Lyons Memorial United Church service features history, anecdotes
GORE BAY—Lyons Memorial United Church in Gore Bay had a grand celebration of the 100th anniversary of the United Church of Canada this past Sunday.
“Good morning and welcome to this special service of worship on this Pentecost Sunday,” said Reverend Mercedes Hughes. “It is wonderful to welcome all of you today for this special service to also celebrate the 100th birthday of the United Church of Canada.”
“The United Church has, like other churches, had a rough road at times,” said Rev. Hughes. “However, the (UCC) has been one of the most open, liberal churches, ready to meet any challenges. The United Church does good work; we do good work.”
“It could be said that Pentecost signals the beginning of the church age,” said Rev. Hughes. “It seems fitting to mark the 100th anniversary of the United Church on this day. If anything defines the United Church of Canada, it is the drive to unite Ecumenicism. Ecumenicism can be understood as a vision, a movement, a theology, and a mode of action. It represents the universality of Christianity, affecting the way Christians think about their faith, the church, and the world. Ecumenism can draw Christians together, uniting their life and mission and bringing the Body of Christ and the human community closer to the fulfillment of God’s purposes.”
Jeff Hietkamp said, “The early days on the Island were pretty rugged and this included the environment the first ministers had to work with as well. This morning, I am going to read a short summary of one of the first Presbyterian ministers to our area as he went about travelling to communities to meet settlers and share worship with them in their homes and community centres. The reading comes from a book put together by Geraldine Bould entitled ‘An Historical Sketch of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church 1878-1917.’ The Gore Bay Presbyterian Church was located on Agnes Street, where John and Cleo Strain built their home when John retired and left the farming business.”
This reading is entitled ‘Manitoulin island 1877-Lost in the Wildwoods,’ taken from Reverend Hugh McKay’s personal diary,” said Mr. Hietkamp. ‘A stranger asked me if I was a minister. I said, yes, I am trying to do some missionary work on this part of the Island. He asked me if had made it to Providence Bay and I responded saying that I had not had the pleasure.”
| Read our related story from this week: |
| • Little Current United Church combines local and national themes (2025) |
“I was told that there was a sawmill employing a large number of men. They had a new school and many new settlers who had moved in nearby. I was invited to come preach at the school house and also at the home of Mr. Vincers, six miles out of town. Pleased with this invitation, the trip was on and a plan in place for me to attend for a sabbath service,” read Mr. Hietkamp
“I was up early Saturday morning and planned to take a row boat and row across Lake Kagawong 10 miles and then walk 10 miles through a pine forest. I took a couple of slices of buttered bread for lunch and headed off, only to find there was no boat,” read Mr. Hietkamp. “The new plan was then to walk around the east end of the lake instead, to reach the south side. Travelling was difficult, there was no path through dense forest and in one area fire had felled trees that we lying everywhere. There was a swampy and low land area that I found I could wade through and then moved on through bush country where after a climb I stood on the high rocks on the east side of the lake. Tall pines stood near the rocks and I could touch the top branches.”
“It was now about 4 pm and I would lose light in about an hour, with 10 miles left to cover. Clearly, this wasn’t going to work so I looked at my map and found Lake Mindemoya,” continued Mr. Hietkamp. Rev McKay then made a new plan to dash through the bush to get to West Bay, and from there, hopefully find a trial that he could follow to Providence Bay. I decided to try it and with compass in hand quickly set off, running anywhere there was an open spot.”
“The rain began at this point, the wind picked up and very soon darkness fell,” read Mr. Hietkamp. Rev. McKay’s compass was no longer useful, his matches were wet, his bread long gone, and of any use as he continued to plod along, weary, cold, wet and anxious as he tried to find his bearings.
“It was then that I considered and found it a wonder, that I had not thought of asking God to help me. As I knelt in prayer, I heard a sound that startled me. I was never so thrilled in my life,” read Mr. Hietkamp. Rev McKay had heard the sound of a cowbell, of human habitation and shelter. “I followed the sound of the bell to a logging road and as I went down a hill, I saw the light of a settler’s home.” After knocking on the door of the home, the owner of the home welcomed him, and he was provided with warm, dry clothes, food, and the warmth of a cabin.”
“Such were the early days of ministry on Manitoulin Island,” said Mr. Hietkamp.
“The actual negotiations leading up to the consummation of Church Union on June 10, 1925, began 26 years earlier, in 1899, when the Presbyterian General Assembly appointed a committee to confer with representatives from other evangelical churches about the possibility of joint Union,” said Rev. Hughes. “These were the Methodist Church of Canada and the Union Church. After three joint meetings, an effective plan of co-operation was adopted. After yearly meetings of the Joint union committee, steady progress was being made. Meanwhile on Manitoulin, in Gore Bay, I am going to let John (MacDonald) tell you about that.”
“This morning, we would like to share a little trivia history on Lyons Memorial United Church building,” stated Mr. MacDonald. “In 1872 Gore Bay was a small gathering of about 11 families. By 1886, the town had grown and a new Methodist church was built, the church we are in today.”
“The slide behind me shows the church in its original state. As you can tell, a lot has happened at Lyons since then,” said Mr. MacDonald. “The stones that the church was built from came from the James Proctor farm which was situated where Dennis Street is today, that is just going out of town just past the nursing home and on the opposite side of the street at the brow of the hill before Armstrong Road.”
“Now this man, James Proctor, was the grandfather of a man many of you may remember, Ev Proctor, who farmed in Gordon Township,” continued Mr. MacDonald. “Mr. James Proctor (the grandfather) gathered stones of all sizes to build the new church. His 17-year-old son, Ev Proctor’s father, hauled all the stones to the building site using a team of oxen and a stone boat.”
“I am sure that Ev’s father, who was 17 years old at the time, had to make many trips down the hill to transport all the stones needed to build this church,” said Mr. MacDonald. He read a poem written by Ev Proctor, about the community church he attended in Gordon Township, called ‘The Little Country Church in Need of Money’ and is found in a book entitled ‘Remembering Ev Proctor-His Poetry and Writings,’ published in 1994.
“It was 12 years after the inauguration service in 1925, the first woman, Lydia Gruchy, was ordained,” said Rev. Hughes. “Every two years, her presbytery sought approval from the General Council for her ordination and for 13 years their pleas were denied. Arguments against her ordination ranged from because she was not representative of other women as she was the only one requesting ordination, proving that women did not want to be ordained; ordination would discriminate against married women who could not properly fulfill their duties to their spouses and children and simultaneously be a pastor; ordination would cause women to lose their ‘womanliness’ and that ordaining women would undermine the ability to attract male clergy.”
“Finally, in 1934, the Saskatchewan Council, rather than asking the General Council to approve, made it clear that they were going to ordain Lydia Gruchy unless there were objections,” continued Rev. Hughes. “When put to a vote, the General Council easily passed the sole question, ‘Do you approve of the ordination of women?’
The UCC was the first church in Canada to stand up and apologize for the way First Nation children were treated in disregard, being taken away from their families and sent to Residential Schools, said Rev. Hughes, who said when information was first coming out about this, “it was hard to understand what people were thinking at the time.”
The large gathering of the congregation then took part in a prayer of dedication, song of dedication, prayers of the people, the Lord’s prayer, and the hymn ‘May the God of Hope Go With Us,’ to close out the service.
