NONCONFORMISTS

The Reverend Wym Zwalf was our speaker for our November meeting. His talk told us how the church ‘fell out’ in 1054 over mans interpretation of the words in the Bible quoting the Creed, leading to the division of the church of the Catholic Church on the one hand & the Non Conformists on the other. Over time the non-conformists then ‘divided’ again giving us the Independents in 1550. Congregationalists, a primitive church ruled by elders & ministers. The Presbyterians – strictly Calvinistic, who similarly agreed to a hierarchy of a governing body. The Baptists in 1609 who decreed that children could not be baptised because they could not speak for themselves, & that adults were to be baptised by full immersion in water. The Methodists instigated by John Wesley in 1738 after he had attended a church meeting &‘felt his heart strengthen’. Methodists were given to serious study & commitment & their doctrines were the same as the Church of England but they were not welcomed so that their meetings were often held outdoors & drew in the working people. The Methodists were the first to introduce hymns into religious services, before this only psalms & passages from the Bible were chanted.
The Corporation Act of 1661 was designed to restrict public office to members of the Church of England ie those who were prepared to take Holy Sacrament according to the Rites of the Church of England. In 1673 the same Act was applied to Roman Catholics & Protestant dissenters. In 1820 both Acts were repealed by parliament.
There was much more fascinating information & Wym was kept busy answering members questions during the social evening that followed with refreshments provided by the members .
The very enjoyable evening ended with a speaker from designated groups of people telling their own family history anecdotes & exchanging ideas on family research.
[Barbara Holmes]