United Church of Canada celebrates 100 years

A new flag pole was installed in front of St. Paul’s United Church to commemorate the anniversary, and a Canadian flag was raised after the service on June 8. (Aliyah Helsdon Photo)

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

Tillsonburg’s two United Churches celebrated the centennial of their faith recently.

The United Church of Canada came into being on June 10, 1925 when the Methodist Church, Canada, Congregational Union of Canada and 70 per cent of the Presbyterian Church entered into a union. Locally, with Avondale being a Presbyterian Church and St. Paul’s a Methodist, it translated into two United Churches in Tillsonburg.

Today, the churches had differing celebrations of the centennial, their history and congregations.

Avondale United Church

Nicknamed ‘Old Pres’, Avondale is the oldest church in Tillsonburg. The frame church, known as ‘Old Pres’ was built in 1855. The cornerstone of the present church was laid in June 1886 – making it the oldest church in Tillsonburg today. The name of the church was changed to Avondale to recognize donor John Scott, who left a sizeable legacy to the church, and was from Avondale parish in Scotland.

Avondale members celebrated the 100th anniversary with a special service where those attending dressed as they imagine people would have 100 years ago. This meant hats and gloves for the ladies, and suits for men. There has been a display of items from the archives at the back of the sanctuary to celebrate the centennial. This included interesting historical artifacts, such as annual reports dating back to 1896 and a Bible presented to the church by the Presbyterian Ladies’ Society in 1872.

In the past 40 years, changes have been abundant at Avondale as the smaller United Churches in the country closed. The name of the church was changed to Avondale Zion in 1996 when Ostrander Zion church closed, and the two merged. Then, the name was changed again to Trinity when Brownsville and Delmer United Churches closed. A name change back to Avondale followed since.

Although Avondale has the members from three of the smaller churches, it is still struggling. The church doesn’t currently have a minister, but is using lay ministers.

Lisa Chevers, who was baptized in Avondale and is a member of the church council, said there are advantages to lay ministers, saying, “I enjoy it because we have a different one every week.”

Worship Committee chair Ilene Chesterman said prior to Covid there were 60 to 80 people per week and that is now only 30 to 40.

“We have reached out to try to get families to come back,” she said.

“We’re no different than a lot of churches and not attracting younger families,” agreed Church Council chair Oliver Gauld.

Avondale is the host of the Out of the Cold program, which offers homeless people a place to sleep from November to April.

St. Paul’s United Church

Although Avondale is the oldest church in town, St. Paul’s congregation is older since the Wesleyan Methodist Church was meeting since 1835. The Tillsonburg Methodist Church was built on the present site of St. Paul’s in 1867. That building was consumed by fire in 1912 and was replaced with the current domed structure in 1914.

The church marked the 100th anniversary during a ceremony on June 8.

Rev. Karlene Palmer said the church is also seeing a significant decline in membership with members aging and able to participate.

“Our desire is to have more people join our church to ensure that we will still be here for another 158 years, which is how long our church has been in this community,” she said.

St. Paul’s members are working on their faith statement to “to serve God by serving others” through the Community Kitchen and Messy Church. The Community Kitchen was started by church members Jed and Laurie Drew 20 years ago. After Laurie passed away, Julie and Keith Avery started to run the program, which provide hot meals to people of the community in need. St. John’s Anglican and Crosspoint also help. Recently, the Community Closet was open to provide new or gently used clothing, toiletries, books, and toys all free of cost.

Messy Church is an initiative, led by Dave and Norma Collis, with craft tables, music and sing-a-long ending with lunch. There are many families with young children who regularly attend and new people are always welcomed.