Presbytery of Albany

Albany Presbytery

Presbyterianism is a form of Protestantism distinguished from other dissenting sects, which took hold in New England during the 17th and 18th centuries, by its hierarchical form of church governance. At the congregational level, ministers and elders are ratified by a regionally organized district court made up of representatives from individual churches called a presbytery (from the Greek for “elder”), which is governed at the top by a synod. In 1790, most of the churches in the Presbytery of New York were transferred to the newly created Presbytery of Albany. This included churches of Albany, Cherry Valley, Johnstown, New Scotland, Harpersfield, Ballston, East Ballston, Cambridge, Kingsbury, Schenectady, Currie’s Bush, and Remsen’s Bush. As an itinerant preacher, Occom visited several of the congregations in central New York and, after the division of the Suffolk Presbytery of Long Island, which had ordained him, Occom became a member of the Presbytery of Albany. In 1791, with the consent of the New Stockbridge and Brothertown members, he brought their church under the new Presbytery’s jurisdiction.

Alexander, S. D. The Presbytery of New York, 1738-1888. New York: Anson D. F. Randolph and Company, 1888. Love, William Deloss. Samson Occom and the Christian Indians of New England. Boston: Pilgrim Press, 1899.