Congregational Churches

Many of the Congregational churches not part of the United Church of Christ follow a Christian year designed to involve the worshiper with the entire message of Scripture, from Creation to eschatological fulfillment. The Congregational churches were gathered in a protest against a church calendar cluttered with saint's days and "holy" days. Only later, after about 1860 in North America, did Congregationalists begin to observe Christmas, Easter, and other traditional festivals and seasons. In 1919, the Commission on Evangelism and Devotional Life recommended "devotional services in every church conducted by the pastor during Holy Week with union Good Friday services wherever possible. " Subsequent publications in British and American Congregationalism offered lectionaries and orders of worship for observances of the Christian year. Notable among these was A Book of Worship for Free Churches, published in 1948 under the General Council of the Congregational Churches in the United Stat…