How was the Puritan church involved in the Salem witch trials of the 1690s?

These guys basically plucked from a handful of "sinful wrongdoers" that they believed were to be punished by their own god, and yet took things into their hands. They'd accuse any woman as of being a witch. A servant girl, a sick old lady married to her servant, a homeless begger. And so forth. They played the game telephone and spread lies about anyone and everyone resulting in innocents dying.