Countess_of_Huntingdon's_Connexion

Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion

Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion

Christian denomination, 1783-


The Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion is a small society of evangelical churches, founded in 1783 by Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, as a result of the Evangelical Revival. For many years it was strongly associated with the Calvinist Methodist movement of George Whitefield.[1]

History

Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, c. 1770 (unidentified artist)

The Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion was founded in 1783 by Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, as a result of the Evangelical Revival. It seceded from the Church of England, founded its own training establishment – Trevecca College – and built up a network of chapels across England in the late 18th century.[2]

In 1785 John Marrant (1755–1791), an African American from New York and the South who settled in London after the American Revolutionary War, became ordained as a minister with the connexion. He was supported in travel to Nova Scotia as a missionary to minister to the Black Loyalists who had been resettled there by the Crown. Many of the members of the congregation which he organized in Birchtown, Nova Scotia later chose to emigrate and resettle in Sierra Leone, the new British colony in West Africa. What was called a Province of Freedom was founded in 1792.[3] Additional Connexion churches were founded in Sierra Leone (see below), and the British and Sierra Leone movements re-established contact in 1839.[4]

The connexion had earlier efforts at congregation building in Canada. In the 1850s, the entrepreneur Thomas Molson built a church for the connexion near his brewery in Montreal. It was poorly attended as the city's population was predominantly Catholic. The building was adapted for use as a military barracks.[5]

The Countess of Huntingdon's gave strong support to the Calvinistic Methodist movement in Wales in the 18th and early 19th centuries, including the foundation of a theological college at Trefeca (Trevecca) in 1760.[6]

Churches

Active

As of 2019 the connexion has 22 congregations in England and "more than 30" in Sierra Leone.[7] A UK-registered charity provides financial help with ministers' wages and training and for Connexion schools and teaching salaries in the latter country.[8][9][10]

Of the UK churches, seven normally have full-time pastors: Eastbourne, Ely, Goring, Rosedale, St. Ives, Turners Hill and Ebley. Total regular attendance at all churches is approximately 1,000 adults and children.

More information Church, Location ...

Earlier churches

Connexion churches were formerly active in:


References

  1. Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Methodism" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  2. "Connexion Fellowships. Retrieved 18/12/2019". Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  3. The Elect Lady, Chapter 10.
  4. There were said to be 16 congregations in Sierra Leone in 2003.Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  5. "Connexion Network". www.cofhconnexion.org.uk. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  6. "Bodmin". The Cornishman. No. 81. 29 January 1880.
  7. A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
  8. "St Mark, Preston- Lady Huntingdons Connexion". genuki.org.uk. 2 April 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  9. Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 774. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
  10. "Oxfordshire Churches & Chapels website: South Stoke". Oxfordshirechurches.info. Archived from the original on 20 February 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  11. "Community Centre". Archived from the original on 28 June 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  12. "About us | Worcester Live - Home to Swan Theatre and Huntingdon Hall". www.worcesterlive.co.uk. Retrieved 15 January 2020.

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