Labour Church

The Labour Church was an organization intended to give expression to the religion of the labour movement. It had a Christian Socialist outlook.

History

The first Labour Church was founded at Manchester in October 1891 by a Unitarian minister, John Trevor. Soon the Church expanded to other towns including Birmingham, Bradford, Bolton, Leeds, London, Nottingham, Oldham, Plymouth and Wolverhampton. Some of these churches were formed in a direct response to another church, or church minister, in the town promoting liberal views. Within five years of the first Labour Church there were over 50. The Labour churches were at that time attracting between 300 and 500 members to each congregation.

After John Trevor left in 1900, the Labour Church began to decline. At the annual conference of 1909, held in Ashton-under-Lyne, the name Labour Church was changed to Socialist Church. However, by the beginning of World War I the recently renamed Labour Church had disappeared.