FROM WHENCE WE CAME

Have you ever wondered about our roots as a congregation? We started out in 1909 as a Mission Field of the Presbyterian Church. In 1911 a church building was started on donated land on the Island Highway across from where the Dairy Queen now stands. The little building, now located in Craig Heritage Park, was completed in 1912. Services were also held in private homes in Errington, Hilliers, and Nanoose, and in 1914 Qualicum Beach was added. For the first two years the Charge was served by student Ministers who travelled by bicycle from Wellington, which was, at that time, the end of the railroad. The first ordained Minister was Rev. J.H. Cameron. Several ministers served the Charge, including, for ten years, Dr. Peter Kelly, who was of Haida First Nation heritage. Not until October 7, 1930, at a quarterly meeting of the Mission, was it finally decided to officially become a part of the United Church of Canada. The little congregation remained fairly static until the early seventies. Subsequent growth was exemplified by the rise in givings: in 1973 our total budget was $18,000.00, which included a $1,000.00 grant; in 1974 we became self-supporting. We had two services every Sunday, but as the town grew, even two services did not suffice, and there was hardly any room for Sunday School, etc. The need for a new building became obvious, but the size of the congregation and our resources seemed to make it an impossible dream. An opportunity came to sell our property on the Island Highway and we did. For about a year we worshipped in the Roman Catholic Church in French Creek. We already owned the cemetery, so we bought additional adjacent property as a site. The dedication of the building took place on February 11, 1979. Quickly, the congregation tripled in size and a new mood prevailed. In June 1989 our minister, the Rev. Jack Van Holst, felt that he must leave the United Church and about a third of the congregation went with him. The remaining members rallied with encouraging enthusiasm. Voluneers took over the office, the janitorial work and whatever else needed doing, including the Ministry itself. In November 1989, the Rev. Norman Thomas arrived and following his resignation, the Rev. Dr. Joe Price came as Interim Minister. In July 1993 we welcomed the Rev. Foster Freed and during a 12 year period (1996-2009) Foster worked closely with Minister of Music, Ron Klusmeier. In June 2004, after many years of dreaming and planning, we launched out in faith as we began an exciting building expansion and renovation project. We were out of our building for a 9-month period. During that time staff worked out of a trailer in the parking lot and our worship services were held in the showroom of the Parksville Chrysler dealership. On March 6, 2005 we held our first service of worship in our beautiful new building. To serve the continued growth of our family of faith, we were fortunate to obtain the services of an additional Minister, the Rev. Hilde Seal, in May 2008; followed by the arrival of our new Director of Music Ministries, Alan Whitmore, at the beginning of 2010.