churches and pastors, mostly from a Congregational background but also including several independent Reformed and Presbyterian churches and pastors. The General Association brings with it a strong base of leadership. Most members of its interim committee and credentials committee are current or former committee chairmen, local association moderators, or other officers in one of several Congregational or Presbyterian denominations. This raised one particularly touchy issue: acting on a recommendation from the interim committee, the General Association adopted a proposal to explicitly allow dual affiliation with other Congregationally-governed denominations and voted down an overture which would have allowed only associate membership in such bodies. Two of the officers are particularly well-known in other Reformed circles: besides serving as pastor of Cornerstone Church in Beverly, Massachusetts, Green serves as moderator of the interdenominational New England Reformed Fellowship and as president of his local Christian school board. The organization's scribe, Darrell Todd Maurina, brings to his duties a background of journalistic work in Dutch Reformed circles including editorial work with Christian Renewal and United Reformed News Service. Besides electing a moderator, vice-moderator, scribe, and treasurer, the convention completed and adopted a Form of Government, signed an Adopting Act stating its agreement with the system of doctrine expressed in the historic Congregational confessions, and appointed three committees to assist in its work. The busiest of the three will likely be the Candidates and Credentials Committee, whose work will focus on examining applicants for membership and handling various exceptions to the confessions which were taken by members of the convention. Green said a major reason for the creation of a new ecclesiastical fellowship was to raise the standards for ordination. "The greatest need as I see it is returning a theologicial basis to the preaching that is necessary for reviving and edifying churches," said Green. "This process is begun by proper examination and ordination standards and it's maintained by close fellowship and when necessary by biblical discipline, all for the purpose of the glory of Christ and the purity of his witness to the churches." While the 1648 Cambridge Platform and 1658 Savoy Declaration - the latter document a revision of the Presbyterians' Westminster Confession of Faith - are detailed statements of Congregational polity and Reformed theology, the convention voted to explicitly disallow several views which have periodically arisen in other Reformed denominations despite equally detailed confessional documents. According to the Adopting Act, no minister or elder in the General Association of Reformed Congregationalists will be permitted to believe that women may hold the office of ruling or teaching elder, to deny the existence of ruling elders, to deny any of the five points of Calvinism, to hold a dispensational theological position, or to hold several other related theological views. Rev. Alwyn York, current pastor of New Lebanon Congregational Church and author of several papers on the original New Lebanon Convention, pointed to the importance of such statements. "It's highly significant that this is the first organized attempt that I know of to recover the theology of historic New England Congregationalism," said York. "It is a very sad thing in church history that Congregationalism has become identified with liberalism and that there is no body that has continued in faithfulness to the Reformed faith." York hoped that one particular benefit of the new General Association will be the recovery of an organized Reformed Congregational witness in North America. "The main reason, first of all, is fellowship and encouragement for Congregational pastors who are Reformed in theology, small in number, and widely scattered, but also the need for this fellowship to work out some of the practical church polity questions and issues of worship from a viewpoint that is Congregational and Reformed," said York. "None of us are able to do that on our own in isolation," said York. "That's what we need the communion of saints for." Cross-References to Related Articles: #1995-109: Text of the Adopting Act for the General Association of Reformed Congregationalists Contact List: Rev. L. David Green, Moderator, General Association of Reformed Congregationalists 14 McKinley Ave., Beverly, MA 01915 * O: (617) 292-3560 * H: (508) 927-8134 * E-Mail: Dovedge@aol.com` Darrell Todd Maurina, Scribe, General Association of Reformed Congregationalists PO Box 691, Lawrence, MI 49064-0691 * H/O: (616) 674-8446 * F: (616) 674-8454 * E-Mail: Darrell128@aol.com Rev. Alwyn York, Pastor, New Lebanon Congregational Church PO Box 625, New Lebanon, NY 12125 * O: (518) 794-7973 * H: (518) 794-7370 ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr95-108.txt .