Stouffville United Church has a number of significant dates in our history. Today we are celebrating 170 years of our congregation. Let’s start with a bit of historical background.
The Wesleyan Methodist Church had its actual beginning in 1853, 170 years ago, in an old schoolhouse on Church Street with the Rev Cornelius Flummerfelt as the first resident pastor. Prior to that, several Methodist families of Stouffville gathered in homes to worship together.
(in 1825 that the Yonge circuit embraced York, Vaughan, King, West Gwillimbury, Whitchurch (Stouffville), Markham, Pickering, and Scarborough, and though the roads were primitive and rough the Methodist ministers)
The church quickly outgrew itself and was rebuilt several times. The current sanctuary was dedicated in 1892. Nathan Forsyth, a noted Stouffville resident, was the architect and builder. Part of the building construction requirements was to dismantle the old building and reuse the bricks in this building. So, some of our bricks are even older than we thought.
Mr. Forsyth also built 16 of the beautiful homes on Church Street. The old original schoolhouse still exists across the street at 17 and 19 Church Street.
What we might consider an unusual occurrence now was the early church’s Trial Night held each Friday evening. The 1890 minutes indicate that 24 repentant souls were on trial at one particular session. Wayward parishioners were judged for such offences as missing the preceding Sunday services. Removal from the membership roll was apparently the ultimate penalty.
Clearly, no one was a snowbird or had a summer cottage in those days!
A new wing was added to the north of the church in 1950 providing a much-needed church parlor and additional choir and Sunday School rooms.
Sunday School Enrolment was always healthy in the early days with a high of 500 being noted at one time (this includes men, women and children as all attended Sunday school)
Parishioners were really quite active on the day of rest with morning service, home for lunch, Sunday School at 2pm and then back to the church for evening devotions at 7pm.
In early 1870’s the Ladies Aid was formed. They met in member’s homes. Early minutes record that in 1925, the ladies appealed to the Official Board to pay the bills for lighting the church. Another recommendation involved installing a possible indoor toilet but this request was tabled as it was thought a new storm door held more priority.
In 1925 with Union and the formation of the United Church of Canada we became Stouffville United Church. In 1927 there was a proposal to name the church Trinity United Church but it was defeated.
1962 saw the creation of United Church Women. This was an amalgamation of the Women’s Missionary Society, the Women’s Association (previously the Ladies Aid) and the Garrett Evening Auxiliary. This new UCW group had a combined membership of 154 divided into 7 units. We’re honoured that several members of our congregation from this original group still worship with us today.
Women in our church have always played a continuing important role in supporting the church through dinners, bazaars, pastoral care and financially, maintaining the manse and the church. Today the women of the church still meet as UCW, Book Club, Quilters, Prayer Mantle, Pastoral Care and Outreach and support our congregation in many of the same ways.
In 1977 we celebrated Stouffville’s centennial and added another extension to our church. A minister’s study, Secretary’s office, Friendship room, kindergarten, washrooms, a kitchenette, refurbished halls, choir areas, a new south entrance, and an automatic chair lift made up the new addition.
At the same time it was found necessary to add a concrete and metal support to the choir arch in the sanctuary.
We’ve been blessed during our history with many generous donations to beautify our church. To name just a few, the Button family donated our church pipe organ 1933, and the Sunday School donated our beautiful round stained glass window. The candelabras were dedicated by the Fretz family and the Cathedral chimes donated in 1950 by the Melvin Watts family.
The Wesleyan Methodist Choir was formed in 1877 under the leadership of David Stouffer “Uncle Dave”. He had 11 hard and fast rules. One such rule stated that the reward for being absent 4 Sundays in a year was automatic expulsion from the Choir.
Thank goodness we don’t have that rule any longer or our choir might be quite a bit smaller! Choir gowns were first worn in 1928 but now we save them for special occasions as we work to ensure our worship is more inclusive and welcoming to all.
Discussions about a new pipe organ began in 1933 and the railing in front of the choir loft was installed in 1937. Our grand piano was purchased in 1992.
Throughout our history we have been an important part of the town of Stouffville. In the past the Couples+ Club presented Music Mania and recently our Open Cupboard and support of the Foodbank has helped meet needs in our town. Our Messy Church program hosts families from the community as well as from our congregation. We’ve had a presence at Terry Fox Runs, at the Community Gardens and various community vigils and celebrations.
Our church building has been a home for many groups over the years. We currently support AA, AL Anon, Cubs, Scouts, Sparks, Local choirs, the Hummingbird Youth Outreach and the Small Town Montessori Pre-School.
After 170 years the future of Stouffville United still looks exciting. Throughout our history we’ve recreated ourselves many times as the world around us has changed and now we’re doing it again. We’re talking about plans that will make our church even more inviting to the community. The creation of the Stained Glass Centre for Performing Arts opens the doors to even more opportunities for new uses of our sanctuary and also new sources of income. This will allow us more ways to financially support our congregation as well as enriching the town.
We look forward to what the future brings.
We celebrated our 170th Anniversary by singing traditional hymns from the Blue Hymnal led by our Music and Choir Director, Daniel Mehdizadeh. “Holy Holy Holy, Lord God Almighty” followed by “Jesus Thou Joy of Loving Hearts” and “God Will Take Care of You” were sung finishing with a more traditional closing response.
Rev. John Niles shared with us a sermon entitled “Honouring the Past, Embracing the Future” where he shared even more information about our early history as a Methodist Church and the work of the regional circuit riding saddleback preachers.
Sermon notes, Bulletin and You Tube link available at “Honouring the Past, Embracing the Future” – Sunday, November 19, 2023 – Stouffville United Church (stouffvilleuc.ca)
Thank you to the Worship Team for the Anniversary Lunch and cake provided following the service, Barb Hendren for the new Anniversary banner, the choir for the wonderful music, and readers: Brian Carr, Cindy Duncan, Lisa Harvey and those that shared photos of the past.
