Presbyterian Congregations Research Articles

President James K. Polk’s deathbed conversion: the contest of ideas and market within the mid-nineteenth-century southern evangelical press

ABSTRACT In June 1849, James K. Polk died from cholera in Nashville, less than four months removed from the presidency. Seizing on a sensational column in the New York Herald, the editor of the Tennessee Baptist, J. R. Graves, used Polk’s hasty deathbed conversion to educate southerners about the inherent dangers they embraced when they joined Methodist and Presbyterian congregations. The ensuing debate offers a window into the sectarian edge of Nashville’s religious weeklies, revealing that far from fearing greed or secularization, they embraced competition from other Protestant denominations in a race to build a modern, denominational press that could evangelize the region.

‘Our sacred and civil obligations as Christians and as Citizens’: religion, charity and governance in early nineteenth-century Dublin and Edinburgh

AbstractRecent historiography gives an increasingly nuanced picture of interactions between religion and wider society in nineteenth-century Ireland. Yet, when considering the relationships between religion and philanthropy, something central to everyday life in urban centres, emphasis is still placed on the role of the institutional Catholic Church, and there is a sense that lay Catholics were less involved in charity than their Protestant counterparts. Connected with this is the idea that Protestant charities used open forms of governance, but Catholic charities were secretive, an assertion that parallels claims about tensions between Catholicism and democracy. This historiography, however, also suggests that the situation in the early nineteenth century may have been different from later in the century. This article compares small-scale Catholic and Protestant parochial charities in early nineteenth-century Dublin, while also considering similar institutions associated with Presbyterian congregations in Edinburgh. It indicates that some Catholic parochial charities were at least as committed to open procedures and lay participation as their Anglican and Presbyterian counterparts. By exploring these charities and making comparisons, the article shows that some of Dublin's middle-class Catholics were dedicated to the same ideals as early nineteenth-century British reformers.

Arianism in English Nonconformity, 1700-1750

Abstract During the time of English Nonconformity, Arianism was not only embraced, but openly acknowledged by most of the Presbyterian ministers. That generation of ministers, who contended so zealously for the orthodox faith, had finished their labours, and received from their Lord a dismissal into eternal rest. Those champions among the laity who, at the beginning of the controversy, stood up so firmly for the truth, had entered as well into the joy of their Lord. Though their children continued Dissenters, too many of them did not possess the same sentiments or spirit. Among those who succeeded these ministers were too many who embraced the Arian creed. To this unhappy change contributed the example and conversation as well of many from the younger Presbyterian ministers. In consequence Arianism spread far and wide in the Presbyterian congregations, both among the ministers and the people. This unhappy controversy proved the grave of the Presbyterian congregations, and of those of the General Baptists. The effects of Arianism, though at first scarcely visible, gradually produced desolation and death.

Sheltering under the Covenant: The National Covenant, Orthodoxy and the Irish Rebellion, 1638–1644

The Irish rebellion of October 1641 drove large numbers of clerical migrants across the Irish Sea to Scotland. These ministers brought news of protestantism's plight in Ireland, petitions for charitable aid and, in many cases, requests to work as preachers in Scotland. Historians have long recognised the social and religious links between Ireland and Scotland in the mid-seventeenth century and have seen these men as part of a wider effort to establish presbyterianism across Britain and Ireland. Such an argument fails to understand the complexity of mid-seventeenth-century presbyterianism. This paper explores these petitions for work and the less-than-enthusiastic response of ecclesiastical authorities in Scotland. Rather than automatically embracing Irish ministers as fellow presbyterians, the covenanted kirk leadership was aware that the infant presbyterian congregations in Ireland had followed a very different course to their own. Rather than fellow sufferers for Christ's cause, or part of a wider covenanted network, kirk leaders needed to assess Irish ministers for their godly credentials.

Calling, is there anything special about it?

Within the Reformed tradition, ‘calling’ is a core concept. Often, this biblical verse is cited when a pastor is installed or a new candidate is ordained, ‘The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it’ (1 Th 5:24 NIV). It is also confessed within this tradition that all Christians are called to be faithful ministers of the graces of God in whatever profession they may serve. In some Presbyterian congregations, it is a practice to say at the baptism of a child, ‘This is your ordination to ministry’. This article focuses on what is meant by calling when we use it in so many ways and with so many meanings. The first part explores the use of the concept in church history by different scholars and leaders – like in the Reformation. The second part briefly explores the implications and impact of the calling of someone into full-time congregational ministry.

“Nearer to the Exercises of Heaven”: Nineteenth-Century Maritime Presbyterians and The Choir (pp 49-87)

Singing, particularly psalm singing, has enjoyed a lengthy tradition among Christian churches. “Singing God’s praises brings us nearer to the exercises of Heaven than any other service we can engage on earth” proclaimed one nineteenth-century advertisement. Churches as well as singing schools frequently relied on tunes that circulated across countries and oceans through oral transmission and increasingly through printed tune books, as the capacity of printing technologies expanded in the nineteenth century and pricing of books became affordable to larger numbers of citizens. Singing instructions, tunes, and hymns were printed, reprinted, and modified to meet local demand. Music styles that lost favour in some countries continued to flourish in other settings. The first printed music in Nova Scotia, The Harmonicon, was produced in a Presbyterian context in 1838. Three decades later, demand for a new tune book prompted the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of the Lower Provinces of British North America to publish The Choir, a compilation designed to satisfy “a healthy taste for sacred music.” First published in Halifax in 1871, this volume was the mainstay of Maritime Presbyterian congregations for the remainder of the century. This paper traces the history of the production of The Choir, compiled by the church’s Committee on Psalmody. Details about the editions and reprinting of the tune book are provided. The paper concludes with an examination of the contents of the volume, where particular attention is given to elements of the book that illustrate the compilers’ attention to the local audience for which it was intended, including the use of local place names for tune titles, and the inclusion of locally composed tunes and fuging tunes, which were written for an antiquated singing style that persisted in the Maritimes long after it faded from church music in other parts of North America and the United Kingdom.

<i>The Practice of Pluralism: Congregational Life and Religious Diversity in Lancaster, Pennsylvania 1730–1820</i> (review)

Reviewed by: The Practice of Pluralism: Congregational Life and Religious Diversity in Lancaster, Pennsylvania 1730–1820 Richard K. Macmaster Mark Haberlein . The Practice of Pluralism: Congregational Life and Religious Diversity in Lancaster, Pennsylvania 1730–1820. (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2009. Pp. xi, 276, notes, tables, bibliography, index. Cloth, $79.00.) "You can hardly imagine how many denominations you will find here," a German settler in Hereford Township, Berks County, wrote to friends in Europe in 1768, but "we are always at peace with each other." Indeed, anyone who despised another because of his religion would be considered foolish. "Everybody speaks his mind freely. A Mennonite preacher is my next neighbor and I could not wish for a better one. On the other side I have a big Catholic church" and "the present Jesuit Father . . . confides more in me than in those who come to him for confession . . . Next to them the Lutherans and Reformed have their congregations." Pluralism was the rule in the experience of Schwenkfelder elder Christoph Schultz. "We are all going to and fro like fish in water." Was this the experience of other Pennsylvania communities? Was it confined to rural pockets like Schultz's neighborhood? Mark Haberlein, professor of early modern history at the University of Bamberg in Germany, chose Lancaster to "demonstrate how religious diversity emerged and how adherents of various faiths interacted with one another in a single town." He has succeeded in an admirable study illuminating many aspects of Lancaster's first century. His meticulously-researched local history has broad implications for American religious history, as Haberlein has made a case for seeing [End Page 245] the long eighteenth century as more significant than earlier or later periods in building religious institutions and shaping American attitudes. Lancaster, like many Pennsylvania towns and villages, was essentially a German-speaking community and its churches reflected this. Lutherans comprised forty percent of the taxpayers in the borough in 1773, adherents of the German Reformed Church twenty percent and Moravians ten percent. The small Catholic congregation was also German-speaking. The town also had an Anglican church and a Quaker meeting. Laura Becker found much the same religious mix in early Reading. Mennonites and Presbyterians were rooted in rural Lancaster County. The Presbyterian congregation in Lancaster remained "in a rather forming state" until 1770 when they obtained their first minister. His primary call was to rural Leacock Presbyterian Church, where he resided, and Lancaster had only a third of his time. Haberlein has broken new ground in demonstrating that their churches were important to most Lancastrians and that an increasing percentage participated in church life as the century wore on. In her study of Germantown, for instance, Stephanie Grauman Wolf concluded that churches had a very small role in the community, reflecting the growing secularization of the community. Haberlein found that 63 percent of borough taxpayers in 1751 and 72.5 percent of those on the 1773 tax assessment repeatedly appear in church records. Since the Catholic and Presbyterian congregations have no surviving records for most of the century and Anglican records are spotty, Haberlein found a high percentage of Germans were communicant members of the Lutheran or Reformed congregation and their number increased steadily between 1749 and 1790. Lancaster churches experienced a common problem in the early decades of the town's history, a dearth of trained clerical leadership. Each congregation was left in turmoil by a series of incompetent clergy and jackleg preachers. The Catholics, served by Jesuit pastors from German universities, were the exception. Moravian efforts to supply Lutheran and Reformed pulpits with awakened preachers added to the confusion and led some members of the older churches to join the new Lancaster Moravian congregation. A tradition of strong lay leadership emerged in each group. Reflecting the composition of the community, they were mainly artisans before mid-century and thereafter drawn from the merchants, shopkeepers, lawyers and medical doctors of the town. In the second half of the century, all the churches had settled pastors with university or pietist academy training. Lay leaders seem to have been reluctant to go along with the emphasis on church discipline [End Page 246] and tighter pastoral control...

The Lesbian and Gay Liberation Movement in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), 1974-1996

Since its founding in 1974, Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns (PLGC) has led the movement toward full participation and membership for lesbian and gay people in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). This is a story of that movement, told by a participant. It traces the development of current antigay policies in the church in 1976-78 in response to the first openly gay candidate for the ministry, PLGC's efforts to overturn these policies at annual General Assemblies, the growth of the pro-gay More Light Churches movement among Presbyterian congregations, the increasing number of antigay ecclesiastical court cases, study and dialogue on lesbian and gay issues across the denomination, and controversies over same-gender marriage, all culminating in the 1996 General Assembly, which endorsed civil rights for lesbian and gay couples, but also voted to send the controversial issue of lesbian and gay ordination to the 171 regional presbyteries of the church for an up or down vote. The battle for lesbian and gay equity in the church may well continue decades longer. Equity for gays and lesbians in society will not be fully won until the religious establishment learns how to apply its most basic principles of love, nurture, inclusive welcome, and support to lesbian and gay people.

The Effectiveness of Various Solicitation Methods in Raising Member Contributions

There are a variety of methods that a congregation can utilize to solicit pledges. This paper employs data from a 1985 survey of Presbyterian congregations to analyze eight solicitation methods. Their effectiveness differed by congregation location and size. While pledging systems were generally found to be ineffective in metropolitan congregations, small study/prayer groups were found to be most effective in non-metropolitan congregations. Direct mailing was the most successful method among large congregations. Professional fund-raising was most effective in mid-size congregations, and the distribution of denominational stewardship material worked best in small congregations.

The Receipts and Benevolences of Presbyterian Congregations, 1973-1988

Au cours des trente dernieres annees, les actes de bonte degages comme partie des recettes de la congregation ont connu un declin dans de nombreuses denominations protestantes des Etats-Unis. Pour expliquer ce declin, l'A. utilise un modele economique des congregations religieuses et propose une estimation des depenses de 40 congregations presbyteriennes americaines entre 1973 et 1988. L'A. affirme que le revenu par tete, la taille des congregations, les depenses par tete et le taux de pauvrete sont des determinants importants du niveau des actes de bonte

Determinants of Religious Giving in Urban Presbyterian Congregations

Using a sample of 320 urban Presbyterian congregations we tested four factors purported to affect contribution levels: socioeconomic level of the congregation, the stewardship approach used, programs sponsored, and the extent of democratic participation in decision-making. The strongest relationships were not with raw contributions but with the square root of contributions as a percentage of overall household income. The most important predictor was the economic level of the membership (the higher the income the lower the percent given to the church). Other predictors were church size (the larger the church the lower percent given), the number of new members, use of stewardship programs, effective congregational programs, and participatory decision-making. The study of religious contributions has become an important topic in the 1990s. Nearly every denomination has concerns about contributions. Roman Catholics have been prodded by the revelation made by Greeley and McManus (1987) and others that they contribute at only about half the rate of Protestants, costing the U.S. Catholic Church over $6 billion in lost revenue each year. Mainline Protestants have been concerned about the impact on contributions of decreasing membership, along with congregational declines in allocations to benevolences. These problems have spawned numerous studies. Some researchers have compared contributions across denominations, while others have focused on a single denomination. This paper examines only one denomination, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). It presents some of the proposed theoretical explanations for levels of giving, analyzes them using a simple empirical model, and then discusses the implications of the findings. We study only urban churches, for two reasons. First, the data set we used is more reliable for urban than for rural churches. Second, rural congregations tend to be small and homogeneous, with less institutional variation and fewer identifiable determinants to distinguish different levels of giving.

Modern American Agricultural Leaders: Four from Iowa

Although designating when Ameri can agriculture became modern is an imprecise task, certainly agriculture development after the Civil War fostered modernity. Farmers shifted from subsis tence to commercial operations and found themselves inextricably engaged in a more complex economic system. In turn, farm ers formed agricultural organizations and spokesmen arose to express their concerns. Among their number over the years were several from Iowa, including Henry Wallace, James R. Howard, Milo = Reno, and Ruth Buxton Sayre, a review of whose careers provides examples of the varieties of modern agricultural leaders. Henry Wallace was born 19 March 1836 in Pennsylvania. After graduating from Jefferson College in Ohio, he attended several other colleges and seminaries, was ordained a minister in 1836, and ministered to Presbyterian congregations in Illi nois and Iowa. In 1877, due to health problems, Wallace left the ministry and entered farming. Wallace moved to Winterset, Iowa, and eventually oversaw four farms.

Surveying Denominations and Congregations: An Epilogue

The four preceding papers describe research that illustrates the problems and prospects of survey research conducted on denominations and congregations. As a whole, this set of papers underscores the present limitations of surveys for assessing beliefs and practices, and the local congregational environments which shape these phenomena. Virtually all of the researchers, with the possible exception of Cornwall and Cunningham (who appear to have the singular advantage of working with relatively complete, detailed worldwide population listings for LDS members), are handicapped somewhat in their sampling procedures. Both those studying "mainline" Protestant denominations (Roozen and Carroll, and Hadaway), as well as those studying Catholics (Leege and Welch), suffer from the absence of fully enumerated populations and nationally centralized lists. And this problem would seem to be greatly compounded for those who attempt to characterize religious subgroups that cross-cut denominations (e.g., Evangelicals and Pentecostals). All of the researchers also acknowledge the difficulties involved in identifying and correcting for biases introduced by nonrespondents. This can pose a serious problem, especially when policy decisions about denominational outreach programs are made based on information drawn predominantly from relatively active members. It seems unlikely that such decisions would accurately reflect the needs or interests of more marginal members. In addition, the papers reveal problems that confront some denominational surveys more than others. For example, Hadaway indicates some of the unique problems that derive from the characteristic congregational polity structure of Southern Baptist churches. Moreover, the lack of strong, uniformly accepted criteria for defining a church's membership in the Southern Baptist Convention may create additional difficulties for sample design in both denominational studies of individual members and congregations. Although it probably affects all denominations to some degree, "parish-shopping" appears to be at least a bit more salient for surveys of Catholic parishioners and their parishes. Leege and Welch suggest this phenomenon can be particularly troublesome for studies that focus on the parish as a social context, and they alert others to these potential difficulties. It is also interesting to note that three of the research teams surveying notably different denominations (viz., Catholics, LDS, and Presbyterian congregations), report similar national response rates for members, averaging close to 60%. This pattern of convergence confirms the utility of multiple wave procedures. But it also implies that survey researchers may have to redefine their standards for "acceptable" response rates, as the problem of beleaguered, over-surveyed respondents becomes more pervasive and apparent. Although the authors have been both critical and realistic in discussing the attendant problems of denominational surveys, one should not be unduly pessimis-

Faith Priorities of Pastor and Laity as a Factor in the Growth or Decline of Presbyterian Congregations

Data from 204 Presbyterian congregations were used to assess the importance of various aspects of faith and theology for congregational growth or decline over a six-year period. Data included selfreports by pastors and laity plus ratings of each by the other. None of the faith priorities and theological views strongly correlated with congregational growth. The few weak associations that occurred were consistent with Dean Kelley's theories that conservative theology and avoidance of social action are conducive to growth. Measures of pastor-lay differences were unimportant except for differences between laity's ratings of their pastors and their self-reports on the question of social action.

Assembly and Association in Dissent, 1689-1831

Probably the oldest existing institution of its kind in present-day Dissent, though now but a shadow of its former self, is that which has long gone under the name of ‘The Exeter Assembly’. This body, composed of ministers only, and in the main of ministers of Presbyterian congregations in the county of Devon, first met at Tiverton on 17 and 18 March 1691, with fifteen ministers present. The inaugural meeting was followed by regular meetings held twice a year, usually in May and September. Save for three short breaks (1717-21, 1728-33, and 1753-63), the Assembly’s minutes, or for the years 1691-1717 a contemporary copy transcribed by the Assembly’s scribe and published in 1963 by the Devon and Cornwall Record Society, have been preserved for the whole period from 1691 to the present time.

A Study of Planning Techniques for Local Congregations

The evolution in church planning techniques is examined in the light of the experience of one major denomination (United Presbyterian Church). Specific tools of that denomination are described and compared. The results of an empirical study of their use are reported and the implications of the differences upon the variance in results are discussed. In religious institutions, as in other institutions in American society, the practice of long-range planning has become a frequent part of the life of many organizations. This paper reports a study of three planning techniques for local congregations developed by the Board of National Missions of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. The research, conducted during the summer of 1967, was sponsored jointly by the Institute of Strategic Studies of the Board of National Missions and an eastern metropolitan presbytery. The study was limited to planning in the United Presbyterian Church, but other evidence suggests that it exemplifies a much wider evolutionary development in church planning. In some respects, this evolution parallels the growth in city planning from the emphasis on architectural facade and imperiously utopian master plans to the current emphasis on broad policy and priority statements with maximum community participation in the decisions. A brief description of this evolution in city planning is contained in the writings of Perry Norton (1960: 108122; 1964:77-86). RANGE OF THE STUDY In historical sequence, these are the three techniques examined in this study. First was the "survey." Used in the late 1940s and '50s, this technique involved assigning a sociologist from the Board at the request of local church leaders to conduct a survey. Such a survey normally included the comparison of population trends for the city with the trends in Presbyterian congregations. Membership residential distributions were plotted, and church buildings were evaluated both for the suitability of their sites and the adequacy of their facilities. Recommendations were made for changes in location, program, etc. that appeared desirable to the surveyor, in the light of his investigation and his experience in other communities. Throughout the Survey, the assumption was clear although implicit that the basic unit of the Presbyterian Church was the geographically cohesive congregation or parish. It is possible to see the essential concepts of this survey technique in Douglass (1928). Second, in 1960 the Board developed the "Self-Study Guide," similar in approach to the technique described by

President Witherspoon in the American Revolution

ALTHOUGH John Witherspoon did not come to America until the year I768, long after he had himself passed the middle line of human life, -yet so quickly did he then enter into the spirit of American society, so perfectly did he identify himself with its nobler moods of discontent and aspiration, so powerfully did he contribute by speech and act to the right development of this new nation out of the old cluster of dispersed and dependent communities, that it would be altogether futile to attempt to frame a just account of the great intellectual movements of our Revolution without taking some note of the part played in it by this eloquent, wise, and efficient Scotsman -at once teacher, preacher, politician, law-maker, and philosopher, upon the whole not undeserving of the praise which has been bestowed upon him as one of the great men of the age and of the world. 1 Born in 1722, in the parish of Yester, fourteen miles cast of Edinburgh, a parish of which his father was minister, he was able upon his mother's side to trace his lineage, through an unbroken line of Presbyterian ministers, back to John Knox. That such a man should ever, in any country, come to lend his support to a system of rather bold conduct respectino royal personages in general, was hardly a thing to shock or surprise any sinrle drop of blood in his body. At the age of twenty, he was graduated from the University of Edinburgh, where he had for associates Huogh Blair, James Robertson, and John Erskine. At the age of twenty-two, he became minister of the parish of Beith in the west of Scotland. At the age of thirty-four, he became pastor of the Low Church in Paisley. At the age of forty-six, after having declined calls to Presbyterian congregations in Dundee, Dublin, and Rotterdam, he accepted an invitation to the presidency of the College of New Jersey an invitation which he had already declined two years before. At the time of his removal to America, therefore, he had achieved distinction as a preacher and an ecclesiastical leader. Even as an author, also,