Congregational Discipline in Small-Town Woodland New England
Every town in the Massachusetts Bay Colony had at least one congregation. But this didn’t mean each town had a church. When Congregationalists used the word "church," they referred to a body of people within a congregation who, when joined together to worship, were transformed by God into...
| Subtitles: | The Rural Reformation |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2025
|
| In: |
Church history and religious culture
Year: 2025, Volume: 105, Issue: 3/4, Pages: 379-397 |
| Further subjects: | B
Natick / N’ahteuk
B Church discipline B Puritans B Indigenous B West Barnstable / Iyannough B Massachussets Bay Colony B Woodland New England B Halfway Covenant B Congregationalism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
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| 520 | |a Every town in the Massachusetts Bay Colony had at least one congregation. But this didn’t mean each town had a church. When Congregationalists used the word "church," they referred to a body of people within a congregation who, when joined together to worship, were transformed by God into one being. The rapid population growth of New England towns meant a continual influx of new people—"strangers"—into congregations by default, but a church could not be so easily guaranteed. The Halfway Covenant, broached as an idea in 1662 by a synod in Cambridge, proposed a way for completely unaffiliated people to join congregations "halfway": not full members of the church, but more than just members of the congregation. In this article, I explore examples of Halfway Covenant membership, including Indigenous and English believers, in several towns in the Massachusetts Bay Colony at the turn of the 18th century, particularly Iyannough/West Barnstable and N’ahteuk/Natick. Covenant members were subject to the same church discipline as full church members, and church records detail many interesting cases. Church records also show that "halfway" membership often led to full membership for Indigenous and English people alike. The identity-conferring power of Congregationalism in this region, commented on by so many contemporary observers, was due in part to the people’s embrace of the Halfway Covenant. Its flexibility and practicality made it possible for the region to maintain sincere religious practice through over a century of fundamental socio-political change and a dynamic, shifting population. | ||
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