Argyle Presbyterian Church, in the former hamlet of Crinan, now under West Lorne, Ontario has celebrated its 145th Anniversary.
A Celebration Dinner was held on Friday, June 9th while the Anniversary Service was held on Sunday, June 11, 2006. No doubt an important milestone in a rural church that has seen blessings and struggles. I decided to dig into some of its past and was pleasantly surprised by my findings in a Minute Book with more than 100 years of history and yes, still being used for the congregational meetings.
Back in 1901 the congregation was linked up with the Presbyterian Church in West Lorne. (it closed a few years ago) In 1925 they were linked up with Duff Presbyterian Church (Largie), now under Dutton. They have maintained an excellent relationship for more than eighty years. The Minute Book revealed that on October 29, 1901 the two congregations were called to a meeting with the purpose to elect a minister for the charge. Four names were presented out of which a Rev. A. H. Kippen was chosen. (Kippen is Dutch for chickens) I found it rather peculiar that back then they would call a minister of Dutch descend. However, they repeated that in 1990 and believe or not in 2005.
The next point of order, according to the minutes, raised was the obvious question of how much stipend they were going to pay the new minister. It was decided that the amount would be $800. (per year that is) In order to raise this amount the members were asked to subscribe to the Stipend Fund. The amounts donated varied from $20 to $4 per year. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that $4 per year amounts to 8 cents per sermon. I wondered, “What kind of sermon can you expect for 8 cents?” It was encouraging to read that at the Annual meeting following, the Treasurer reported that they were in the black with a balance in the bank of fifty cents.
After the arrival of the Rev. Kippen, he was not too pleased with the condition of the manse and informed the Board that to bring it up to date would require major repairs. The manse was sitting on three acres of land known as Glebe and was a way of providing the minister a place for his horse and land to grow beans, potatoes and corn as an additional income for the family. The Minute Book tells me that the manse was sold for $200. After serving the charge for four years, Rev. Kippen received a call from another congregation. The two-point charge called for a meeting attempting to talk the pastor into staying with them. However, it was to no avail. As the saying goes, “Pastor Kippen flew the coup to probably greener pastures and perhaps more glebe.”
When reading the history of rural churches we discover that nothing stays the same. The days of oil lamps and wood stoves are long gone. Rural congregations are shrinking and the challenge to keep going is evident every day. One thing we know for sure is God never changes. It proved the point when at Argyle Church extra chairs were needed to accommodate the overflowing crowd. Rev. Don McCallum, a former minister was the guest minister for this very special celebration.
Without a doubt God has blessed this rural congregation over 145 years. And so the task continues to share a living Jesus Christ. To know and believe that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)
