On Saturday, St. John's Presbyterian Church hosted a Roast Beef Dinner – inviting the community to come and enjoy Roast Beef, mashed potatoes, turnips, carrots, coleslaw and home-baked pies, prepared and served by a team of volunteers.
It's just a part of the community outreach at the church – a church community that this year celebrates 200 years in Bradford West Gwillimbury.
It was in 1819 that the early Presbyterian Church first came to the newly-surveyed Township of West Gwillimbury - not as the “Presbyterian Church,” but as a branch of the Protestant “Church of Scotland.”
The first settlers in the area known as the Scotch Settlement in West Gwillimbury were 17 families of Highland Scots, who returned to Ontario from Lord Selkirk’s failed Red River Settlement. They brought their "Church of Scotland" faith with them, formally organizing the first congregation in 1822, and building the first log church in Simcoe County.
The 1800s were marked by division, and unification. In 1843, a new Free Church of Scotland split off from the traditional church, calling for a separation of church and state. The divisions, over use of Gaelic, appointment of Ministers by distant powers in Scotland, and use of the organ in worship, continued until 1875, when The Presbyterian Church in Canada was formed.
St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Bradford will be hosting a 200th Anniversary Service on Nov. 17 at 11 a.m., with guest preacher, the Reverend Dr. David Sherbino, and a choir from Tyndale University College under the direction of Dr. Melissa Davis.
The celebration will include a catered lunch after the service, in the Settlement Hall. All are welcome; please RSVP to [email protected]. The church, which is handicapped accessible, is located at 2940 Sideroad 10 in Bradford.
As part of its 200th Anniversary celebration, St. John’s Presbyterian Church is partnering with OrgelkidsCAN, an initiative of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, to invite kids to participate in the Build an Organ Program.
From Nov. 14 to 21, music classes, schools and home-schoolers will have an opportunity to book a time slot at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, where the kids will build an organ from a kit, play the instrument and hear its music – then listen to a professional organist play the pipe organ.
The pipe organ was first installed at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in 1915, thanks to funding from the Carnegie Foundation. At the time, St. John's was located at the corner of Church St. and John St. West; when the new St. John's Presbyterian Church was built on 10 Sideroad, in 2004, the pipe organ was preserved and moved.It was recently restored.
OrgelkidsCAN is a free program. For more information or to participate, contact [email protected] or call 905-775-7274.
