Ecclesiastical separatism

Ecclesiastical separatism is the withdrawal of people and churches from Christian denominations, usually to form new denominations.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the separating puritans advocated departure from the Church of England. These people became known as dissenters.

Ecclesiastical separatism has also been associated with Christian fundamentalism, and such withdrawals have been mainly due to perceived theological liberalism. They have often been accompanied by a refusal to have any further association with the parent denomination or Christian fellowship with its members. George Marsden notes that Arno C. Gaebelein was one of the early fundamentalist leaders to advocate ecclesiastical separation in a conference address in 1914. Gaebelein had left the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1899. For Carl McIntire in the 1930s and 1940s, separation meant leaving liberal denominations (he formed the Bible Presbyterian Church) as well as organizations such as the National Council of Churches (he formed the rival American Council of Christian Churches). McIntire also separated from evangelical groups, such as the National Association of Evangelicals, which he believed had compromised with the liberalism of the National Council of Churches.