Congregational church

Congregationalism is a way to organize Christian (usually Protestant) churches. With Congregationalism, each church or community has a lot of autonomy. Anabaptist, Baptist, and Pentecostal movements are often organised in such a way.

It is different from Presbyteranism in which a number of elders govern the churches and from Episcopalism in which a number of bishops govern the churches.

Congregationalism was originally part of Anglicanism but took some of the teachings of Jean Calvin and of Huldrych Zwingli in the 16th and 17th centuries. Most of those who supported Congregationalism were Puritans.