Great information about Presbyterians in Canada and our core beliefs can be found on The Presbyterian Church in Canada website. You may use or adapt the information you find here.
Presbyterians in Canada
The roots of The Presbyterian Church in Canada are Scottish (our mother Church was the Church of Scotland which is Presbyterian), but our Canadian heritage includes the work and witness of French Huguenots (Protestant) settlers who came to Canada in the 1600s. Of course, many people have come, and continue to come, into our denomination from other branches of the Christian Church.
Many Presbyterians in Canada have their churches named after Reformers, particularly John Calvin (a Frenchman) and John Knox (a Scot who was influenced by Calvin’s teachings). John Calvin (1509-1564) has often been called the “father” of Presbyterianism. Calvin lived in Geneva, Switzerland. From there, Presbyterianism spread through Europe.
Calvin, like other reformers, worked hard to develop a church where everyone, not just the clergy, shared responsibilities. Schools were established to provide education for both clergy and laity. John Knox (1515-1572), after studying with Calvin in Geneva, returned to his native Scotland to establish Presbyterianism. It soon spread to northern Ireland, the United States and Canada. In 1875 several groups of Presbyterians formed a union and called themselves The Presbyterian Church. Our Church has been independent since then.
Today, The Presbyterian Church in Canada has about 1,000 congregations with members coming from many national and racial backgrounds. For example, there are now 20 Korean congregations. Within our denomination, there are many different languages and styles of worship. There are congregations that worship in English, French, Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese, Hungarian, Spanish and Portuguese. In the 1990s The Presbyterian Church in Canada has welcomed new Korean and Ghanaian congregations.
To learn more about our history, please visit the PCC Archives and Museum websites.
What is Important to Us
As Presbyterians, we believe in the triune God. In other words, God is one God, yet revealed in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe that the Bible is the written revelation of who God is. It is important to gather weekly for worship and to also regularly experience the sacraments of communion. Baptism is seen as a visible sign of God’s promise to God’s people.
PCCWeb What We Believe Pages In Action
St. Marys Presbyterian Church, St. Marys Ontario