The London Union on Church Matters (LUCM) and other unions continued their efforts to sustain the relevance and influence of the Church in changing times. The will and the ability to defend the Church were evident, but while there was agreement that campaigning must go on, effectiveness rose and fell, affected no doubt by a claim of late 1858 that the LUCM was on the point of disintegration, by the rise of new bodies that seemed likely to replace the unions, and by contemporary developments in politics and legislation, especially with respect to burials, divorce, and church rates. The LUCM’s activities increased in the late 1850s. A decrease was noted in 1860, but soon the union was again demonstrating that it had more it wanted to do. All through these years, the LUCM focused repeatedly on how the Church should minister to the growing towns, how to keep the Prayer Book intact and facilitate synodical growth and further self-government for the Church, how ecclesiastical property should be managed, how to support the Church in the colonies, and how to justify ritualism and auricular confession. In addition, LUCM leaders were more than ready to join in a quarrel about the inclusion of religious statistics in the 1861 national census.