Separatists pilgrims
These believers were bound together by a covenant with God. Instead of including everyone who lived in a community, no matter their belief or personal character, the Pilgrims believed that only committed Christians should belong to a “gathered” church. In Plymouth Colony, the separatists favored a congregational approach to church government, which came to be known as the Congregational Way. Puritans wanted to reform, or “purify” the Church of England from within, while the Pilgrims were “separatists” who had given up on the possibility of reform and wanted to establish their own separate church. The difference between the Puritans and Pilgrims was their approach. It’s not surprising that there were calls for change. Parish priests were assigned to communities and individual priests were often their “living” as a political favor to a family. The worship services were read and there was little or no preaching. Everyone who lived in England was a member of the church parish in their community whether they wanted to be or not. In England, the Church of England was the only legal church.
Puritans and Pilgrims were distinct groups with fundamentally different approaches to the religious issues of their day. Both were part of the Protestant Reformation and they both wanted change.īut they weren’t the same. They both settled in Massachusetts, the Pilgrims in Plymouth in 1620, and the Puritans in Salem nine years later. Both had issues with the Church of England and were looking for a place where they could worship according to their beliefs and principles. They were both from England, braving the dangerous Atlantic crossing to the new world in pursuit of religious freedom.
From our 21st century vantage point the Puritans and Pilgrims look much the same.