PORT CARLING UNITED CHURCH

“The little white church on the hill” - a beacon of hope to the community.

The dove at the top of the United Church Crest symbolizes the Holy Spirit, whose transforming power has been a distinctive mark of Methodism. Here, our heritage is one of evangelical zeal, concern for human redemption, warmth of Christian fellowship, the testimony of spiritual experience, and the ministry of sacred song.

The Methodist movement traces its origin to the evangelical awakening in 18th-century Great Britain. Methodism followed from the work of John Wesley, who was an Anglican clergyman. Methodism in Canada is traced to Lawrence Coughlan, an Irish Methodist preacher who came to Newfoundland in 1765. Around the same time, Methodists were migrating from England to Nova Scotia; among them was William Black, Sr., whose young son of 19 organized Methodist classes in 1781. Three years later, Black journeyed to Baltimore, Maryland, for the meeting that organized the new Methodist Episcopal Church. The Canadian work that Black had developed was taken under their care and prospered as an integral part of the Methodist Episcopal Church until 1828, when it became separate and independent. Meanwhile, Methodists from Great Britain had migrated into Upper Canada and brought with them the several divisions of British Methodism. In the name of Jesus, a group of individuals with a vision and calling began to worship right here in Port Carling. This church began with Methodist roots in 1872. Mergers in 1874 and 1884 resulted in The Methodist Church of Canada being formed, and this was one of the denominations that joined the United Church in 1925.

We are rich in heritage and the good works of so many down through the ages who have made this “little white church on the hill” a beacon of hope to the community.