Congregational polity

Congregational polity is a church governance model in which each local congregation holds authority over its major decisions, rather than submitting to a regional or national church hierarchy.

Congregational meeting: An assembly of a congregation’s members convened to deliberate and decide church matters. Members exercise congregational authority by voting on major matters in these assemblies.
Episcopal polity: A church governance model in which bishops exercise authority over clergy and congregations. It locates substantial authority in bishops rather than in each congregation.
Separatism: A Protestant movement advocating separation from established churches judged insufficiently reformed. Separatist communities helped develop practices of local church independence and self-rule.
Baptist churches: Christian churches in the Baptist tradition, emphasizing believer’s baptism and local church life. Many Baptist churches use congregational decision-making, though practices vary.
Local church: A community of Christians organized for worship, teaching, and shared religious life in a particular place. Congregational polity makes this local community the primary unit of church government.
Church membership: The formal relationship between a person and a local church, often carrying rights and responsibilities. Membership rules determine who may participate in congregational decisions.
Presbyterian polity: A church governance model in which elected elders govern through connected councils or presbyteries. Its representative councils share authority across congregations instead of leaving it wholly local.
English Congregationalism: A Protestant tradition that organized churches as self-governing local congregations. It gave congregational self-government a defined theological and institutional form.
Congregational churches: Protestant churches organized around the self-government of local congregations. These churches give the governance model its clearest denominational expression.
Church schism: A division in a religious body that produces separate communities or institutions. Local decision-making can make disputes consequential at the level of an entire congregation.

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