Dissenting Mendicant Friars?

Abstract

"Among the records of the Weymouth Baptist church is a small leather-bound note-book which illustrates a practice still used in the early nineteenth-century, but destined to be rejected thereafter. This was the collecting tour by which churches sought to raise money for the capital cost of a new bUilding or a major repair or extension. For a century or more this matter seems to have been regarded as an appropriate method for a congregation needing help. The minutes of the General Baptist Assembly for 1735 show that churches whose "case" was approved were "advised to apply to such Persons and Churches within their reach, to desire their assistance," and to do this "either by Messengers appointed for the purpose or by Letters". There were of course, churches which managed their own fund raising and some found a generous individual to do it for them. But for others the collecting tour was one of the few resources available until, partly stimulated by reaction against this very method, corporate funds were brought into being as the denomination sought to establish more worthy and effective ways of assisting churches with their building programmes."