Introduction by C. Andrew Lawson, p. 3.
A Primer of Disciple History in Canada
1. Searchings Out in Europe, pp. 5-6.
2. Early History in America, pp. 6-7.
3. "The Declaration and Address", p. 7.
4. Uniting Streams of Religious Opinion in Great Britain, pp. 7-8.
5. Disciples Launch a Program in the United States and Canada, pp. 8-9.
6. Beginnings in Canada, by Provinces, pp. 9-12.
7. The Opening of the Canadian West, pp. 12-13.
8. Disciples Free to Develop Organizations, pp. 13-15.
9. Need to Realize Afresh Our Freedom, pp. 15-16.
10. Missionary Work and Ministerial Education, p. 16.
11. Organizations of the Disciples, p. 17.
12. Young Peoples' Work and Journalism, p. 17.

      This pamphlet is offered by the College free of charge to our churches across Canada, and particularly to students and to Study Groups. Outside of Canada its cost is 25 cents, postpaid. Address:

C. ANDREW LAWSON, B.A., B.D.       332 Bloor St. West, Toronto [2]

In 1941 Mr. Reuben Butchart gave a series of special lectures to the students of the College of the Churches of Christ, Toronto, Ontario, on the "History of the Churches of Christ in Canada." These lectures were of such value to the students that I felt this vital information, given to a small group, should be made available to our people from coast to coast.

      The author is, undoubtedly, the outstanding authority on the history of our work in the Dominion. He is now compiling a long-awaited book, "The Disciples of Christ in Canada since 1830." Mr. Butchart is qualified by years of study and experience for this task and we all look forward eagerly to its completion.

      This pamphlet is an outline historical sketch and designed particularly for use in study groups. It has been arranged primarily as a text book for group study. The College of Churches of Christ is happy to send it to you because it realizes that a well-informed Brotherhood is essential to the progress of our work.

      The pioneers of the past have labored and sacrificed to present the plea of New Testament Christianity in Canada. We have been given a glorious heritage. May God grant that we use it to His glory in the future.

      Yours in the Master's Service,

C. ANDREW LAWSON, Principal,       College of Churches of Christ           in Canada

Toronto, March 31st, 1942 [3]

ISTORICALLY the Disciples are a body of Christian believers within the Protestant fold which holds as valid all doctrines taught or implicit in the New Testament and discarding all others, but seeking specially to emphasize those which clear the way for a union of all Christians upon a common basis of faith and practice. Aside from their first commission as a people--the duty of making new Christians--their grand aim has been to promote the idea of a united Church, to replace the disturbing fact of many churches with exclusive creeds which prevent universal membership on a common basis for all believers in Jesus. That such a united Church is needed to confront a world of sin needs no argument. Too long has it been that the Church which Christ said he would "build" has not yet as an organism been established. Instead, we have many churches of diverse pattern, each claiming to be the way of salvation. In some of these churches there are treasured doctrines that are mutually repellent. There is not a complete and common ground of fellowship, since the means of fellowship (the Lord's Supper, or communion) cannot be received commonly, save within the narrow bounds of a creedal system. While it is true that these barriers are being relaxed in some cases, it is also true that certain great divisions of the Christian Church will not lower them. In this there is exhibited a fatal break instead of a convincing union. That this way of confusion and disunion can be the mind of the Founder is unthinkable, yet this extraordinary dead weight is imposed against world acceptance of the aims and sacrifices of the Teacher and Saviour of Galilee. The problem is how to restore real unity to the Church. The Disciple answer has always been by bringing back the simple standards of faith and doctrine of the New Testament. To do this we must go back to the apostles and find the pattern in their preaching and practice in the early Church. From these, certain universal principles may be gathered, applicable under the conditions of any age.

      This problem of making church faith and fellowship more nearly correspond with scripture has fascinated spiritually-minded believers in many communions. To this may be attributed the rise in Great Britain of the Baptist body, the Congregationalists (or Independents), [5] dating as far back as Queen Mary. But we need concern ourselves only with two small groups directly in line preceding the Disciples in the development of religious thought. These are the Haldanes (early nineteenth century); and the Glasites (eighteenth century.) Both of these bodies influenced the search for the New Testament truth, and are dealt with later. Much searching was indulged in on both sides of the Atlantic, but not until the nineteenth century, and mainly in America, were the results of study sufficiently clarified so as to attract large numbers.

      The interesting details of the origins of the Disciples in the United States deserves more space than can be given. Some of them are stirring and some even romantic. Briefly then, in the year 1801, in Caneridge, near Paris, Ky., a great revival was led by Barton W. Stone, a Presbyterian preacher. He was led through progressive ideas to form a religious body known as Christians. In Western Pennsylvania, in the year 1807, Thomas Campbell, another Presbyterian minister from Ireland, found that as a Seceder minister he could welcome to the Lord's Supper none but his own communion. This denial of fellowship to believers in Jesus he deemed un-christian. In 1809, he was joined by his son, Alexander Campbell, a minister, and together they found the need for reform was unmistakable. A small group was formed which began a search of the New Testament to find the fundamental teachings which should guide both saint and sinner. They found much, and one thrilling discovery was that there is no scriptural authority for infant sprinkling, but thorough warrant for believer's immersion as Christian baptism, after confession of faith in the world's Saviour, Jesus Christ. This confession was later established as the basis and bond of Christian faith--all that was necessary for admission to the Church Christ was to establish. They came to find, through a clearer understanding of the New Testament, that nothing should be required as an expression of this faith but what was clearly stated in the New Testament or which could be safely deduced therefrom. The Campbells, Stone and others, became exponents of the scriptures in this way, to the great liberation of mind for anxious enquirers. Such revolutionary discoveries naturally aroused great antagonism. It took some time and courage to develop the aims of these Reformers and real experience to clarify it. In 1832 Stone and Campbell found themselves on common ground and united their bodies. They had to found a new religious body thus, since they were prevented within the bonds of other communions from preaching the more acceptable scriptural truths. But perhaps the return to the scriptural and apostolic simplicity that is in Christ was made more evident by this necessity. [6]

      In their search for truth they found such universal principles as the following: (a) Belief in the divinity and Saviourhood of Jesus as the foundation stone of all Christian life and fellowship.

      (b) The acceptance of such faith as complete evidence of discipleship when followed by obedience to Christ's commands.

      (c) The association of believers in church groups where the New Testament alone should define the Church and its teachings; and that the believer or the Church should find warrant for any belief or practice in plain statements of scripture or deductions therefrom. Thus the scripture, and not divisive creeds, became the source of authority. These aims took the searchers "back to Jerusalem," the original place of the beginnings of the gospel.

      This document is one of the greatest produced by the Reformers It was written by Thomas Campbell in 1809. Its main points have been summarized by a scholar (F. D. Kershner) in his book, The Christian Union Overture. They are:

      (1) The essential unity of the Church of Christ.

      (2) The supreme authority of the scriptures.

      (3) The special authority of the New Testament.

      (4) The fallacy of human creeds.

      (5) The essential brotherhood of all who love Christ and try to follow him.

      (6) That if human innovations can be removed from the Church, the followers of Christ will unite upon the scriptural platform.

      The complete union of the Reformers in the United States under the names of Christians, or Disciples of Christ, became effective in the year 1835.

      The religious ferment in the Old Land found expression as well in Canada; and both searchings and similar discoveries were indigenous there. The most potent early outside influence in Canada is possibly found in the teachings of several Churches known as Scotch Baptist. These were situated at River John, N.S.; Esquesing township, (Halton Co., Ontario); Toronto; Eramosa township (Wellington Co.) and Lobo township, (Middlesex). But these churches had largely devolved from a small body in Scotland known as the Glasites (or later Sandemanians), which body may be dated about the years 1695-1773. They sought to discover and practise a church polity derived solely from the New Testament, and a valuable contribution was their observance of a weekly [7] communion. Out of their membership came Archibald McLean, who seems to have "discovered" Christian baptism, as involving immersion. McLean was the founder of the body known as Scotch Baptist and it came to have as many as a hundred church groups, mostly in Great Britain, with some in America. These religious reformers were distinguished by a desire to make their faith and belief conform as closely as possible to the teachings of the New Testament in a close and literalistic manner. They had a great reverence for the Word and a rigid and literalistic interpretation of it may have made them narrow; and both traits are preserved in some sections of the Disciples today. Their insistence on the authority of the Word is foundational and should be preserved wherever the religion known as Christianity is practised.

      Another Scottish group destined greatly to influence the coming brotherhood on this continent were the Haldanes, a group of evangelicals formed by two brothers. Their emphasis was upon what may be called the experience of grace in the heart--a revolt from formalistic teachings and Calvinistic theology, of which Scotland always had plenty. This group are said greatly to have influenced Alexander Campbell during his residence at Glasgow University. The whole development of the Disciples resembles nothing in nature so much as--a spring, a rivulet, a gathering of streams, and a mighty river following.

      In time Canada absorbed and combined much of the teachings of the Campbells, Stone, and of the Scotch Baptists--a body quite distinct in origin and much in teaching from the Regular Baptists. These new religious ideas came to Canada largely through immigration which was then laying great foundations in our national history. In a new country there seems to have been greater room for the expansion of spirits that chafed under the restrictions of ecclesiastical systems. It furnished fertile soil; the rootage was strong, the crop fertile, though through smallness of numbers, affected somewhat by religious conservatism in older groups, the progress was slow. It can be almost wholly said that Disciple Churches, or Churches of Christ, are the legitimate offspring of Scotch Baptist and Campbell-Stone parentage. The growth of the new body outside of its own proclaimers was largely assisted by the Campbell publications, The Christian Baptist and The Millennial Harbinger, and Canadian journals followed, beginning as early as 1833. American evangelists came over occasionally to aid in ambitious efforts here. Perhaps the strongest evangelical strain injected into the movement on this continent was through the influence of Barton W. Stone and Walter Scott, of Ohio. The Disciples became an intensely evangelistic body. Their first aim was seemingly to attempt world conversion, [8] the preaching of a gospel of pardon for sin and the enjoyment of the promises of God through a reasonable and plain interpretation of gospel terms. Mysticism and mist were by this removed; inquirers were shown an intelligible and logical way of becoming Christians, with certainty. It was a recurrence of the joyful and enthusiastic emphasis of early Christians who had the stimulus of a resurrected Saviour to present to a world lying spiritually dead. Towards a recovery of this early enthusiasm the Disciples of the present day must now tend.

      In union with American brethren, the new groups of Disciples in Canada began to go forward in a crusade for these liberating truths. In the United States, as time went on, it was found that owing to antagonisms already created, the religious union proposed could no longer be urged as an imperative duty of the times, and the new body rather stressed the application of the truths as found in the Acts of the Apostles and the epistles of the New Testament. Thus their later aim was the formation of scripturally-formed Churches of Christ. This was to be found in going back from Rome, Westminster and Geneva to Jerusalem: to found upon the simple truths elucidated in Acts and the epistles a world-wide brotherhood of Churches of Christ. This is a program for all time and it need never be altered. Beyond a doubt the labors of Canadian Disciples during a century have aided in creating a longing for Christian union and its following fruits, and much has been realized and made a part of our religious history. Today Christian union is admitted as an aim by most communions. Eventually the Church must realize the oneness for which our great Founder prayed (John xvii). But this sketch can do little but indicate the breadth of the aims of the Disciples of Christ.

      Let us now observe the earliest traces of this new communion in Canada, with hints as to its development and complementary phases. These may be taken in geographical order, somewhat in keeping with history.

      Prince Edward Island. In Prince Edward Island, in 1811, we learn of Alexander Crawford founding several churches. He was a Scotch Baptist preacher, with Haldane influences within his heart. One of his several churches was at Lot 48, now known as Cross Roads, near Charlottetown. It survives after a remarkable history. Charlottetown now has the strongest church on the Island, which has long been listed in the Disciple Year Book as having thirteen churches, with membership of 1000. The distinction of the Island is that it has sent out so many ministers and missionaries. Of the list totalling seventy-five [9] from the Maritimes, nineteen alone came from Summerside Church. This was the church of Donald Crawford and of Archibald McLean, the great missionary leader and educator amongst us. Apostolic fits his name, but other provinces had counterparts. Devoted and consecrated leaders were born in those backward times.

      Nova Scotia. In Nova Scotia we have daring and romance connected with the entrance of the new faith. In River John, N.S., on the day Waterloo was won (June 18, 1815), we have a "humble disciple" layman, James Murray, winning two persons to the faith and daring to baptize them in scriptural fashion, undeterred by the taunts of his neighbors. A small but vigorous church grew and lasted some twenty years before much leadership needed to be found. Halifax probably had a Disciple Church as early as 1832 (and has it today), on a New Testament basis. It has never been large but it has borne a continuous witness. Amongst many, Benjamin Howard may be mentioned as a leading evangelist-preacher. George Garraty, an evangelist sent by our American brethren, for his vigor in preaching, became known as the "breaking up plough." He worked in other provinces also. Eleven churches or groups now comprise the organizations in Nova Scotia, with a membership of 1,100.

      New Brunswick. In New Brunswick twelve churches were established, now having a membership of 1,200 persons. Work began early in the capital, Saint John. In 1832 George Garraty founded a small church. It was first on Duke Street, but by 1881 a large brick building had been completed on Coburg Street and the best church in the province began its long career. D. D. Thomas was its first minister and it was served by the evangelist T. H. Capp, by Hiram Wallace, and Henry W. Stewart. In 1896 another church (Douglas Avenue) was founded, where J. C. B. Appel served as minister for twenty-six years. On Deer Island (Bay of Fundy), several churches were founded early and which have been strong supporters. Lord's Cove is a name of importance here. "The type of men from whom our Lord chose his disciples and apostles make up the church in this fishing village," says an early commentator (I. G. Shaw).

      Quebec. This province does not offer a favorable field for New Testament Christianity, yet in Montreal for many years a small group of migrants from the Maritimes and Great Britain strove to maintain the ordinances. In 1902 the American Society placed F. C. Ford there, and others followed. A group still meets, under the leadership of Dr. P. L. Pratley. Ecclesiasticism and conservatism have for the religion of the Nazarene strong resisting fortifications; undeveloped lands are more easily entered. [10]

      Ontario. Ontario has been the most productive seed-plot of the Disciple cause. Seed-sowing under Scotch Baptist influence began when Ontario was Upper Canada and Toronto was York. At the latter place, and in the townships of Eramosa, Esquesing, and Lobo, the Scotch Baptists had founded churches, existing about the year 1820 and of a type that was still looking for light from the scriptures. Esquesing, (Norval) has long been extinct, though in 1843 it was the scene of our first provincial gathering. Lobo (Poplar Hill) survives and has given us the incomparable Dr. W. E. Macklin, foreign missionary to China. Eramosa township organized three Disciple churches--in 1832, 1842, a third central church in 1847, and a fourth united church embodying all except West Church, in 1861--the present Everton. Out of Eramosa sprang a remarkable group of evangelists, which has not been equalled in any other province. The Wellington Co-operation directed their efforts after 1849. Evangelists were prayerfully chosen and sent forth for various periods. They went two together, mounted, with saddle-bag equipment and New Testament truths to preach unsearchable riches to converted and unconverted alike. They won sinners and founded churches provincially, widely. Beginning in 1825, James Black at first led in evangelism and as others came in he was assisted. Alexander Anderson came in 1836, James Kilgour in 1845, Edmund Sheppard in 1867, C. J. Lister in 1869. The groupings were not always the same. In western Ontario, Dugald Sinclair, about 1831 began to supervise and preach to groups in his district. These six men were known as "The Ontario Pioneer Preachers" and their works do follow them. These men were sharpshooters on the Christian firing line, but they could only incidentally and imperfectly educate their hearers, and with their passing, naturally, a new cause felt their loss; for they had left but few successors as preachers. Education for a ministry was beyond the few churches. In 1886 a strong successor to the Wellington Co-operation was formed at Everton and it (The Co-operation of Disciples of Christ in Ontario) is our Home Missionary Society. As, in other provinces, American evangelists were brought in and oversight of our cause was effected, with developments far beyond the original co-operation for the gospel message only. One strong thing was done, the establishment of a cause on Cecil Street, Toronto, in 1891. This led into greater things for the Disciples, even to the entertainment there in 1913 of the International Convention. Since the original "Beaty" Church (arising from the Scotch Baptists in early days), there have been churches in at least fifteen different places in Toronto. Since 1923 Hillcrest (Vaughan Road and Helena Ave.) has been the largest in membership, widest in influence and finest in outward appearance. Besides Hillcrest there are Bathurst St., Vaughan Road, Central (St. Clarens Ave.), Keele St., Fern Avenue, Strathmore Blvd. Other places in Ontario have worthy [11] buildings and churches functioning therein, such as London, St. Thomas, Windsor, Owen Sound. Our churches in Ontario are now fewer than twenty years ago. Evangelism has always been the source of growth and mass evangelism is now and for long viewed as out-moded. All Disciple Churches (or Churches of Christ), after a gospel sermon, invite acceptance of the gospel terms immediately. But in these days this is not enough and another method, or other methods, must be invoked for a forward push. Implicit in the gospel tidings are, of course, the invitations publicly given; but when this is relied upon solely there is a neglect of the possible powerful aid of personal and private interest in seed-sowing. There should be much teaching as well as preaching; and preacher-making, (as the first pioneers found but could not accomplish). Both are answers to the Great Commission of our Lord. Many evangelists who followed through the years must be left without naming in this outline.

      The spread of the Disciple cause to western Canada is another example of the large and varied amount of co-operative work required to build a religious communion. In it are implied the personal worker, the Sunday School teacher, the Church board or its officers, the regional oversight by a provincial missionary society; the aid by the brethren of Ontario and by American societies and their evangelists; and the consecration of considerable money on the part of churches and individuals. In the west, as in the east, many beginnings were due to prayerful, consecrated effort on the part of one or more individuals, and often one or more families provided the roots for a church organization later. Perhaps the original influence lay in a woman's organization. It is the case that by the year 1880 the aims and hopes of women in Ontario were striving to break conservative bonds and there was a quiet collection of funds to serve the gospel. Women of Ontario in 1881 were able to send forth Andrew Scott to Portage La Prairie, where a fine church still exists. Winnipeg's opening in 1889 was due to the witnessing of U.S. Consul Graham and wife, then resident. They led others in the "breaking of bread" on the Lord's Day. There was first the private meetings. Then Kate Street, followed by Home St. Church in 1902. In a later expansion of the cause in Manitoba, Home St. Church, and its leader, George H. Stewart, were powerful and consecrated factors. Their local provincial missionary society built up five churches in Manitoba: Home St., St. James, Norwood, Riding Mountain and Portage La Prairie. The membership in Manitoba has been placed at 450.

      In the Prairie Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, and in addition British Columbia, in early days of the century there was received [12] most valuable co-operative support through the American Christian Missionary Society, and its successor, the United Christian Missionary Society. Eastern provinces also helped. Families moved in, evangelists followed, times were good and there was money for church expansion. In the first twenty years of the century, the cause of the Disciples was spread through as great an area as could be found eastward, although not so deeply entered. Some great evangelizing was done by the following men: J. A. L. Romig, R. J. Westaway, M. B. Ryan, W. G. Kitchen, John S. Mill, M. P. Hayden, J. W. Jenkins, and, in a later phase, by John H. Wells. Churches were established in Lethbridge in 1911; in Saskatoon, 1912; in Calgary, 1913; in Edmonton in 1913; in Regina in 1920. Altogether in the four western provinces nineteen churches, large and small, were created, most of them possessing the missionary spirit. Several non-co-operative churches exist there--our brethren also. The west is young enough to share some of the enthusiasm of youth. To do this, use was made of Sunday Schools in school houses and W.M.S. groups for mission study. Vancouver has had a minister since 1905. Ontario sent help there for years. The dedication of a fine church plant called the Shelton Memorial Church marks, it is hoped, permanency and progress. Hayden Stewart serves there.

      From struggling church groups, timid about organization, the Disciples gradually came to see they were free to organize agencies with which more efficiently to carry out the commands of the Church's Founder. For years the only forms of organization were cautious "co-operations" of churches that had little or no official framework and which delegated to various members of certain churches the duty of raising money to be expended in mass evangelism. This was done so that it might not be claimed that the Church, as the pillar and ground of the truth, had been set aside as the only and efficient organ of the gospel. There were generally a few voices to be heard proclaiming that an organization of any sort for any purpose would be a leading back of the brethren "to Babylon"--meaning the "pit of sectarianism from which they had been digged." This literalistic and legalistic view was borne with toleration for long. It could exist because of toleration, amongst a class who received under the new view the New Testament as a book of principles and not a book of legislative enactments modelled upon Mosaism. It was hoped that time and education would promote a liberty that might be enjoyed by all in the realm of Christian liberty of conscience. Students of origins may now see that this old-time conservatism was but a hang-over of Scotch Baptist interpretations which found in every minute circumstance of the things reported in Acts a [13] "divine plan" of church polity, instead of the natural working out of religious imperatives in the patterns and framework agreeable with the age.

      Probably, too, the vanishing physical powers of the pioneer preachers (in Ontario), active before 1880, taught that new methods must be adopted. There was a serious recasting of plans of action. The old Wellington Co-operation, fund of extraordinary power and usefulness, had been laid aside and a new provincial Co-operation appeared in 1882, only to be assailed as a thing of 'Romish' tendencies^* and all that! A third provincial Co-operation was formed in 1886, called The Co-operation of Disciples of Christ in Ontario, and it survives and is active, having adapted itself to needful change. From time to time, as thought developed and liberalized, its scope was enlarged successively to take in foreign missions, women's missionary work and society, the Christian Endeavor movement for young people, Sunday School organizations, temperance activity, and education for the Christian ministry. For example, the women unofficially in 1880 began to act in local groups for foreign missions and they organized in 1887. About that time regular ministers began to be employed, and their services arranged for on a monetary basis; and it was also found that instrumental music as an aid to singing (not to worship) was neither unscriptural nor unspiritual. Sunday School workers joined in national or inter-church groups for promotion and young people began to develop their abilities in church life. A more vigorous evangelism sprang up and with it a dominant new hope arose. The Disciple cause, at least in Ontario, probably reached its maximum in or around 1900. But not unitedly. The conservatism, referred to, organized its exclusiveness and withheld support to the expanding body of Disciples. There is today no practical co-operation existing between the two sections in Ontario. Fellowship, it is true, exists, and is always welcome, and the liberal group are even anxious to extend and make it more fruitful in practical ways. It is strongly hoped that the solvent needed, since it lives within the pages of the very Book both branches follow, may be re-discovered. A spiritual union is deeply needed in this hour of world danger. Some new leader, capable of re-interpreting our cause to ourselves, may provide the way out of an impasse. Let us cordially work toward this end, with the determination to allow no differences of opinion to mar Christian fellowship, which still can exist on the principle of the basic inheritance upon which all believers stand. At no period of history has there been so compelling a call for a complete union of the Disciples in all ways possible.

      The western provinces date their Christian Missionary Societies in the period 1905 to 1920. The Christian Women's Board of Missions [14] was organized in Ontario in 1887, in the Maritimes somewhat later, with a union in the work of sending Mary Rioch to Japan in 1892. The western Societies, like those of the east, were affiliated with the W.M.S. of the States and later the United Christian Missionary Society. All these expressions of Christian liberty and service began to create growing pains and grander aims were being conceived. An Ontario brother--president J. D. Higgins of Toronto--suggested that a national organization should arise; and at the International Convention in Toronto in 1913, W. H. Harding, of the Maritimes, proposed to the writer that a national paper be established. In time both aims were realized.

      It must be obvious to the thinker that some of the troubles of the Disciples in winning a larger share of growth, arise from the fact of congregational sovereignty. No one wishes to destroy or deny this citadel of liberty. It belongs to us. We do not desire an organization directed from above downwards. Independence is our Christian liberty, and it is rooted in scripture. But it is also a fact that while there may be Christian liberty, the wider Christian law of love teaches that so-called liberty must sometimes be restrained in order to conserve Christian unity--the one thing our Lord was mostly concerned about. "Christian congregational sovereignty" has sometimes cost us church property--and worse, loss of fellowship--when the self-loyalty of a strong-minded individual or group may be powerful enough to swing it within individual grasp. Thus while a dissident brother may demonstrate his "liberty" in dividing others from their old-time loyalties, the whole body of Christ suffers lack of unity, development and progress. The apostle Paul could not call this by a less term than "inexpedient." But no attempt has ever been made to change this method of freedom.

      While a certain freedom amongst Disciples has been sketched, it is not to be assumed that there need be no strictness. The Disciples of Christ profess obedience to all doctrines and ordinances describing and ordaining the Christian way of life and the Church which enshrines it, that are clearly taught or rightly to be inferred from the pages of the New Testament. These are supreme as far as delineating the new life and the authority for carrying the program of Christianity to the farthest bounds. In the development of this Plea of the Disciples, they naturally received much opposition because of the upset to creedal and authoritative systems owing to the desire to re-unite Christians upon a simple New Testament program. In later years in Canada, with the growth of Christian union in thought and practice, the message of the Disciples has been better understood and more kindly recognized. It is likely [15] this attitude, assisted by the Disciples' practice of co-operation amongst other religious bodies in ways helpful to the community, has softened much preaching also. The Disciples co-operate freely with other churches. There is not the bitterness of opposition to old errors as in early days, although there may be continued and definite presentation of our Plea, which by its purity and dignity may be observed to be winning approval amongst other communions. In a sense the absence of violent opposition is a concession that the principles of the Disciples at least are correctly conceived. On the part of the Disciples there would seem to be urgently needed a revival of the worth and dignity of our Plea and a better sense of its value to the Christian cause the more it is understood and accepted. The need for a revival is insistent.

      The Disciples in Canada have contributed enormously from their few thousands of membership to the Christian ministry and the foreign mission field. In the arousal of the body to Foreign Missions, Archibald McLean, of Prince Edward Island, was a world figure at the time of his death in 1920, leaving a Society at work on five continents and missionary enterprises expressed in million dollar values, besides a personnel representing tremendous potentialities. They have had a variety of experiments in educating for the Christian ministry but never so satisfactory as now are their prospects for rendering their communion an agency for ministerial education. The College of the Churches of Christ in Canada, Inc., Toronto, of which Mr. C. L. Burton has been President since its inception (and his son, Mr. E. G. Burton, chairman of the Management Committee), is presided over as lecturer by C. Andrew Lawson, B.A., B.D. He is also a lecturer on the staff of Victoria University and through him our students receive their instruction in Religious Knowledge. Incorporation was secured in 1928 and an honorable scholastic affiliation with the University of Toronto is in effect. The standards of the College are high and they tend towards the highest in education fields. In 1940 the Board of Higher Education of the Disciples granted affiliation, thus rating the qualifications of our College as first-class. For such qualifications and opportunities the Disciples have waited for fifty years. Educational values are assured young people who assume the obligations involved in study here. It may truly be said that in this latest venture in education, the Disciples have reason to entertain their highest hopes. By such means are educational supplies to be obtained for our churches. The day has long passed when for our ministry a brief inculcation of biblical truths imposed on a mere knowledge of English is sufficient to qualify our ministry. [16]

      The Disciples organize as churches that are independent and which regard themselves as sovereign in matters of control. The New Testament is their standard. In order more efficiently to carry on work requiring our widest efforts, they now co-operate in promoting education, missions, evangelism, journalism, and benevolence, and each province has a missionary society, which serves to clear its work at an annual convention. This very old method was supplemented in 1922 by an organization styled The All-Canada Committee, to which was entrusted on behalf of the churches of the Dominion, tasks of a broad promotional nature such as are involved in the last sentence. The enthusiasm and effort of a group led in 1922 by Mr. George H. Stewart, of Winnipeg, enabled the Disciples of Canada to have their first national organization. Mr. Stewart was chosen the first chairman and is still holding office in this important task. The first national executive secretary was John Stuart Mill. Mr. H. B. Kilgour followed him in 1925 and served until about 1933. Then three regional workers were appointed, one of whom for long was H. B. Stainton, also acting as Ontario evangelist-secretary. At present Oliver McCully has entered upon this work as national secretary (1941); Halsey Wakelin, of Edmonton, is Western regional worker, and W. G. Quigley appointed for the Maritimes. This All-Canada Committee aims to give direction to our work on its national side and its calls are a challenge to the idealism of the Disciples. Formative changes are in progress. We need such an organization in our extensive domain--the Dominion.

      Our young people are organized provincially and nationally. Their efforts are quite largely directed towards maintaining summer camps for education and inspirational values. They have reached a rich development in this line. The Disciples have always had promotional journals, their first being started in 1833. In 1923 they scrapped two, the Christian Messenger of Ontario, and the Christian, of the Maritimes, and formed a new venture, the Canadian Disciple, which was for seven years edited by Reuben Butchart. Following editors were H. B. Kilgour, Miss M. V. Royce, and the present editor, Miss G. M. Lediard. The publication office is at Owen Sound.

      Through our national organization a certain sense of unity is being cherished and preserved. While much has been wrought in this way, much remains to be done. To review our aims, our heritage, and our possibilities is the first step in setting free for action stores of unrealized power for the glory of the Kingdom. The reader is asked to follow through with his share. Let us serve our day as the pioneers served theirs. [17]

[PDHC 1-17.]

      The electronic version of Reuben Butchart's A Primer of Disciple History in Canada (Toronto: College of the Churches of Christ in Canada, 1942) has been produced from a copy of the pamphlet held by the Disciples of Christ Historical Society.

      Pagination in the electronic version has been represented by placing the page number in brackets following the last complete word on the printed page. Inconsistencies in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and typography have been retained; however, corrections have been offered for misspellings and other accidental corruptions. Emendations are as follows:

            Printed Text [ Electronic Text
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 p. 5:      are mutually repellant. [ are mutually repellent.
 p. 9:      from Rome, Westminister [ from Rome, Westminster
 

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 2 December 2003.