Throughout 2025, we’ll be featuring very short stories about United Church history.
Many thanks to Gayle Simonson, a lay member of the United Church at Southminster Steinhauer in Edmonton, an experienced history researcher, and a writer who has written for historical journals and UCC publications. She is a key volunteer in the United Church archives for both Northern Spirit and Chinook Winds.
Gayle’s generosity means that we’ll have frequent reminders of our history with a focus on ordinary people. We’ll run these in the Regional newsletter, and group them here for your own use. Please see the Word files for each set of 8 for you to download and use. Please remember to credit!
Word file: History short stories 1-8
Here they are, in order. Enjoy!
1. As western Canada was settled, communities sprang up but populations remained sparse. It was difficult to sustain a church congregation, so many churches of different denominations came together to form union churches. As the idea spread, denominations were encouraged to look at amalgamation. By 1925, Methodists, Presbyterians and Congregationalists had agreed and the United Church of Canada was formed by an act of parliament. Not all Presbyterian congregations agreed to join. Over the next year, we hope to present some highlights of our church history. We must not be bound by the past, but we do well to remember our history and to celebrate those who have brought us to this place.
2. The Basis of Union to form the United Church of Canada was signed in 1925. Methodist Louise McKinney, an activist who was the first woman to sit in the Alberta legislature, was one of only four women to sign and the only one from western Canada. Along with Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Irene Parlby and Emily Murphy, she was one of the “Famous Five” who, in 1929, had women in Canada declared as “Persons.”
3. The first moderator to be elected by the General Council was Rev. George Pidgeon, who had been the last moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Canada and had been a strong supporter of church union. A strong believer in ecumenism, he helped to found both the Canadian Council of Churches (1945) and the World Council of Churches (1946.)
4. Rev. Astor Schrag, at the time of church union, was minister at an independent Union Church in Vegreville. In 1925, he attended both the final meeting of the Congregational Union of Canada and the inaugural General Council of the United Church in Toronto. His commitment to church unity never wavered and at age 95, he was still leading an ecumenical Bible study. He died in 1978 at 102. A window in Banff’s Rundle United Church, dedicated in 1965, commemorates this Congregational leader in the west.
5. True to its roots, the United Church has a liberal (sometimes controversial!) approach to theology and social activism. In London about 1592, two Congregational leaders were hanged for denying the Queen’s “ecclesiastical supremacy.” At union, Methodist Rev. Dr. Samuel Rose wrote, “one is impressed with the significant place of laymen” within the United Church and believed Methodists “led the fighting forces” working for social reform. Presbyterian Dr. John T. McNeill noted, “Our colleges have been nurseries both of religion and learning” with “a knack for conserving the values of the past while moving on in obedience to a new and true vision.” Congregationalist Dr. W.H. Warriner stressed an acceptance of all forms of worship as new revelations continue to expand our faith.
6. Women have always played active, if undervalued roles in church activities. Methodist women were sometimes allowed to preach prior to union but were never ordained. In 1923, Saskatchewan resident Lydia Gruchy graduated with top honours from Saskatoon’s Presbyterian Theological College (now St. Andrew’s). She was initially refused ordination but finally, in 1936, became the first woman in the United Church to be ordained. Acceptance of women in ministry was slow but in the 1980s, my congregation had two women ministers. After attending a different congregation on holiday, our two young daughters looked up, wide-eyed, and commented, “We didn’t know men could be ministers!”
7. The United Church has been known for its stance on many political issues and a number of ministers have turned to politics. Peter Dawon was serving in ministry in southern Alberta when he won the provincial Little Bow constituency. In 1937, he was named Speaker of the Alberta Legislative Assembly and held that post until his death in 1963. He was the longest-serving Speaker in Alberta history. Ministers elected federally include Stanley Knowles (Winnipeg), Bill Blaikie (Winnipeg), Robert Oliphant (Toronto) and Walter Mclean (Waterloo.) Former moderator Lois Wilson was named to the senate by Prime Minister Jean Chretien in 1998.
8. Before Union, each denomination had its own printing business to produce news and resources. Ryerson Press, the Methodist church publishing business, boasted “the most completely equipped printing and binding plant in Canada.” Its Christian Guardian dated to 1829, The Presbyterian Witness to 1848, and The Congregationalist to 1854. At union they combined to form The New Outlook. In 1938, merged with two other United Church publications, it was renamed the United Church Observer. That name was recently changed to Broadview. It remains the oldest continuously published magazine in North America and the second oldest in the English-speaking world.
