The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

History of St. Mark's United Church By Brian Winter Archivist, Whitby Historical Society In 1976 the congregation of St. Mark's United Church celebrates its 150th anniversary, but in many ways it is a double anniversary, for this year also marks the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Methodist Tabernacle which serves as our church today. The history of the Methodist Church in Upper Canada dates back to the formation of the circuits in 1791, which were served by circuit riders, the "saddle bag preachers" who rode on horseback from one scattered community to another, preaching the gospel. As the population of Upper Canada grew, more circuits of the Methodist Church were formed. What is now Whitby was for many years in the Smith's Creek Circuit, later called the Cobourg Circuit. In 1826 the western side of the Cobourg Circuit was set off, with Whitby as its head. It comprised the townships of Hope, Clarke, Darlington, Whitby, East Whitby, Pickering, Scarborough, Markham, Reach, Uxbridge, Brock and Mariposa. It is the formation of this Whitby Circuit that St. Mark's is commemorating with its celebrations this year. In 1833, Brock and the surrounding regionsvwere set off as a new circuit, and in 1845 the eastern portion of the Whitby Circuit was set off as the Bowmanville Circuit. The first Methodist Church building erected in what is now the Town of Whitby, was the Almonds Church built on land given in 1837 by James Almond, a settler on the Kingston Road near the Whitby-Pickering Town Line. A circuit rider would visit the church three or four times a year, while in the meantime, classes were held by a Mr. Mortimer, and Mr. Almond served occasionally as a lay preacher. Almonds church in its later years was associated with the Methodist Tabernacle and the Whitby United Church. The church served the Almonds settlement and surrounding farming area in the old Township of Whitby for 134 years until it ceased to operate as a church in September 1971, and its congregation joined St. Mark's. By the 1840s, the population centres in Whitby Township were at Almonds, Perry's Corners (Dundas and Brock Streets), Hamer's Corners (Dundas and Anderson Streets), Windsor Bay (Port Whitby), and Winchester (Brooklin). In 1845 the Methodist Episcopal Church built a place of worship in Brooklin, and in 1846 the first Methodist class in the old Town of Whitby was established in a log school house east of St. John's Anglican Church by Rev. Ezra Adams. The class consisted of John Welton (looked upon as the leader) Mrs. Hamilton Sr., Mrs. Archibald Hamilton, Mrs. Southwell and Yeoman Gibson. Mr. Welton and Mr. Gibson organized the class and invited Rev. Mr. Adams to be preacher. Rev. Adams and two assistants preached at the school house on three out of four Sundays a monih, and Mr. Welton's home at Windsor Bay became a headquarters for Methodist ministers at that time. Also in 1846, Jacob Bryan Sr., a methodist preacher from Brockville, moved ta Whitby and officiated in the absence of Rev. Mr. Adams. When the school house was moved across the road ta the south side of Victoria Street in 1847, the Methodist congregation obtained permission from Peter Perry, Whitby's founder and leading citizen, ta worship in a small building at the north east corner of Brock and Mary Streets, known as the Free Chu rch. This building, demolished in 1968, was known as te Free Church because it was free for the use of aTdenominations and was often used as a public meighall. In 1852 the Mechanics' Institute, the frerunner of the Whitby Public Library, was founded in this building. In 1852 the Mechanic's Institute build a public hall on the south east corner of Byron and Mary Streets, and the Methodist congregation moved to this building. It stood for 21 years until destroyed by fire in 1873. The Methodists shared the building every Sunday with the Presbyterians, the Presbyterians meeting in, t rpid,ýQoi gand the'ç eMt Oiet the aferloof. X (Continued on Page 3) A message from the minister, Rev. John M. Smith, B.A., B.D. The present people of St. Mark's United Church are privileged to be the congregation charged with the responsibility of continuing the fellowship of worship and service established one hundred and fifty years ago by the pioneers of community life in Whitby. It was out of Christian conviction and a desire for sound citizenship that folk of those early days, and of similar faith, gathered together to teach and to learn, to pray and to praise, and to share their aspirations for the future. From these the churches grew, marked with their particular bias and denominational d;fferences, but united in their desire for the good life, based on Christian principals, and sharing with ail community-minded citizens the plans and hopes for the area. It is doubtful if in their most ambitious dreams they visualized the Whitby of today. Nevertheless from pioneering efforts came the foundations upon which succeeding generations grow -- a village with its civic organizations and systems: its commerce and industry: its fraternities and sororities: its recreation and culture: its schools and churches. On this 150th Anniversary occasion St. Mark's is happy and proud to have been a part of the pioneering and developing life of the Town of Whitby. (Continued on Page 4) Greetings from Town of Whitby Reverend John Smith, St. Marks United Church, Whitby, Oniario. Dear Reierend Smith; I am n7ost pleased on be hal of the Council and people of the Town of Whitby to express ouir sincere congratulations to the Congregation of' St. Mark's Uni- ted Church on their 150th anniv'ersary. We also wish a warn welconie lo all those ivho will he visiting you tu participa/e in your special anniversary wveekend, Junie elevienth, t welfth, and thirteenth. Since 1826 when icthe Vhi//by circuit was foriieti with Vhith as ils centre; your Coigregation lias been an inp- ortalin and integral pari of the c<nirnuîiity. As we refleci on the past 150 Iears of the Congreg- ation of St. Marks, our faill in the future of Si. Marks and of our Coununitiy must grow stronger. We again congratulate you on this most importani event in vur histori' and express our best ivislies for the future Sincerely, Gartl4 This year, 1976, St. Mark's United Church celebrates 150 years as a congregation in our community. This special commemorative newspaper supplement is published as a momento of this historic occasion and to tell a small part of the story that is St. Mark's, not only to those who think of it as "our Church", but to all in the community. Through knowledge comes under- standing, and it is 'our hope that we may have accomplished something in that direction. The Celebration 150 Publicity Committee. Neil C. Murkar, Chairman; Barbara Bagnell, Kenneth Bagnell, John B. Davies, John W. Wootton, Brian Winter The United Church of Canada The United Church of Canada, the nation's largest Protestant church, ministers to roughly two million p-ople in this country andBermuda. (Bermuda, by circumstances of history, is part of the United Church's conference of the Maritimes). The church, as a denomination, was formed in 1925 when the Methodist Church in Canada; the Association of Congregational Churches of Canada and a majority of the Presbyterian Church in Canada entered into an organic union. Also joining was the Association of Local Union Churches in Canada. Writing about the events of that year, The Reverend Leonard Griffith of Toronto has observed: "The Church Union, consummated in 1925, was not imposed by ecclesiastical bureaucracies, especially in the rural areas where the will to eliminate sinful duplication of resources had already created a thousand local unions which emerged as a new denomination". This was the Association of Local Union Churches which joined the Methodists, Congregational ists and Presbyterians to form the U iited Church. Canadians who have little knowledge of church history are often confused by the relationship of the Presbyterian Church to the United Church. They wonder why -- if the Presbyterian Church joined the union of 1925 -- there is still a Presbyterian Church, in Canada. The answer- is that while the Presbyterian Church, meeting in Assembly in 1925, voted to enter union, a certain percentage, roughly one quarter of the membership, did not wish to join. They have continued as the Presbyterian Church. The relationship between the United and Presbyterian churches is good and the theology has much in common. The first moderator of the United Church of Canada was Dr. George C. Pidgeon, then the minister of Bloor Street United Church, Toronto. That year, 1925, he called upon the United Churches not merely to be a united church, but a uniting one, one that would seek to form unions with other denominations in the spirit of Christian co-operation. To that end, the United Church has carried on negotiations with a number of Canadian denominations. The most notable, and well publicized of these, was the discussion with the Anglican Church of Canada which has gone on since 1943. The formal discussions endd in 1975, without union being achieved. In general, the Anglican Church of Canada decided that it could not accept the Plan f Union drawn up jointly by a commission representative of the two churches. To many Anglicans, the union would have impaired their church's relationship with the world wide Anglican communion. Others, who are sensitive to the Anglican Church's relationship with the Roman Catholic Church, felt that union with the United Church of Canada might have placed such an accord in jeopardy. On the Un'tad Church side, there were those less than enthusiastic about the union. They had come to regard church unions as less important than they once were. In a world needing the attention of church leaders to poverty and social change, church unions were seen by some ta be tinkering with bureaucracy, nlot serving the world. The doctrines of the United Church were formulated as the Basis of Union in 1925 and were explained in larger degree in 1940 in The Statement of Faith. In the main, the United Church accepts the traditional Christian beliefs, but (Continued on Page 3) WE WANT YOU TO JOIN WITH US On Saturday morning, beginning at 1.0 A.M., St. Mark's is holding a community coffee party. A warm welcome is extended ta the members of the other Churches of the community to join with us for a cup of coffee and a muffin, to renew old acquaintances and to meet with your friends of St. Mark's and help us celebrate this 150th Anniversary. Together, the Churches of Whitby have played a vital role in the life of the community for nearly two centuries and we look forward to a continuation of that spirit in the