Lily May McCargar was born on December 14, 1887 at Maxville, Ontario. She was educated in Ontario and attended the Margaret Eaton School of Literature and Expression in Toronto. She moved to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, in 1909 to teach English to members of the Chinese Methodist Mission Church. She joined the Woman's Missionary Society in 1921 as a mission worker, and was sent to Vancouver to work with the kindergarten at the Chinese Methodist Church (which came under The United Church of Canada in 1925). In 1933, she chose to use her year of furlough by traveling to China to study Cantonese. Before returning to Canada, she visited Jerusalem, Egypt, Germany, and the United Kingdom. During a second furlough, she attended the lectures at the Canadian School of Missions and at Emmanuel College in Toronto. Lily McCargar died on November 6, 1947 at Vancouver.
陳燿檀 CHAN Yu Tan was born and raised in China, where he grew up in a Christian family. He and his brother, CHAN Sing Kai, were instrumental in establishing the Wesleyan Mission School in Hong Kong. He arrived in Canada eight years after his brother, in 1896, serving as a lay preacher at the Chinese Methodist Church in Vancouver until 1906. This was followed by pastorates in Victoria, Nanaimo, and New Westminster. CHAN Yu Tan was ordained within the Methodist Church in 1923, and continued in ministry within The United Church of Canada after 1925 when it was formed through an amalgamation of the Methodist Church and other denominations.
St. Andrew's United Church in Fort Langley (in Langley District Municipality) which came into being with church union in 1925 was formerly, St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. Regular Presbyterian services were first held at Fort Langley in a school house from 1872 until 1885 when St. Andrew's church was built. St. Andrew's was part of the larger Langley field which included Langley Prairie, Murrayville, Glen Valley and other points. In 1921 the field was divided into two fields centred at Fort Langley and Murrayville. The new Fort Langley charge included West Langley. After church union in 1925 St. Andrew's United was the centre of or associated with a number of pastoral charges: Fort Langley Pastoral Charge, which included Sperling, Glen Valley and County Line, from 1925 to 1953; Fort Langley-Milner Pastoral Charge, which included Milner, Sperling and Willoughby, from 1953 to 1962; Fort Langley Pastoral Charge, which included Sperling United and West Langley Memorial United, from 1962 to 1969; Fort Langley-Port Kells Pastoral Charge from 1969 to 1971; Fort Langley-Murrayville Pastoral Charge from 1971 to 1980, which included Sharon United Church in Murrayville and Milner United Church; and the Fort Langley-Milner Pastoral Charge since 1980 when Sharon became a separate charge. On July 1, 1991, the Milner United Church congregation was amalgamated with the St. Andrew's United Church congregation. The Milner property was sold, and the new one-point Pastoral Charge was named St Andrew's -Fort Langley Pastoral Charge, part of Fraser Presbytery. In 2012 St. Andrew's United Church amalgamated with Jubilee United, Langley United, and Sharon United to form the United Churches of Langley.
Canadian Urban Training began as a resource where clergy could prepare themselves for inner city social justice work in Toronto in 1965. CUT was an ecumenical program (funded by the United, Presbyterian, and Anglican Churches) that grew to include others that wanted to work towards social change. As more women and minority groups joined CUT, the program and network evolved to meet the needs of the people it served. The Action Training Collective (a part of CUT) was located at 200 - 1955 West Fourth Avenue, in Vancouver; along with the BC Conference offices. The program was dissolved in 1988 after it was decided that its forms and structures were no longer serving its objectives.
Peninsula United Church was formed in 2017 when three congregations in South Surrey and White Rock (Crescent, First, and Sunnyside United Churches) joined together to form one united congregation. It was a member of Fraser Presbytery until presbyteries were dissolved in 2019.
Born in Hong Kong, KO James Yee Lai was trained in theology at Trinity Theological College, Singapore and was ordained by the Church of Christ in China, Hong Kong Council, in 1962. Rev. Ko came to Canada in 1964 and served with the Presbyterian Church at the Chinese Church in Windsor, Ontario. He was received into The United Church of Canada in 1972, and served at the Chinese United Church (Vancouver, B.C.) until his death.
The Seniors Working Group (SWG) originated in 2011 with representatives from the pastoral committees of five United Church congregations on the west side of Vancouver: Dunbar Heights, Knox, Trinity, West Point Grey, University Hill. The working group formed partly in response to a growing gap in community services for seniors west of Granville Street. Within a few years, it grew to encompass further westside congregations, including Anglican parishes.
The SWG's main purpose and vision was to help seniors/elders age with vitality and expanded options, working within church congregations and the wider community. It sponsored pastoral care training events; held public forums on a variety of topics; and undertook networking and collaboration with other community groups with similar aims. Congregational pastoral care committees within the SWG membership supported an array of activities, including prayer groups, transportation, education/communications, food support and programs, visitation, and card and flower ministries.
Collaborative work with the nascent Westside Seniors Hub – which operated out of Kitsilano Neighbourhood House – began in 2015. The Westside Seniors Hub gradually assumed the community-wide programming of the SWG, and the SWG dissolved after transferring its funds to that organization on May 27, 2022.
Canadian Ecumenical Action began in 1973 as People's Opportunities in Ecumenical Mission (or POEM), for the development and support of new expressions of mission, and support of the expression of faith in work and in daily life by lay people of all churches and faiths. Rev. Val Anderson served as the founding coordinator of the new organization, which was originally organized into the Planning Board and standing committees (most prominently the Executive, the Finance Committee, and the Nominations Committee), the office, and numerous smaller committees or activity groups responsible for specific programs or projects. From the beginning, POEM served as a seedbed for other ventures, providing phone and office services, information, advertising and support through its newsletter and network of volunteers, and in some cases providing space or funding support. Many endeavours began as ventures within POEM, and eventually came to be independent.
In December 1976, POEM's name was officially changed to Canadian Ecumenical Action (CEA); however, the mission, and the organization of the work, remained substantially unchanged. Programs introduced between 1976 and 1979 included Alternatives in Justice and Corrections, the local chapter of the Canada-China Program, the Single Parent Network (also known as the Single Family Network and the Single Parent Action Network or SPAN), Poverty Focus, and the SFU Campus Ministry, among others.
By 1981, CEA's activities were clearly organized into the four divisions. Communication, Education, Community Action, and Administration, each of which had its own managing committee and reported separately to the Board.
CEA was also involved in organizing the 1983 World Council of Churches in Vancouver. CEA's orientation during this time was changing more and more towards sharing and cooperation among peoples of all faiths, rather than just Christian faiths, and in 1985 constitutional changes were made to reflect CEA's emerging identity as "a multifaith community action organization." By the early 2000s, the organization became the Multifaith Action Society, dedicated to the facilitation of interfaith education and dialogue.
陳星階 CHAN Sing Kai grew up in a Christian household in China and was instrumental in establishing the Wesley Methodist Mission School in Hong Kong. He was invited by the Methodist Church of Canada to serve as lay preacher at Vancouver's first Chinese congregation in 1888. Chan was ordained in 1891 (the first person of Chinese descent to be ordained in the Methodist Church of Canada). After Vancouver, he served Chinese congregations in New Westminster and Victoria before moving to the United States for health reasons. His ministry continued in Oregon and California, where he died.
Brighouse United Church in Richmond was officially constituted as a congregation in January of 1926. The congregation met initially in the Richmond Municipal Hall for services. The first church building was opened in June 1927. Within a decade, it was evident that a larger building was needed. A new building was opened in September 1940 at 816 Granville Avenue; it was extended and remodeled in 1956. To accommodate growth, a church hall was added during 1951-1952. Although originally part of the Richmond pastoral charge (along with Richmond United Church), Brighouse became a separate charge in 1958. In 1974, the church building was moved to 8151 Bennett Road. Brighouse United was part of Vancouver South Presbytery until the Presbytery was disbanded in 2019. The congregation disbanded in June 2023.
In the early 1860s, Methodist and Presbyterian ministers who were stationed in New Westminster considered the Richmond area to be part of their parish. Methodist missionaries were instrumental in having a small church built on the mainland side of the North Arm of the Fraser River around 1870. This little church became the preaching centre for several Christian denominations. By mid-1887, a small church was built at London's Landing and, like the original church on the North Arm, it became a Union Church, used by all Christian denominations. Methodist services continued in the London's Landing Church until the Steveston Methodist Church was built in 1894. The Presbyterians used the London's Landing Church until 1906 when the South Arm Presbyterian Church was built. The Presbyterians also held services in the Steveston area, beginning around 1890. These services were discontinued around 1912, and some families from Steveston attended the South Arm Church. In 1917 the Presbyterians decided to resume their work at Steveston and acquired an old school building.
At the time of church union in 1925, the Presbyterian and Methodist churches united to form Steveston United Church, using the former Methodist building for all services, including Sunday school. From 1925 until 1962, Steveston United Church was part of the South Arm-Steveston Pastoral Charge, after which they became separate single-point charges. Steveston United amalgamated with the neighbouring Japanese United Church in 1953, and the combined congregation assumed the name Steveston United Church. The combined congregation rehabilitated the former Japanese United property in 1954; it was used for kindergarten, Sunday school and mid-week activities. When the Steveston Community Centre was built two years later, community demand for use of the church hall greatly diminished, and the old mission church was demolished. That property was leased as a parking lot and finally sold in 1971. In 1978, the congregation built and dedicated a new church building to replace its 1894 structure.
Canadian Memorial Chapel was the result of an amalgamation of Sixth Avenue Methodist Church and Fourteenth Avenue Methodist Church. It became known as Canadian Memorial United Church after Church Union in 1925.
As early as 1910, a small group of Methodists and Presbyterians gathered for worship at the Wilson Road (Kerrisdale) School prior to the establishment of Kerrisdale Methodist Church. Kerrisdale Methodist Church opened on November 26, 1911 in a small building on the north-east corner of 45th Avenue and Yew Street, Vancouver. In 1925, Kerrisdale Methodist Church came into union, and changed its name to Ryerson United Church. Ryerson United required a larger church building, and the present building was dedicated on March 25th, 1928. A Christian Education Centre in the Ryerson Memorial Centre was built and dedicated in March of 1950. The Ryerson congregation amalgamated with Dunbar Heights United Church to form Dunbar Ryerson United Church on January 1, 2017 and changed its name to Pacific Spirit United Church the following year.
John A. Logan was born in Upper Stewiacke, Nova Scotia and educated at Pine Hill Theological College. He was ordained by the Presbyterian Church in 1877. In 1892, he moved to British Columbia and held pastorates at Chilliwack, Cumberland, and Richmond. In 1908, he began work as registrar, treasurer, and lecturer in church polity at Westminster Hall in Vancouver. He retired from active ministry in 1925. Some of the positions he held in the church included 19 years as clerk of the Synod of British Columbia; moderator of Westminster Presbytery in 1898; moderator of the Synod of British Columbia in 1905, and honourary secretary of BC Conference after church union.
St. Andrew's United Church was created when St. Andrew's Presbyterian voted to enter Church Union in 1925. It was located at Georgia and Richards, and was the site on June 10, 1925 of the service of celebration of union for The United Church of Canada in B.C. Shortly thereafter, a joint committee was formed with Wesley United Church, and St. John's United Church (which included the members of First Congregational Church who had also chosen to enter union) to consider amalgamation of the churches serving the west side of Vancouver. The First Congregational Church building was given to the continuing Presbyterian Church.
In 1927, St. Andrew's United Church amalgamated with Wesley United Church, and in 1928, new property was purchased for the new St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church on Burrard and Nelson, after the sale of Wesley United Church. The amalgamated congregation continued to use the two buildings, with morning services at St. Andrew's, and evening services at Wesley, until December 1932. The new St. Andrew's-Wesley church was opened in May 1933. The old St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church building, erected in 1890, was torn down in 1937.
St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church was organized in 1888, with the support of First Presbyterian Church, which had been organized in 1885.
St. Andrew's Presbyterian was to serve the west side of Vancouver. A small church was built and opened in July 1888. The first minister was Rev. E.D. McLaren. Within a year, the congregation had outgrown the first building, and a new church on Georgia and Richards was opened and dedicated in May 1890. In 1904, a Sunday school building was opened, and in 1906, the church building was enlarged.
St. Andrew's Presbyterian voted to enter Church Union in 1925, and was the site on June 10, 1925 of the service of celebration of union for The United Church of Canada in B.C.
Douglas Bacon was born in Peterborough, Ontario and grew up in the in United Church. After studying Medicine for one year at the University of Toronto, he decided that his skills would be better served as an ordained minister. He received his Bachelor of Sacred Theology from McGill and was ordained by Bay of Quinte Conference in 1969.
Douglas served in pastoral ministry at Bruce Mines, Ontario; St. Margaret's, Kingston; West Point Grey, Vancouver; and Colebrook, Surrey. He held positions as Secretary of Kent Presbytery, London Conference (1974-1976); Chair of Education and Students Committee, Bay of Quinte Conference; member and Chair of the Worship and Liturgy Committee of the United Church, and co-editor of A Sunday Liturgy (1978-1984); Chair of Vancouver-Burrard Presbytery (1987-1989); and member and Chair of the national Candidature Committee of the United Church (1990-1996). He retired in 2010.
Ilma Dunn was born Ilma Beamish. In 1931 she worked at the Port Simpson Residential School, where she connected with several local Indigenous families. She would later work at Ten Mile Lake school, where she met her husband. She lived in East Burnaby during the late 1930s. Ilma was also strongly associated with the Canadian Girls in Training (CGIT) and with Camp Kwomais (then Ocean Park Camp), where she volunteered as a cabin leader. In the 1980s and '90s, Ilma participated in the United Church's Community of Concern.
Previously known as Central Methodist Church (1908-1916), Turner Institute amalgamated with First Presbyterian Church at the time of Church Union, 1925.
St. Andrew's-Wesley Church is a congregation of the United Church of Canada, a denomination formed in 1925 by the union of Presbyterian, Methodist, Congregational and Local Union Churches. As the name implies, it is the successor of two congregations, St. Andrew's Presbyterian and Wesley Methodist.
Methodist services began in Vancouver as early as 1864, when Methodist missionaries recorded as arriving in the Vancouver area in 1859. A parsonage and church was built on Water St. in 1875. A fire destroyed this church in 1886 and temporary services were held in a hall on the site of the former church. In 1887, the congregation divided into two: Princess Street and Homer Street. By 1901, it was clear that the membership had outgrown the Homer Street church and a new foundation was laid at the corner of Georgia and Burrard Streets, with the new church to be known as Wesley Methodist. Completed and dedicated by the end of 1901, Wesley Methodist is regarded as the lineal descendent of the first Methodist Church on Water Street, and the mother of many of the Methodist Churches that later sprang up in Vancouver.
A Presbyterian congregation was organized in a community schoolhouse in the 1870s. First Presbyterian Church was erected on Cordova Street but was destroyed in the 1886 fire. The congregation then moved to a larger centre on the corner of Gore and Hastings Streets in 1892. The building was enlarged and re-dedicated in 1906 and after 1932 became the home of First United Church. St. Andrew's was also mother to a number of new Presbyterian Churches in Vancouver.
First Congregational Church held its first service on April 28, 1888 in Wilson Hall on the southwest corner of Cordova and Abbott streets. The congregation was officially organized on June 17, 1888. It secured property on the corner of Richards and Georgia streets, with the new church officially opening on December 8, 1889. The congregation split away to form Central Congregational Church over the issue of pacifism, but returned to First Congregational Church in 1903. Property was purchased at the corner of Thurlow and Pendrell Streets and a new church building was opened on November 9, 1912. In 1925, First Congregational Church became a congregation of the United Church of Canada and First Congregational was amalgamated with St. John's United Church. The First Congregational Church building was given to the continuing Presbyterian Church.
On June 10, 1925, the union of the United Church of Canada was celebrated at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church on Georgia and Richards, with both St. Andrew's Presbyterian and Wesley Methodist joining union. Following church union, a joint committee of St. Andrew's United and Wesley United Churches, along with representatives of St. John's United Church (which included the members of First Congregational Church who had also chosen to enter union) to consider amalgamation of the churches serving the west side of Vancouver. St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church came into being as the voted union of Wesley United and St. Andrew's United Church in June 1927.
The first services of St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church were held on September 7, 1930, with morning services in St. Andrew's church and evening services in the Wesley church, a procedure followed until December 4, 1932 (The Wesley property was sold in 1928, though it remained in use until 1933). The sale enabled the congregation to purchase a site on Burrard and Nelson streets. The "Cathedral Church of the United Church in B.C.", St. Andrew's-Wesley's new building was opened on May 26, 1933, with Rev. Dr. Willard Brewing as first minister of the united congregation.
From 1976-1981, after a fire destroyed the St. John's United Church building, St. John's United became part of a two-point St. Andrew's-Wesley-St. John's pastoral charge, but the two congregations did not amalgamate. In 1981, with a new church building, St. John's United again became an independent pastoral charge. St. Andrew's-Wesley continues as one of the formative congregations of the United Church in Vancouver.
(繁體和簡體中文版本如下) (繁体和简体中文版本如下) (Traditional and simplified Chinese versions below) The Chinese United Church Mission in Victoria was created when the Methodist Mission joined The United Church of Canada in 1925. The United Church Year Book last records the existence of the congregation in 1965.
Traditional Chinese:
歷史簡介
維多利亞的華人協和教會在1925 年華人衛理公會加入加拿大協和教會時成立。協和教會年鑑最後一次記錄該會的存在是在 1965 年。
Simplified Chinese:
历史简介
维多利亚，华人协和教会在1925 年华人卫理公会加入加拿大协和教会时成立。协和教会年鉴最后一次记录该会的存在是在 1965 年。
KWAN Yu Nam was born in China, October 18, 1880. He came to Canada in 1912, serving the Chinese Methodist Church in Victoria for ten years, then the Chinese Methodist/United Church in Vancouver until 1932. After another decade serving the Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, he returned to Vancouver to retire in 1942.
Sharon United Church, located in Murrayville, in Langley District Municipality, originally was known as Sharon Presbyterian Church or Langley Prairie Presbyterian Church. The congregation formally began in 1876 as part of the larger Langley field or mission of the Church of Scotland, which also included Fort Langley. In 1886 the Langley field became part of the Presbyterian Church in Canada and a church building was first erected at Murray's Corners (later Murrayville) in 1890. The congregation continued as part of the Langley field until 1921 when the field was divided between the two central points of St. Andrew's in Fort Langley and Sharon Church in Murrayville. The latter included smaller congregations at Langley Prairie (today, city of Langley) and Lochiel. In 1925 the congregation entered into union, although some members were non-concurring and formed a continuing Presbyterian congregation. Sharon United Church has been a separate charge in Fraser Presbytery since 1980. Prior to 1980 the congregation has been a part of various pastoral charge arrangements: Langley Prairie or Langley United Church remained connected to Murrayville until 1950; Aldergrove United was a part of the charge from 1932 to 1961; Sharon Church was a separate charge from 1961 to 1965 when Milner was joined with the congregation, forming the Murrayville-Milner Pastoral Charge; in 1971 St. Andrew's in Fort Langley was added creating the Fort Langley-Murrayville Pastoral Charge; and in 1980 Sharon became a separate charge. In 2012 Sharon United Church amalgamated with Jubilee United, St Andrew's United, and Langley United to form the United Churches of Langley, part of Fraser Presbytery.
(日本語版は以下に記載) (Japanese version below)
The Fraser Valley Japanese Mission was formed in the early 1930s. It was an extension of the New Westminster Japanese mission, which had begun in 1898. In 1934, the Fraser Valley Japanese Mission became a separate mission and continued as such until 1942 when the Canadian government forcefully uprooted and interned Japanese Canadians. In the late 1950s, Fraser Valley Japanese United Church was re-established, and continued until it formally amalgamated with Northwood United Church (Surrey, B.C.) in 2013.
組織歴・履歴 :
フレイザーバレー日系人合同教会 (ミッション市、ブリティッシュコロンビア州)は1930年代初期に結成された。当初は1898年にニューウエストミンスター(英: New Westminster)で行われていた日系移民ミッションの一環であったが1934年に独立。1942年のカナダ政府による西海岸在住の日系カナダ人の強制収容まで活動した。1950年代後期に再度結成され、2013年に同州サレー市 (英: Surrey) のノースウッド (英: Northwood) 合同教会と統合するまで活動を続けた。
Methodist services began in the Queensborough (latter New Westminster) area with the arrival of Methodist Ministers in 1859. A new church was built and dedicated on April 8, 1860. In 1862, Presbyterian services were begun in New Westminister in the old Court House, with a new church being built and dedicated on December 30, 1863. In 1898, a disaster hit New Westminster as a fire broke out in the town and destroyed every business place and dwelling below Royal Avenue and as far west as Tenth Street, including the Methodist church. After the destructive fire, the Methodists decided to re-erect the church, and a corner-stone was laid on June 28, 1899, with the new church on Queens Avenue being dedicated on April 22, 1900. With the coming of church union in 1925, Queens Avenue United Church gathered for the inaugural service of the new union congregation on May 13, 1926.
Barnabas Courtland Freeman was born in Frontenac County, Ontario, in July, 1869. He went to Saskatchewan as a missionary in 1891, was ordained by the Manitoba and Northwest Conference of the Methodist Church in 1892, and was married to Ida Lawson of Frontenac County the same year. In 1893, he travelled west to British Columbia, serving among the Indigenous peoples at Skidegate, Lax Kw’alaams (Port Simpson), Port Essington, and Cape Mudge. In 1910 he ventured south to serve pastorates in Cumberland, Revelstoke, Port Coquitlam, and Vancouver. He was elected President of B.C. Conference in 1920. Freeman died at Cape Mudge in 1935. Throughout most of his career, he wrote poetry, short stories and essays. His poetry was published in The New Outlook, The Christian Guardian, and other church periodicals.
Norah Hughes was the first woman to be ordained by BC Conference. She was born in Portsmouth, England, in 1905. She emigrated to Canada with her family as a teen in 1921, and settled in the Abbotsford area. After attending normal school, she taught elementary school for a short time, and then entered the University of British Columbia. There, she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Science and a Master's degree in Biology. Hughes attended Union College, earning her Bachelor of Divinity in 1940, and was the fourth woman to be ordained in the United Church. She later obtained a PhD in church history from the University of Chicago. Her many charges included: Hazelton-Skeena River (1940-1941); Chase (1941-1942); Ashcroft (1945-1947); Hatzic (1947-1949); North Surrey (1949-1952); Fernie (1953-1957); Victoria West (1957-1960); Salt Spring Island (1960-1965); and Langley (1966-1970). Norah Hughes was also the first woman to serve as President of BC Conference (1962-1963). In 1964, she was given an honorary doctorate from Union College. After retirement, she attended Langley United Church. She died on July 28, 1989.
(日本語版は以下に記載) (Japanese version below)
The Japanese Methodist Mission was established in Vancouver in 1896. It fell within the purview of the Home Missions Board until well after WW II, even though the congregation had become self-supporting by 1936. The congregation's first building was constructed in 1907 or 1908 at the corner of Jackson and Powell Streets. It became known as the Powell Street Church. A gymnasium and social hall were added in the 1920s, for which the congregation raised $12,000. The Woman's Missionary Society (WMS) was involved with the Japanese Mission from very early on. They taught kindergarten and home economics at the Mission, held prayer meetings, and raised funds to add to the voluntary contributions of the congregation and Home Missions. The congregation boasted an excellent Sunday school, Tuxis and Explorers groups, Mission Band, and CGIT. The Rev. Dr. Kosaburo Shimizu served the congregation from 1926 to 1942. He introduced many Christian education opportunities within the congregation, established the Young People's Union, introduced monthly English-speaking worship services, and started a relief department providing food and clothing during the Depression of the 1930s. He also helped the congregation achieve self-supporting status.
Members living in Vancouver's Fairview neighbourhood raised enough money, along with a Home Missions grant, to build a second Japanese Church in 1928 (by then part of The United Church of Canada).The Fairview Mission later became known as the Columbia Street Mission (from 1949 on), which was sold in 1977. From 1942 to 1949, the two buildings were used by First United Church, St. Giles, and the WMS while Japanese Canadian citizens were interned in internment camps. The Powell Street and Columbia Street buildings were held in trust by the Board of Home Missions during the war. In 1953, the Powell St. property was sold. From then on, the Japanese- and English-speaking congregations met in a number of different venues, none of which they owned, beginning with First United Church. In 1958 both Nisei and Issei (Japanese speaking) church members were worshipping in Fairview Church on Columbia. In 1962, they moved to Renfrew United Church. In 1978, the congregation purchased St. Luke's United Church building.
At its general meeting in May 2009, BC Conference made a statement of Recognition and Apology to the Japanese United Church for the sale of the Powell Street church building 56 years earlier. In June of that year, a Service of Reconciliation took place at the Vancouver Japanese United Church. Early in 2017, the English-speaking congregation disbanded.
日本メソジスト伝道ミッションが1896年にバンクーバーに設立されました。第二次世界大戦後まで、ホームミッション委員会の管轄下にありましたが、1936年までには自立していました。会衆の最初の建物は1907年か1908年にジャクソン通りとパウエル通りの角に建てられ、パウエル通り教会として知られるようになりました。1920年代には体育館と社交場が増築され、そのために会衆は12,000ドルを集めました。婦人宣教会（WMS）は、非常に早い時期から日系人宣教に関与し、伝道所で幼稚園と家庭科を教え、祈祷会を開き、教会とホームミッションへの自発的な献金に加えて献金を集めました。教会は優れた日曜学校、タキシス、エクスプローラーズグループ、ミッションバンド、CGITを誇っていました。清水小三郎牧師は1926年から1942年まで牧師として仕え、教会内に多くのキリスト教教育の機会を導入し、青年会を設立し、毎月の英語による礼拝を導入し、1930年代の大恐慌の間、食糧と衣類を提供する救済部門をも開始しました。彼はまた、教会が自立した地位を獲得するのを助けました。
バンクーバーのフェアビュー地区に住む会員たちは、ホームミッションの助成金と合わせて、1928年に2つ目の日系人教会（当時はカナダ合同教会の一部）を建てるのに十分な資金を集めました。フェアビュー・ミッションはその後、コロンビア・ストリート・ミッション（1949年以降）として知られるようになりましたが、1977年に売却されました。1942年から1949年まで、日系カナダ人が収容所に収容されている間、この2つの建物はFirst United Church、セントジャイルズ、WMSによって使用されていました。パウエル通りとコロンビア通りの建物は、戦時中、ホームミッション委員会に信託されていましたが、1953年、その教会は売却されてしまいました。それ以来、日本語を話す信徒と英語を話す信徒は、First United Churchを皮切りに、いくつもの異なる場所で集うようになりました。1958年から、二世（英語）と一世（日本語）の教会員が、コロンビアにあるフェアビュー教会で礼拝していましたが1962年は、レンフルー合同教会に移り、1978年にはSaint Luke United Churchの建物を購入しました。
2009年5月、カナダ合同教会のBC Conferenceでは、56年前にパウエル・ストリートの教会堂を売却したことに対し、日系人合同教会に認識と謝罪の声明を発表し、同年6月、バンクーバー日本人合同教会で和解の礼拝が行われました。2017年初め、英語部の会衆は解散しました。
(日本語版は以下に記載) (Japanese version below)
In 1895 or 1896, a Christian missionary in Vancouver, Matsutaro Okamoto, led the effort to build a small mission building for Japanese fishermen. A plot of land was secured on the grounds of the Phoenix Cannery (between present-day Chatham and Moncton Streets at No. 1 Road). However, just as the mission building was completed, a typhoid epidemic broke out and the building was used primarily as a mission hospital. Mr. Okamoto and others served as volunteer nurses and provided additional spiritual nurture through morning and evening prayers and at Sunday meetings. In 1897, the Methodist Church General Board of Missions took on responsibility for Japanese missions in B.C.
By 1900, the Church transferred full responsibility for hospital operations to the recently established Japanese Fishermen’s Benevolent Society, which had already been carrying the financial burden of the hospital. The Benevolent Society built a new Japanese Fishermen’s Hospital separate from the mission building; the hospital operated until 1942. During the intervening decades, the Methodist mission continued providing spiritual care at the hospital, and the minister who served the mission generally also served as hospital superintendent.
In 1904, the Benevolent Society demolished the old mission building and built a new one, where Sunday worship, Sunday school, and primary education in Japanese took place. The mission also began offering night school classes in English by 1911. When the Methodist Church of Canada amalgamated with Presbyterian and Congregational churches in 1925, the mission became a congregation within The United Church of Canada. That same year, and at the behest of the Benevolent Society, the United Church Woman’s Missionary Society (WMS) began teaching English in the Society’s newly constructed Japanese kindergarten building.
In 1942, during Rev. Kyuichi Nomoto’s pastorate, the Japanese Canadian community at Steveston was among the first of the coastal communities to be uprooted and forcibly sent to internment camps in the interior. When the federal government lifted restrictions in 1949, allowing Japanese Canadians to return to the coast, a small number of families gradually returned. Church services resumed in 1951, with Rev. W.R. McWilliams as the primary minister, and WMS worker Hedwig Bartling ministering to children, youth and families and teaching kindergarten at Steveston. The congregation used Steveston United Church’s building on Broadway Street at Second Avenue, and in February 1953, the two congregations formally amalgamated. The combined congregation rehabilitated the former Japanese United property in 1954; it was used for kindergarten, Sunday school and mid-week activities. When the Steveston Community Centre was built two years later, community demand for use of the church hall greatly diminished, and the old mission church was demolished.
スティーブストン日系人合同教会は1895年(一説では1896年とも)にバンクーバー在住の宣教師に岡本松太郎が日本人の漁師を対象としたミッションを推し進めたことから始まった。教会堂用にフィーニックスキャナリ (英: Phoneix Cannery) (現代のチャザム通り (英: Chatham) とモンクトン通り (英: Moncton Streets)の間)に土地を確保し建設自体は無事に完了したものの、腸チフスが流行を始めたことにより布教活動にではなく病棟として主に使われることとなった。1897年にメソジスト教会ミッション委員会がブリティッシュコロンビア州在住の日系人への布教活動の指揮を執り始めると、病院の管理は成立されたばかりのスティーブストン漁者慈善団体 (英: Japanese Fisherman’s Benevolent Society) に委託された。漁者慈善団体は直ちに新たな病棟を建設し、1942年まで運営を続けた。メソジスト教会の日系人ミッションを担当していた牧師は病院でスピリチュアルケアを提供した他、病院運営の監督者としても派遣されていた。
1904年にスティーブストン漁者慈善団体は最初の教会堂を解体し、新たな教会堂を建設。新教会堂は日曜崇拝のほか、日曜学校と日本語での小学教育が行われた。1911年ごろには英語での夜間学校も提供され始めた。1925年に行われたメソジスト教会、会衆派教会、長老派教会の統合後にも活動は続いた。また、同年に漁者慈悲団体の申請を受けてカナダ夫人宣教師会 (英: Woman’s Missionary Society) は新たに建設された日本人保育園で英語教育を始めた。
1942年にカナダ政府による日系カナダ人の強制収容が始まると、スティーブストンの日系コミュニティはごく初期に移動を強いられることとなる。強制収容命令が解除がされた1949年には数世帯はスティーブストンに帰還し、1951年にはW.R. マクウィリアム (英: W.R. McWilliams) 牧師を主任牧師に礼拝が再開された。カナダ夫人宣教師会のヘッドウィッグ・バートリング (英: Hedwig Bartling)が子供や若者の礼拝、保育園の運営などを担当した。当初、日系カナダ人の会衆はセカンドアヴェニューのブロードウェイ通り(英: Broadway Street at Second Avenue)にあるスティーブストン合同教会で行われていたが、1953年の2月にスティーブストン合同教会に吸収された。1954年には政府に没収されていた教会堂を取り戻すことに成功。旧教会堂はその後保育園や日曜学校などの活動に利用されたものの、2年後のスティーブストンコミュニティセンター (英: Steveston Community Centre)建設に伴い需要が大幅下がり、解体された。
Vancouver District was created through a division of Westminster District in 1896. Vancouver District divided into Vancouver East and Vancouver West districts in 1910.
In 1925, the Secord United Church congregation was established, and their first church building was erected in 1928. At that time, Secord United was a part of a three point Pastoral Charge. River Avenue Pastoral Charge (1925-1931) included River Avenue United Church in South Vancouver, Secord United Church, and Dundonald United Church, located in South Burnaby. From 1931 to 1935, a new partnership arose with Secord-Renfrew Pastoral Chrage, which consisted of Secord and Renfrew United Churches. From 1936 to 1950, Secord United became a one point Pastoral Charge. In 1950 the name of the church was changed to Fraserview United Church, and in 1953 the building underwent major expansion and renovations. On July 1, 1995, Fraserview United Church was amalgamated into Collingwood-Fraserview-Wilson Heights Pastoral Charge, which met as a single congregation at the Wilson Heights church building. In 1998, this Pastoral Charge was renamed Wilson Heights Pastoral Charge.
St. Giles United Church began its life as Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church. A Union Sunday School had been meeting at 7th Avenue and Westminister Road (now Kingsway) as early as 1890. In 1891, a Presbyterian Mission was established at the Temperance Hall on 10th Avenue near Westminister Avenue (now Main Street). The Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Mission was formally organized in February 1892, and their first church was built on property between 7th and 8th Avenues on Westminster Road (Kingsway). Due to the rapid growth of the congregation, a new church was built and dedicated in January of 1910. The congregation voted to enter church union in 1925 and changed their name to St. Giles United Church. In the years following World War II, the southern area of Vancouver grew rapidly and St. Giles United moved to a new neighborhood on 41st Avenue, east of Cambie Street. The new church was dedicated in November 1949. In 1996, St. Giles and South Hill United Churches amalgamated to form St. Giles-South Hill United Church. In 1999, the name of this congregation was changed to Oakridge United Church.
First United Church, White Rock, B.C. was founded in 1925 at the time of church union. The predecessor congregation was White Rock Methodist Church. The first Methodist worship services began in 1910, and were held in homes and a school until a church was built in 1912. In April 1922, a new church building was dedicated. White Rock Methodist Circuit consisted of White Rock, as well as the Hazelmere Methodist Church (Surrey B.C.) After Church Union, White Rock Pastoral Charge consisted of First United Church (White Rock), Hazelmere United, Sullivan United (1925-1934), and Crescent United, Surrey (1925-1952). In February 1958, a new church building was dedicated. By 1969, White Rock Pastoral Charge included Sunnyside United Church (Surrey, B.C.) In 1989, the First United congregation became a one-point pastoral charge and remained so until July 1, 2017 when it amalgamated with Crescent United and Sunnyside United Church to form Peninsula United Church.
CHOW Ling was born in Kaiping (Hoiping), Guangdong, China and came to Canada as a boy of 14 in 1907. He spent his early years in Victoria, attending the Methodist Church there. In 1920, the church sent him to Nelson, B.C. to relieve C.Y. Chow. He returned to China to study theology at Guangdong Union Theological College, from which he graduated in 1929. Soon after his return, Chow was ordained by BC Conference within The United Church of Canada in 1931. As an ordained minister, he served pastorates in Cranbrook (1932-1934), Victoria (1934-1945), Vancouver (1945-1955), and Edmonton (1955-1964), retiring to Vancouver in 1964. While he was serving the Chinese United Church in Vancouver, the Canadian government lifted the Chinese Exclusion Act (1947); Chow was instrumental in beginning night school classes at the church, to help newcomers learn English.
Rev. William Lemuel ("Lem") Burnham was born in Summerberry, Saskatchewan. He moved to Vancouver in 1945 and studied theology (Union College) and social work (University of British Columbia). He was ordained by BC Conference in 1954. From 1955 to 1973, Burnham studied and worked in Hong Kong. He returned to Vancouver in 1974 and served the Chinese United Church until his retirement in 1985.
The Rev. Robert James Wilson, M.A., D.D., (1872-1941) was a Presbyterian and United Church minister and administrator. He was born on June 14, 1872 near Bond Head, Ontario, to James, a teacher turned farmer, and Agnes Robinson Wilson. He attended Bradford High School before studying at the University of Toronto, where he earned a B.A. in 1900, an M.A. in 1901, and finally a divinity degree from Knox College. In 1914, Knox College would also grant him an honourary Doctor of Divinity. He was ordained in the Presbytery of Westminster, British Columbia in 1903, and was called to serve as the minister for St. Andrew's Church, Vancouver. In 1918, he was called to Chalmers Presbyterian Church in Kingston, Ontario. A prominent supporter of church union, he was appointed in 1923 to take charge of publicity for the union movement, which necessitated a move to Toronto. He served as the Secretary of the Bureau of Literature and Information under the Joint Committee on Church Union and The United Church of Canada, stepping down in 1929. He was then called to serve as the minister at College Street United Church in Toronto, where he eventually retired in 1939. Wilson was also at different times involved with the Social Service Council of Ontario, serving as its president in the mid-1920s, and the St. Christopher Settlement House. Wilson was married to Mary Northway and had four children: John, Isabel, Nancy, and Florence. He died on September 10, 1941 at the age of 69.
Princess Street Methodist Church was subsequently known as Central Methodist Church (1908-1916), when Vancouver's Princess Street was changed to Pender Street.
Previously known as Princess Street Methodist Church (1888-1908), Central Methodist subsequently became known as the Turner Institute (1916-1925).
First United Church has its roots in First Presbyterian Church (organized in 1885) and Princess Street Methodist Church (begun in 1888). The two congregations were involved in mission work very early on, and performed joint outreach projects since the early 1900s. By the time of the First World War, the national mission boards of both churches put the two congregations under their control in order that the mission work could continue. Princess Street Methodist Church, which had become Central Methodist Church in 1908, became the Turner Institute in 1916.
First United Church in Vancouver was established in 1925 through the amalgamation of First Presbyterian Church and the Turner Institute. The amalgamated congregation chose to meet in the Presbyterian Church building, which had been erected in 1892 at the corner of Gore and Hastings Streets. The minister, referred to as Superintendent, served as pastor to the congregation and had oversight of mission operations.
After church union, the old Turner Institute building was used for First United's Welfare department, later known as Welfare Industries. The Rev. J. Richmond Craig, who had served as Superintendent of First Presbyterian Church from 1921, helped establish Welfare Industries, as well as Camp Fircom, and the congregation's radio ministry. Welfare Industries was organized to provide employment, training, rehabilitation and opportunity for those unable to find employment in normal industries. Camp Fircom was established on Gambier Island as a fresh air camp for mothers and children. The Rev. Andrew Roddan is another significant Superintendent (1930-1948), who saw the mission through the Depression and war years. The original Presbyterian Church building was torn down in 1964 and the present building opened in 1965 at the same spot.
Welfare service work and advocacy programs have been the central components of the mission. Over the years, First United Church has mainly addressed the needs of the homeless, the unemployed, and ethnic groups (including the Finnish and Japanese congregations). In 2007, the congregation was disbanded, but the mission remains active.
On May 9, 1888 the Richmond Mission was constituted by action of the Methodist conference. The congregation met in the municipal hall, then situated at Cambie and River roads, until their first church, Richmond Methodist, was built in 1891. Following church union in 1925, the church became Richmond United Church (essentially a name change). In 1961, the congregation sold the original church building and parsonage to the Municipality of Richmond and moved into a new church building at 8711 Cambie Road. The Municipality moved the original church building to Minoru Park as a centennial project in 1967 and re-dedicated it as a non-denominational church serving the community for weddings and baptisms. It is now known as Minoru Chapel.
J.G. Brown was born September 6, 1880 in Lakefield, Ontario. He received his university and theological education in Toronto at Victoria College. He was ordained by the Bay of Quinte Conference of the Methodist Church in 1908. After a few years in pastoral work in Ontario, he came to British Columbia in 1912 and ministered at Enderby and Vancouver (including Turner Institute, Ryerson, and Kitsilano Methodist congregations). He was appointed Principal of the newly chartered Ryerson Theological College in 1923. When, in 1927, Ryerson College and Westminster Hall were merged (following church union), Brown became the first Principal of Union College of British Columbia, affiliated with UBC. Under his administration, the main Union College buildings on campus were erected. He had the task of guiding the College through the Depression and then through World War II. Principal Brown also served as President of BC Conference of The United Church of Canada, 1936-1937. After his retirement in 1948, he lived for three years in Oxford, England, until his return to British Columbia, where he assumed the pastorate of the Church of Our Lord in Victoria. J.G. Brown died October 15, 1956.
George Affleck was born in Lanark, Ontario on March 7, 1912. He was educated at the University of Toronto, Emmanuel College, and St. Andrew's University in Scotland. He was ordained in the United Church in 1939 and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree by Union College (Vancouver) in 1969. George Affleck and his wife, Fronia, served United Church congregations in British Columbia, including Skidegate, Kimberley, Vernon, Crescent Beach (Surrey), Powell River, Port Alberni, and Parksville. From 1972 to 1977, he was Presbytery Officer for the Vancouver Island Presbytery. George Affleck died July 15, 2000 at Nanaimo, B.C.
Aldergrove United Church began as Aldergrove Presbyterian Church in Langley District Municipality. Services began as early as 1885 with regular services commencing in 1889, although a church was not built until 1911. The earliest Session records (1914) indicate that the Aldergrove charge consisted of three other points: Aberdeen, Pine Grove and Patricia. After union in 1925, Aldergrove remained a separate charge until becoming part of the Murrayville charge in 1932. In 1961 Aldergrove and Murrayville became separate charges. Since 1963 Aldergrove has, with Mount Lehman, constituted the Aldergrove-Mount Lehman Pastoral Charge in Fraser Presbytery.