Christianity • Protestantism The Independent Methodist Connexion is a British group of Nonconformist congregations that have their roots in the 18th-century Evangelical Revival.
Of the early leading figures, the most prominent was Peter Phillips of Warrington; he is generally regarded as the denomination's founding father.
By trade he was a chairmaker, but as an unpaid minister and preacher he travelled a wide area of the country and was instrumental in the affiliation of many churches to the Connexion during a period of over 50 years.
The ‘independent’ or ‘congregational’ concept of government, whereby the local church is autonomous of a central body and responsible for its own affairs, also played a part in the formation of the denomination.
At the beginning of 2005 the Independent Methodist Connexion and the Baptist Union of Great Britain entered into a partnership.