 The Westminster Assembly of <unk> was a council of theologians ( or " divines " ) and members of the English Parliament appointed to <unk> the Church of England which met from 1643 to 1653 . Several Scots also attended , and the Assembly 's work was adopted by the Church of Scotland . As many as 121 ministers were called to the Assembly , with nineteen others added later to replace those who did not attend or could no longer attend . It produced a new Form of Church Government , a Confession of Faith or statement of belief , two catechisms or manuals for religious instruction ( Shorter and Larger ) , and a <unk> manual , the Directory for Public Worship , for the Churches of England and Scotland . The Confession and catechisms were adopted as doctrinal standards in the Church of Scotland and other Presbyterian churches , where they remain <unk> . <unk> versions of the Confession were also adopted in Congregational and Baptist churches in England and New England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries . The Confession became influential throughout the English @-@ speaking world , but especially in American Protestant theology . 
