[Illustration: Theological Institution, Headingley.]
The Extension of Methodism Fund was established in 1874, to
supplement the ordinary funds of the Connexion and the local
resources of the people, by aiding in the increase of chapel
accommodation throughout the country, and in the extension of
Methodism by Home Mission and similar agencies. At first the building
of a thousand chapels was contemplated; but already 1,796 cases have
been helped, with grants and loans amounting to 122,999. In 1867 a
fund was started for the relief and extension of Methodism in
Scotland; a Chapel Fund for the North Wales District was instituted
in 1867, and for South Wales in 1873. There are now in Great Britain
10,000 Wesleyan chapels, which will accommodate 2,156,209 hearers,
more than four times the number of members returned; for there is
something misleading, as far as the general public is concerned, in
the published statistics of Methodism, which take account of
class-meeting membership only. Estimating the other Methodist bodies
at the same rate, Methodist chapels provide accommodation for
3,000,000 people; so that the united Methodist Church in this country
is second only to the Established Church of England.
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