MINDEMOYA—Trinity United Church Manitoulin property is now up for sale.
Reverend Kim Inglis confirmed last Wednesday (a day after the church was officially listed), “the property, including the church building, is up for sale.”
“The community of Faith Trinity United Church will continue. And, depending on who purchases it and what they want to do with it, we may be able to rent out space in the church to continue, or look at other partners to rent from or form a partnership with another community of faith to continue worship.”
Rev. Inglis explained one of the reasons the church is for sale, “is there are no longer enough people in the church to put on community events, the average age of the congregation is about 78, and putting on events is getting tougher to do.”
She said the number of church members has dropped in recent years. “Oh yes, there was quite a significant decrease in the number of the congregation that didn’t come back to the church once COVID was over.”
“When I arrived here in 2022, there was no minister at the time,” said Rev. Inglis.
Rev. Inglis noted, “actually the church includes parishioners from Providence Bay (where the United Church there was sold) and Kagawong (where the church was given to Billings township in 2018). They all operated as separate churches, and then with Providence Bay and Kagawong parishioners, became one community of faith.”
“The church is over 100 years old, at least the older part of the church is,” continued Rev. Inglis, and worshipping started in 1915 when the church membership was Methodist.
A 100th anniversary celebration was held at the Trinity United Church in September 2018.
The first church, a white frame building, was built in 1886-1887 by Francis Wagg and George VanHorne. It was the only church in the town of Mindemoya at the time, so it was shared by the Presbyterian, Methodist, Congregational and the Anglican congregations. The ministers of the congregations took turns preaching on Sundays.
In 1918 the need for a larger church became apparent, so the present church was built on this site by many volunteers in the community. A new porch at the entrance to the church was constructed to enhance the appearance accessibility to the church in 1920. A new manse was built for the current minister of the time in 1922.
In 1925, the church officially became a United Church of Canada. Sunday school was very active at this time. There soon was a need to put several churches on the Island into a pastoral charge, served by one minister. The reason for this was due to finances and the need to free up ministers to fill other much needed postings. Providence Bay and St. Paul’s on the Hill, Kagawong United Churches also joined the Mindemoya Pastoral Charge.
In the 1960s a new addition was added on to the side and back of the church to accommodate the minister’s office and committee room upstairs and the kitchen and bathrooms downstairs.
One feature of this church building is the beautiful stained-glass windows that were donated in memory of loved ones in the 1990s.
There have been many ministers to serve at this church, which has hosted many weddings, baptisms and funerals in the last 100 plus years.
In 2017 the new Trinity United Church Manitoulin came into begin with the amalgamation of Mindemoya and Providence Bay United Churches and the closure of St. Paul’s on the Hill, Kagawong.
