Incorporated Free and Open Church Association

Two volumes of the Incorporated Free and Open Church Association (IFOCA).\ The minute book records the meetings of the Council and annual general meetings of the Association, and includes financial statements.\ The agenda book records the agenda of each meeting with the agreed outcomes or further actions alongside.

See Introduction to Church Reform League listing. \r\nFor financial records see CRL/11

The Incorporated Free and Open Church Association was founded in 1866, originally called the London Free and Open Church Association. Its work was focussed on persuading the church to abolish the custom of allowing worshippers to rent and appropriate pews. Its approach to spreading its message was through print and by putting up speakers at the Church Congress.\ By 1875 the Association was working amicably with other organisations with similar aims, sharing the work of propaganda with the National Association for Freedom of Worship and the Chester Diocesan Open Church Association.\ The Association drew support from members of all parties in the church and its patronage included eight bishops. Its goal was equality within the church, not outside. ('Churches and the Working Classes in Victorian England,' Inglis, K. S. pp. 49-53)\ In 1929 the Incorporated Free and Open Church Association merged with the Church Reform League as the Church Self-Government League (please note: an earlier body known as the Church Self-Government Association was quite independent.) Following the merger in 1937 with the Westminster Group, the body then became known as the Westminster Group and Church Reform League. From c.1947 the name Westminster Group was dropped and the title became the Church Reform League.