You’ve perhaps heard of Norman Vincent Peale, a minister who popularized a “positive thinking” approach to Christianity, and served as long-time pastor of the Marble Collegiate Church in New York City. That congregation, formed in 1854, is part of the Dutch Reformed Church – the first and oldest corporation chartered in America– and dates back to 1628, when New Amsterdam was a struggling colony with a population of 250. The name “collegiate” doesn’t refer to a university but to a system of leadership that today we might call a multi-site preaching team. In New York City’s early days four worshipping congregations comprised the Collegiate Church. In those early days the four senior ministers shared the pulpits as “colleagues.” After a 200-year run, the church discontinued this “collegiate system” in 1871 and each congregation stood fully on its own.
Posted by Warren Bird
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