English Presbyterianism

Presbyterianism in England is practiced by followers of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism who practise the Presbyterian form of church government in England. Dating in England as a movement from 1588, it is distinct from Continental and Scottish forms of Presbyterianism. Whereas in Scotland, church government is based on a meeting of delegates, in England the individual congregation is the primary body of government. Historically Presbyterians in England were subsumed into the United Reformed Church in 1972. In more recent years the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales and the International Presbyterian Church have seen modest growth in England.

Though the word Presbyterian dates to 1607, English Presbyterianism had its beginnings in 1558, the year of Elizabeth I's accession, when Protestant exiles, who had fled Mary I's revived heresy laws and the associated executions, began to return to England. Some of these Elizabethan puritans began to campaign for ecclesiastical reform from within the established (i.e. state-supported) Church of England. They sought to recreate the pattern of church life recorded in Scripture, without vestments and prelates, when church government was in the hands of presbyters.

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