free church

American  

[free church] / ˈfri ˈtʃɜrtʃ /

noun

1. (sometimes initial capital letters) a church free from state control.

2. (sometimes initial capital letters) a dissenting or nonconforming church.

3. (initial capital letters) Also Free Kirk (in Scotland) the church established by those who left the Church of Scotland in 1843.

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Free Church British  

noun

1. 1. any Protestant Church, esp the Presbyterian, other than the Established Church

   2. ( as modifier )

      Free-Church attitudes

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Etymology

Origin of free church

An Americanism dating back to 1825–35

Example Sentences

We stand for a free pulpit and a free church.

From Time Magazine Archive

A 1967 graduate of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, York has been backed by a number of local churches in operating a "free church" that ministers to Berke ley hippies.

From Time Magazine Archive

Then some of his presbyterian friends asked him why he should even do so much as this, when he would take no such steps for the moderator of the free church.

From The Life of William Ewart Gladstone (Vol 2 of 3) by Morley, John

Termination of the Temporal Power.—One goal toward which the founders of the kingdom directed their efforts was the realization of the ideal of Cavour, "a free church in a free state."

From The Governments of Europe by Ogg, Frederic Austin

Otago, in the south, was founded by the Scotch, and the free church established at Dunedin.

From Five Years in New Zealand 1859 to 1864 by Booth, Robert B.