A Protestant Nonconformist Church, formed in 1797 by secession from the Wesleyan Methodists, and merged in 1907 into the United Methodist Church (q.v.). The secession was led by Alexander Kilham, and resulted from a dispute regarding the position and rights of the laity, Kilham and his party desiring more power for the members of the Church and less for the ministers. In its conferences ministers and laymen were of equal number, the laymen being chosen by the circuits and in some cases by "guardian representatives" elected for life by conference. Otherwise the doctrines and order of the Connexion were the same as those of the Wesleyans._ At the time of the union with the Bible Christians and the United Methodist Free Church in 1907 the Methodist New Connexion had some 250 ministers and 45,000 members.