SANFORD, ELIAS BENJAMIN
(6 June 1843, Westbrook, CT-3 July 1932, Middlefield, CT. Education: B.A., Wesleyan University, 1865. Career: Methodist minister, Thomaston, CT, 1865~7; minister, First Congregational Church, Cornwall, CT, 1868-72; supply preacher, Northfield and Thomaston, CT, 1872-82; minister, Congregational church, Westbrook, CT, 1882-94; secretary, Open and Institutional Church League, 1895-1900; general secretary, National Federation of Churches and Christian
Workers, 1900--1908; corresponding secretary, Federal Council of Churches (FCC), 1908-13; honorary secretary, FCC, 1913-32.
In the late 1800s, even as the Congregationalists were growing increasingly self-conscious as a denomination, the church also developed a renewed interest in interdenominational cooperation. One of the foremost representatives of this ecumenical spirit was Elias Benjamin Sanford. Raised a Methodist, he was a Methodist minister for a short time in Thomaston, Connecticut, before transferring to a Congregational pulpit. In 1873 he became editor of Church Union, beginning a lifelong interest in Christian unity.
Sanford did not advocate the complete homogenization of the denominations to a single unified church. Instead he favored programs that would allow the churches to cooperate while maintaining their own unique characteristics. He was instrumental in bringing about the Carnegie Hall Conference of 1905, which included representatives from twenty-nine denominations. At that meeting the delegates helped to create the Federal Council of Churches, which came into formal existence at a meeting in Philadelphia in 1908.
Sanford was a guiding spirit of the FCC, which acknowledged "the essential oneness of the Christian Churches of America" and soon undertook cooperative projects for social welfare.
Bibliography
A: A History of Connecticut (Hartford, Conn., 1887, 1922); Origin and History of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America (Hartford, Conn., 1916); A History of the Reformation (Hartford, Conn., 1917).
B: DAB 16,347-48; DARB, 389-91; NCAB 24,256-57; NIT 4 July 1932, 11; SH 10, 203.
Workers, 1900--1908; corresponding secretary, Federal Council of Churches (FCC), 1908-13; honorary secretary, FCC, 1913-32.
In the late 1800s, even as the Congregationalists were growing increasingly self-conscious as a denomination, the church also developed a renewed interest in interdenominational cooperation. One of the foremost representatives of this ecumenical spirit was Elias Benjamin Sanford. Raised a Methodist, he was a Methodist minister for a short time in Thomaston, Connecticut, before transferring to a Congregational pulpit. In 1873 he became editor of Church Union, beginning a lifelong interest in Christian unity.
Sanford did not advocate the complete homogenization of the denominations to a single unified church. Instead he favored programs that would allow the churches to cooperate while maintaining their own unique characteristics. He was instrumental in bringing about the Carnegie Hall Conference of 1905, which included representatives from twenty-nine denominations. At that meeting the delegates helped to create the Federal Council of Churches, which came into formal existence at a meeting in Philadelphia in 1908.
Sanford was a guiding spirit of the FCC, which acknowledged "the essential oneness of the Christian Churches of America" and soon undertook cooperative projects for social welfare.
Bibliography
A: A History of Connecticut (Hartford, Conn., 1887, 1922); Origin and History of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America (Hartford, Conn., 1916); A History of the Reformation (Hartford, Conn., 1917).
B: DAB 16,347-48; DARB, 389-91; NCAB 24,256-57; NIT 4 July 1932, 11; SH 10, 203.