German Congregationalism
ALWYN YORK, CONFERENCE HISTORIAN
Many CCCC churches in the Great Plains states and California have a German ethnic heritage. These churches were established by one particular sub-group of German immigrants—the Germans from Russia. They had been living in self-contained colonies of German people on the Russian Steppe. They had settled there at the invitation of the Empress Catherine the Great in the late 1700’s. The empress had granted them many special privileges that enabled them to maintain their German identity while living in Russia. In late nineteenth century the Russian government began to take these privileges away in the attempt to force them to assimilate. These motivated many of them to immigrate to the United States.
The Germans in Russia were religiously diverse. Some were Roman Catholics, some were Lutheran and some were Reformed. Those who were Protestant often worshipped together in one Evangelical church. But they were not Congregational. Congregationalism was in fact unknown to them. The formation of German Congregational churches occurred in America. It was the product of the outreach efforts by Congregational missionaries from the American Home Missionary Society to non-English speaking immigrants. These missionaries found the Germans from Russia to be a group that was especially receptive to their efforts
As Milton Reimer wrote in Modern Day Pilgrims: A Proud Heritage, “The cause of this openness to Congregationalism was a spirit of revival that had swept through the German colonies in Russia prior to their emigration.” (p. 216) This spiritual renewal expressed itself in prayer meetings and praise sessions, often held in private homes and led by lay leaders. A para-church movement known as the Brotherhood arose and became an important element in church life in Russia. This movement came to America with the immigrants.
Most of the Russian Germans had belonged to the Lutheran church back in Russia, but they did not automatically join Lutheran denominations in America. The multiplicity of Lutheran synods was confusing to them, and many of the Lutheran churches they encountered in America did not seem particularly sympathetic to their form of spirituality. The American Lutheran churches tended to focus on the sacraments and doctrine. Congregationalism appealed to them because it was less dogmatic, stressed local church autonomy, encouraged lay participation, and emphasized a heartfelt piety. The Germans from Russia found that the Lutheran pastors in American were suspicious of the Brotherhood movement, finding it a threat to their spiritual authority. In contrast, the prayer meetings of the Brotherhood, held in private homes and led by lay leaders, were entirely compatible with Congregationalism.
Eventually about thirty percent of the Russian-German Protestants became Congregationalists. A conference of German Congregational churches was formed in 1883. In 1927 the National Council of Congregational Churches recognized the German conference as a distinct group within the national Congregational denomination, equivalent to a state conference. With the formation of the United Church of Christ in 1957, many of the German churches joined the new denomination, but some did not, and others left over the years. The first German Congregational church joined the CCCC in 1963, and more followed in each succeeding decade as they became aware of the CCCC as a Congregational body in which biblical faith and personal piety is emphasized.