National Council of the Congregational Churches of the United States

National Council of Congregational Churches of the United States
Classification	Protestant
Orientation	Mainline Protestant
Polity	Congregational polity
Associations	Federal Council of Churches (1908)
Origin	1865 Boston, Massachusetts
Merged into	Congregational Christian Churches (1931)
Congregations	5,497 in 1928
Members	939,130 in 1928

The National Council of Congregational Churches of the United States was a mainline Protestant, Christian denomination in the United States. It was established in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1865 and existed until 1931. In 1928, there were 5,497 Congregational churches in the U.S. with a membership of 939,130. These churches were served by 5,648 ministers.

The Congregational churches originated from the Puritans of colonial New England. Congregationalists were traditionally Calvinists strongly committed to congregational polity, from which the denomination took its name.

In 1931, the Congregationalists merged with the Christian Connection to form the Congregational Christian Churches. The National Council is a predecessor body to several American denominations, including the United Church of Christ, the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, and the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference.

American Congregationalism grew out of the Puritan migration to New England in the 17th century. The Congregational church was the established church of Connecticut until 1818 and Massachusetts until 1833. The Puritans and their Congregationalist descendants had much in common with Presbyterians. Both denominations shared a Reformed theology; however, Congregationalists practiced a more decentralized form of church governance described in the Cambridge Platform. In this, Congregationalists were similar to Baptists, but where Baptists practiced believers baptism by immersion, Congregationalists practiced infant baptism.

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