Looking for biblical, faithful worship in Ontario?
The FP Chesley congregation is approximately 3 hours’ drive from Toronto and just under 2 hours from the Kitchener/Cambridge area. As with all Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland churches, it is Reformed in doctrine and practice, including the exclusive use of the book of Psalms in worship without the use of musical instruments. Thus it is a Reformed, Presbyterian church, holding to the original Westminster Confession of Faith and other Westminster standards.
Lord’s Day Services: 10:30 a.m. & 7:30 p.m.
Mid-Week Prayer Meeting: Wednesdays, 8 p.m.
Location:
Ebenezer Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland
40 Fourth Street & 3rd Avenue, Chesley, Ontario N0G 1L0
(Situated a few blocks off 1st Avenue South at 4th Street & 3rd Avenue)
Contact:
Mr. David Kuiper (519) 363-0367, kuiperdavid6@gmail.com
Mr. Gilbert Zekveld (519) 270-6796, gzekveld@sympatico.ca
History:
The Free Church of Scotland was formed in 1843 (in what is known as “The Disruption”). Many Presbyterians in Canada were sympathetic to the principles held by the Free Church and joined that denomination the following year. By 1861, the Free Church in Canada grew to approximately 150,000 adherents or about 10% of the population of Ontario (then known as Upper Canada) forming the largest Presbyterian church in Ontario.
Sadly, the Free Church in Canada had two subsequent unions with other churches– one in 1861 and another in 1875. (These paralleled similar unions that happened in Scotland .) Many Reformed principles were sacrificed but a few ministers, congregations and people held firm. The Rev. Lachlan Macpherson of East Williams, and the Rev. John Ross of Brucefield (Ontario) laboured faithfully among this remnant until their removal from time to eternity in 1885 and 1886 respectively. Thereafter, on hearing and reading of the formation of the Free Presbyterian Church in 1893, adhering to the original principles of the Free Church, Mr. George Forrest, elder, contacted the Church. Upon a petition signed by 49 men in 1901, the Synod of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland took great pleasure to receive the interested Ontario congregations as part of the church’s mission field. Deputies were sent out yearly. In 1912, a congregation in Chesley asked to be received by the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. They were received in the same year. In the fall of that year, Mr. Walter Scott became their minister. He was a faithful shepherd of the flock. Sadly, his ministry was to be short-lived, and he passed away in 1916.