Presbyterian Church of Canada

Organisation

Presbyterian Church of Canada

n.d.

The early history of the Presbyterian Church in Canada is very complex. At one time there were eleven
distinct self-governing Presbyterian organizations. This was the result of disunion and fragmentation
in Scotland, partly because of geographical influences and from the fact that Presbyterians entered the country in two streams one from the United States and one from Scotland and ties were kept with the parent bodies. The beginnings of the Presbyterian Church in Canada were in the Maritimes. The first presbytery was formed at Truro in 1786. This was followed by the presbytery of Pictou in 1795. The two groups united in 1817 to form the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Nova Scotia. The first Presbyterian congregation in the Canadas was organized in Quebec about 1765 and the second one at Montreal in 1786. The Presbytery of the Canadas was formed in Montreal in 1918 and became a synod in 1820. This synod was reorganized in 1831 and was known as the United Synod of Upper Canada. In the same year the Synod of the Presbyterian Church in Canada in Connection with the Church of Scotland was established. After nine years of negotiations these two synods united in 1840 and became known by the name of the latter synod -- Synod of the Presbyterian Church in Canada in Connection with the Church of Scotland. It is the records of this Synod that are in Queen's University Archives. Between 1840 and 1875, the year of union, various branches of the Presbyterian Church of the Lower Provinces, the Synod of the Maritime Provinces, the Presbyterian Church of Canada in Connection with the Church of Scotland and the Canada Presbyterian Church. When in 1875 these four united, they adopted the name of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. The Reverend John Cook, minister of St. Andrew's Church, Quebec, was elected first Moderator. The General Assembly of the United Church was divided into 4 synods and 33 presbyteries, and had on their rolls some 600 ministers and about 88,000 members.

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