ABSTRACT
Unless they happen to have exhibited particularly exotic or quixotic traits, historians usually do not have much time for small, defunct, religious denominations. The Methodist New Connexion, founded in 1797, made the mistake of championing fairly innocuous and sensible ideas, which later became ubiquitous throughout Methodism, and has paid the penalty of having its history neglected. For example, even a volume with such a promising title as, Conflict and Reconciliation: studies in Methodism and ecumenism in England, 1740-1982, manages to ignore the Methodist New Connexion altogether.1
The few modern discussions of this denomination that have been produced are all around 13 pages or less in length.2 Nevertheless, an examination of this largely forgotten movement has the potential to provide a uniquely illuminating case study of the relationship between evangelicalism and the rise of the laity.
