Modern British Heresy

Congregationalists are grounded in local churches. The congregation is the source of the authority of such minimal central and co-ordinating structures as are necessary to sustain the denomination. A proper balance between local and central bodies is not always easy to maintain. (A history of Scottish Congregationalism is here (pdf).) Early ministry   ( timeline and bibliography here. Biographical background is largely taken from Kathleen Chator, James Cranbrook , in The Congregational History Society Magazine, Volume 7 No 4 Autumn 2014, pp.161-167 ( pdf ) Her particular focus is “the role of black people in the religious life of the United kingdom in past centuries.” p.161. ) James Cranbrook was baptised in 1819 and trained for the ministry at Highbury College, London (1836-1840), a highly regarded dissenting academy ( wiki ). He followed a meandering ministerial career. His first post (1840-42) was in Wickham Market, Suffolk, where he married Charlotte Frost. They were to have five