Manitoulin United Church congregations celebrate 100 years

Little Current United Church combines local and national themes

LITTLE CURRENT—Across the country, bells peeled in honour of the 100th anniversary of the formation of the United Church of Canada and the congregation of Little Current United Church, past and present, were among the many making a joyful noise to celebrate the occasion.

Throughout the almost two-hour special service, members of the congregation took turns ringing the bell in increments of 10 as speakers took turns at the pulpit, sharing the history of the church, also in increments of 10 years.

Members of the choir, some of whom came from afar for the anniversary service as choir alumni/ae, were dressed in their purple robes and aided the service with their ministry of song. Hymns from the denominations that formed the church union 100 years ago—Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregationalist—were sung throughout the service. The church was full for the occasion and communion was served in the Presbyterian style, according to Rev. Whitney Bruno.

While the United Church of Canada was formed in 1925, the Little Current United Church actually predates the official union. According to local historian, the late Sandy McGillivray, the Presbyterian and Methodist congregations in Little Current held a meeting on May 17, 1917 to merge together to form one church and to call themselves the United Congregations of Little Current and the theology and practices were to be based on the policies outlines for the basis of the proposed United Church of Canada. The new church would utilize the Methodist church on Robinson Street and on one Sunday in 1917, the congregation of the Presbyterian church marched, parade form, from their church on Campbell Street to their new church. The Presbyterian church was rented out as a school but burned in 1925. The Methodist church, now the United Congregations of Little Current church, also burned in 1929. It was rebuilt to the United Church we know today with an added front foyer and higher walls to accommodate the balcony.

In the 1930s, the Little Current United Church was part of a five-point charge consisting of Sheguiandah, Green Bay, Rockville and Honora United Churches. Both Rockville and Honora churches closed during the great depression.

Fun fact: the Little Current United Church fellowship hall has played host to two prime ministers. In 1945, MP Thomas Farquhar was elected to the Senate and Lester B. Pearson was nominated to fill Mr. Farquhar’s vacant seat. During his campaigning, then-prime minister, the Honourable Louis St. Laurent and the Minister of External Affairs, Mr. Pearson, joined together for a Thanksgiving dinner in the church hall. Mr. Pearson was elected as MP in October of 1948 and in 1963, he became prime minister.

The congregation also learned the history of the two stained glass windows that face east in the church sanctuary. The first depicts Jesus’ baptism and was dedicated to O.T. and Eleanor Bennett and to James McCauley and his wife. The Bennetts were going concerns with the church from the 1930s to 1950s.

The second window depicts Jesus’ teaching and is dedicated in memory of Thomas and Florence Amy Farquhar, Mike Farquhar’s grandfather and grandmother. Mike Farquhar recalls that as a child, his grandmother would point to Jesus’ hands and share that the stained glass artist, an INCO worker named Stephen Smaatlanke, asked her husband to touch the warm glass so that his fingerprints might be included in the piece.

The congregation also learned that the bell, which was being rung mightily this past Sunday, had survived the old Presbyterian church fire in the 1920s but a belfry had not been constructed in the new church. Time and again, collections were taken up for a new belfry but something more pressing, such as a new furnace, would take its place.

The bell sat for 62 years in the church’s garage and was thought to be damaged. (That became an urban myth, as it turned out.) In 1985 a bell committee was struck comprised of Rodney (Dick) Aelick, Jack Ashley, Marian Henry, Herman Lockeyer, Nelson Ward and Rev. Sandra McLauchlan who sent the bell away for repair. It turns out it wasn’t damaged ad all but merely sooty from the fire so many years before. Taylor and Batman construction created the belfry with the help of Don Morphet and on June 7, 1987, a special service was conducted to rededicate the bell into service. It’s also an interesting fact that the bell came from the old Presbyterian Church, made its way to what is now Little Current United Church following the 1925 fire that destroyed that old church.

In the 1980s, a shift began in the church’s way of thinking. In 1980, the United Church of Canada released a report, ‘In God’s Image: Male and Female: A Study on Human Sexuality.’ The report advises, “there is no reason in principle why mature, self-accepting homosexuals, any more than mature, self-accepting heterosexuals, should not be ordained or commissioned.”

In 1986, the Moderator of the United Church of Canada, Rev. Bob Smith, attended Laurentian University and extended an apology to Canada’s Indigenous peoples. A monument to that apology stands today at Huntington University on the Laurentian grounds.

In 1988 it was passed by a three-to-one majority vote by the national church’s general council that the anyone, regardless of sexual orientation, can be an ordained minister.

This caused a schism in the church that was felt in Little Current, too. Some members left for other churches. “It was a time of many tears, intense passions and heartache. The split echoed in the churches and communities for years,” the congregation heard.

The congregation celebrated the church’s 80th anniversary with a cookout party at Low Island in 2005.

Former Little Current United Church minister Rev. Faye Stevens recalled the liturgical art project led by fibre artist Judy Martin, who was present for the service. Over four years, and under Ms. Martin’s direction, four different tapestries were made out of recycled material and hand-stitched by community members. Every Thursday from October 29, 2009 to September 2013, people gathered to work for a few minutes or a few hours. One-hundred and thirty-eight people worked on the project ranging in age from seven to late 80s.

In 2010, Rev. Stevens and Julia McCutcheon took up the protest with Whitefish River First Nation, which was causing traffic slowdowns on Hwy 6 to share their concern for the new Harmonized Sales Tax that would be applied on First Nations. At that time Rev. Stevens also invited then-Whitefish River First Nation Chief Franklin Paibomsai to speak to the congregation about this problem and so much more at the Sheguiandah United Church. The chief led the church in a smudge and he and Rev. Stevens exchanged gifts at the end. It was a full house for that service, she recalled. That was how the pastoral charge celebrated the national church’s 85th anniversary.

2017 marked Pride Manitoulin’s first event and Little Current United was excited to be a part of it as a safe and inclusive place. It remains the official barbecue spot for the post-parade crowd.

The church braved COVID by going online with Facebook services, which still continue to this day, and in 2021, the church welcomed Rev. Whitney Bruno, her husband Rob and their daughter Selena to the fold.

The service followed with a lunch in the hall. Scrapbooks and photo albums were on display and fellowship ensued.

Messages were received from former clergy Rev. Catherine Somerville, Pastor Paul Allard and Rev. Barrie Bain (who is just now celebrating 50 years as an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada).

Another fun fact: Dr. George Pidgeon was the first moderator of the United Church of Canada, taking on this role in 1925 at the time of church union. He was also the grandfather of the late Bill Caesar of White’s Point and the Caesar family loaned a photo of Rev. Pidgeon, together with the fountain pen used to sign the agreement to unite the denomination. These were on display on the communion table and, afterwards, in the fellowship hall.

This was also Pentecost Sunday (as evidenced by many people sporting red attire) and Rev. Bruno acknowledged the United Church’s continuous growth and change is analogous to the message of Pentecost.