St. John’s Grimsby Celebrates 175 years
Over the weekend of May 4-6, 2007 St. John’s, Grimsby celebrated 175 years of reaching out to the community with Christian love. The church at The Forty was organized in July 1832 by Rev, William F. Curry, who hailed from Lockport, New York and the church continued until the matter of church union was debated.
In 1925, after the vote on church union, ninety-two persons opposed, seceded from the congregation and eventually bought land on Mountain Street and built the church – St. John’s where we worship today. The stone for the new building was quarried from the escarpment at Grimsby at a cost of $25.00 and hauled to the church site by members and friends, using teams of horses. Descendants of some of these men still worship in St. John’s today. These astute men buried stone which was dug up and used in 1957 to build the extension on the present church.
New Years Eve saw some of the congregation who braved the pouring rain come to the church at midnight to herald in 2007. A banner was raised above the front doors, prayers were said and our year of celebration had begun.
The Anniversary weekend celebrations on May 4 started Friday night with a Meet and Greet Reception hosted by the church’s History Committee. During this time a video show of church people and places over the years was running in the sanctuary on a large screen. An excellent display of the church’s history was arranged in the Kirk Hall where people browsed all weekend over photos and albums and other memorabilia.
Saturday morning began with a coffee fellowship hosted by the Pastoral Care Committee who look after those in our church family not able to get around much on their own. Several of these people had not seen each other for some time due to being shut-in and it was a great time for them to renew old acquaintances.
As noon approached the children arrived for their pizza party and entertainment by a magician. With time to spare they made crafts to take home as a reminder of what their church was celebrating. During the same time a local historian took a group of adults on an historical walking tour of The Forty, pointing out our original church which still stands and is part of the United church’s property now. The walkers returned to the church for afternoon tea served by members of the choir and the Grimsby Pipe Band provided music.
The evening banquet, held in Mountainview Christian Reformed Church’s Auditorium hailed the arrival of the Moderator, Wilma Welsh, having just flown in from Nova Scotia. After our meal we were entertained by the Lost Pilgrims who proved to be a hit with everyone.
Sunday morning began with worshipers being piped into church by the pipe band again, the video ran in the church until worship began. Although the service ran longer than usual it would have been hard to omit any part. Two children were baptized, the Sunday School children made a presentation to the Moderator of a banner they had made and a new banner for the sanctuary of the Celtic Cross was dedicated. Holy Communion was observed and the Moderator delivered the sermon based on her mission work throughout Canada and overseas. Taking part in worship were the Moderator, Wilma Welsh, current minister Rev. Robert Docherty, former ministers Rev. Russell Hall and Rev. Reay Duke, Rev. Dr. John Johnson from the Presbytery of Hamilton and Mrs. Susan Lewis, student at Knox College. The Millennium Minstrels, formed at St. John’s in millennium year, added their own beautiful music to the service.
The Fellowship and Recreation Committee joined with Presbyterian Women to provide a great send off luncheon. Rev. John Degiovanni brought greetings from the Grimsby Ministerial and Dr. Johnston from the Presbytery of Hamilton. A table, donated by William Harris to be used for coffee fellowship was dedicated and a gift was presented to the Moderator by the Clerk of Session.
Our mission work will not be overlooked during this year of celebration, special Easter offerings supported the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. The Anniversary weekend culminated with funds for 15 mountain bikes to be used in Malawi. A fall auction will raise funds to go towards a new hospice being built in Grimsby. St. John’s also supports F.O.R.T. a support group for teens and provides free of charge a monthly dinner to those seeking nourishment both physically, spiritually or perhaps just to have some social contact. Donations are received continually for the food banks in our area.
We brought a new Administrative Assistant on board this spring and in the fall a Christian Education Director will join the staff at St. John’s. We feel truly blessed by all that is happening in our congregation and we will continue to always be about the Lord’s business in the years to come.
Jillian Jones,
Chairperson 175th Planning Committee
