In 1619, the Anglican Church was formally established as the official religion in the colony, and would remain so until shortly after the American Revolution. Establishment meant that local tax funds paid the parish costs, and that the parish had local civic functions such as poor relief. The upper class planters controlled the vestry, which ran the parish and chose the minister. The church in Virginia was controlled by the Bishop of London, who sent priests and missionaries, but there were never enough, and they reported very low standards of personal morality.Edward L. Bond and Joan R. Gundersen. The Episcopal Church in Virginia, 1607–2007 (2007) By the 1760s, dissenting Protestants, especially Baptists and Methodists, were growing rapidly and started challenging the Anglicans for moral leadership.Richard R. Beeman, "Social Change and Cultural Conflict in Virginia: Lunenberg County, 1746 to 1774." William and Mary Quarterly (1978): 455–476. in JSTORRhys Isaac, The transformation of Virginia, 1740–1790 (1982)James B. Bell, Empire, Religion and Revolution in Early Virginia, 1607–1786 (2013).
