Programme: Annual conference of the English Calvinistic Methodist Churches in North Wales

PROGRAMME: Annual conference of the English Calvinistic Methodist Churches in North Wales and border counties to be held at Menai Bridge. Chairman: Rev. T. J. Wheldon, B.A.: Treasurer: T. R. Davies esq, J.P., Menai Bridge; Secretary Rev. E. Parry, B.A., Newtown.

Throughout the 19th century Nonconformity in Wales was dominated by the older Dissenting movements of the Independents and Baptists and the newer Calvinistic and Wesleyan Methodists who all saw enormous increases in their membership. The term "Calvinistic Methodist" was first used in 1801 and in the process of becoming the largest Nonconformist denomination in Wales, the movement separated from the Church of England in 1811 and established a Confession of Faith in 1823. The 1851 Religious Census recorded that the Calvinistic Methodists had a total of 807 places of worship. Before the 1830s the main denominations, particularly the Methodists, had been conservative in their political attitudes. However, increasingly the Nonconformists acquired a single voice on such issues as denouncing the 1847 report of into Welsh education, the rise of the Oxford Movement within the Church of England, the civil disabilities imposed upon them, and the call for electoral reform. This unity enabled the Welsh Nonconformists to move to a position of considerable political influence which they exercised through a strong allegiance to the Liberal Party to which they looked for liberation from their grievances and with whom they shared a central belief in the importance of individual choice. Despite the successes of the 19th century and the hopes raised by the 1904 revival the 20th century was to witness a catastrophic decline in Welsh Nonconformity. Membership of each of the main denominations peaked early in the century. Taking both Welsh and English-speaking congregations into account the Calvinistic Methodists reached their highest point in 1926 at 189,727 members. In 1933 the Calvinistic Methodist or Presbyterian Church of Wales Act granted equal standing to both names. As the century progressed the Calvinistic Methodists came increasingly to use the name Presbyterian Church of Wales (Eglwys Bresbyteraidd Cymru) but to many Welsh people, however, even today they remain simply the Methodists. The denomination has always been strongest among Welsh speakers but it also has a significant English-speaking membership. As presbyterians, the denomination has a hierarchical form of church government comprising the local congregations, the regional presbyteries, the provinces of the national Association, and the national General Assembly.

By deposit

Dim cyfyngiadau/ No Restrictions

Adnau preifat / Private deposit.

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Cyflwr da /Good condition

Compiled by Amanda Sweet Archifau Ynys Môn / Anglesey Archives

http://www.welshchapels.org/nonconformity/calvinistic-methodists-presbyterians/

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