You may have picked up from our website that our church is a member of a family of churches called The Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion, or simply The Connexion for short. Chances are that might have left you scratching your head and wondering who on earth this Countess is, whether or not we’re a cult, and if we misspelt Connection by mistake! Don’t worry you’re not alone!
The Countess in question was a genuine British countess, Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. She was born into a well-connected family, the Shirley family, in 1707, and later married Earl Theophilus Hastings, meaning that between them, they were two of the movers and shakers of their day. She was brought up an Anglican, indeed, she never wanted to leave the Church of England nor found another group of churches as she ended up doing.
Although she had always been religious, it wasn’t until 1738 that she truly found faith for herself, undergoing a deep and transforming conversion experience, and discovering the power and riches of God’s love, forgiveness and grace for herself. This filled her with an urgent calling to show others God’s love through caring for them and telling them about Jesus (or, enabling others to do so – she was restricted as a woman in a man’s world, one of the reasons she is not known so well today).
As a result of her work many in need were cared for and many became Christians. To support them she started opening new churches and training ministers in a Bible college that she set up (this moved from Wales to Cheshunt to buildings which are part of the current council offices at Bishop’s College, before moving to Cambridge where it eventually amalgamated with Westminster College). At this time she became a good friend of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, his brother and famous hymn writer Charles Wesley, and the great preacher of their day, George Whitefield.
This church planting project, however, got her into trouble with the Church of England, and she was ultimately given the choice of staying within the Church and stopping planting new churches, or leaving and continuing. Reluctantly she chose to leave, the importance to her of her mission being greater than her own denominational preference. This was when her Connexion was set up (a connected group of churches).
The Connexion continues today, defined we hope by our sense of family from shared roots and a desire to continue the Countess’ legacy of sharing Gods love through social care/action and communicating his love and invitation in relevant ways to the communities we are part of. You can find out more about us on the Connexion website.
If you’d like a more detailed retelling of The Countess, her impact on her times, and her lasting legacy for us today, our minister, Ben, presented a talk on this topic at our Annual Connexion Conference in 2024, which can be viewed here:
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