The Connexional Financing of Wesleyan Chapels

Abstract

This chapter explores the overall costs of the Wesleyan Methodist chapel estate, and the impact which this financial challenge had upon the Connexion, drawing comparisons with other approaches including that of Anglicanism. Chapel construction triggered the movement’s 1760s financial crisis, and led to the decentralization of responsibility for chapel debt, though with some national oversight. This succeeded in keeping total chapel debt manageable. The scale and timing of chapel construction reflected membership growth, but in some regions did not keep pace. Resources were available, from the growing number of wealthier Methodists, and sometimes from Connexional grants. But there were tensions between the ambitions of local societies and concerns over debt, and between ensuring accessibility to the Gospel, and dependence on the wealthy. By 1800, chapel financing formed part of a complex Connexional financial regime.