conventicles

Conventicle is a term used for a small assembly for religious worship, especially when held outside of an official church service. The word derives from Latin conventiculum, meaning a little gathering. In many Protestant contexts, conventicles referred to private or semi-private meetings held in homes, barns, or other spaces, where laypeople would pray, study the Bible, sing hymns, or engage in catechism without a licensed minister or state sanction.

Historically, conventicles were common in regions where dissent from an established church was practiced or tolerated. They could be clandestine or tolerated, depending on the political and religious climate. Such gatherings were often associated with nonconformist, separatist, or pietist movements, as well as with groups seeking to maintain religious practices outside official structures.

Legal and social measures against conventicles varied by country and period. In England, the Conventicle Acts (notably 1664) banned religious assemblies of five or more people not conducted by a licensed Church of England minister, with penalties for attendees and organizers. In Sweden, the Konventikelplakatet of 1726 prohibited lay conventicles outside the state church, punishable by fines. Similar restrictions appeared in other states that maintained established churches, reflecting tensions between centralized religious authority and dissenting communities.

Today, the term is primarily historical, used to describe the kinds of informal or dissenting worship practices that accompanied early modern religious pluralism. It highlights the broader dynamics of how states and churches regulated religious life and how nonconformist groups sought to preserve their practices.