Free Church

Protestant denominations of England and Wales that became members of the Free Church Federal Council from 1940. They include the Methodist Church, Baptist Union, United Reformed Church, Society of Friends (Quakers), Salvation Army, and Pentecostalist churches. The denominations were founded by those who did not wish to conform to the traditional forms of worship laid down by the established Church of England, but united for common action.

The Free churches differ from the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican churches in their view of the Eucharist (the sacrament in which bread and wine is taken in remembrance of Jesus). They do not regard the ritual as a re-offering of Jesus' sacrifice, only as a reminder of what Jesus did. The bread and wine are placed on a plain table and the wine may be taken from small individual cups. Some Free churches, such as the Salvation Army and the Society of Friends, do not celebrate the Eucharist at all, as they do not feel that it is necessary to remember Jesus in this way.