Retired Carlsbad pastor elected WECF president

Pastor A. Barry Jones, pastor emeritus of the Carlsbad Community Church, was recently elected president of the World Evangelical Congregational Fellowship at their triennial conference in Auckland, New Zealand.

The conference hosted delegates from nearly 20 countries worldwide. The keynote speaker at the 7th triennial conference was Dr. David Wells of Gordon Conwell Divinity College, Massachusetts.

When the Congregational, Methodist and Presbyterian churches formed the Uniting Church of Australia in 1977, those Congregational churches opting to remain independent linked together to form the Fellowship of Congregational Churches.

Congregational churches are independent churches. Congregationalists believe in the autonomy of the local church. In some denominations, considerable influence is exerted “from the top.” In contrast, many independent churches have no formal ties with other churches and experience little inter-church fellowship. The Fellowship of Congregational Churches provides a “middle ground” between these two extremes.