Conferences in the United Church of Canada were courts of the Church organized as an administrative grouping of Presbyteries in a geographical area. The Conference was governed by a body consisting of ministers within its boundaries and an equal number of non-ministerial representatives of Pastoral Charges. Functions of a Conference included the following: determining boundaries and numbers of Presbyteries within its bounds; receiving and disposing of appeals, petitions subject to the usual right to appeal; sustaining pastorate in every Pastoral Charge; examining and ordaining candidates for the Order of Ministry; receiving ministers and deaconesses from other Churches; dealing with matters referred to it by the General Council and selecting equal numbers of members of the Order of Ministry and lay representatives to the General Council.
Toronto Conference held its inaugural service on 1925 September 22 in St. James Square Church, Toronto. In 1925 the Toronto Conference encompassed the following Presbyteries: Algoma, Dufferin and Peel, Grey, Muskoka, North Bay, Simcoe, Toronto Centre, Toronto East and Toronto West. In 1927, Sudbury and Temiskaming Presbyteries were added, followed by the addition of Cochrane Presbytery in 1929. In 1975, North Bay, Sudbury, and Temiskaming joined the newly founded Manitou Conference. In 2009, with the reorganization of Toronto Conference, the number of presbyteries were reduced to four: Living Waters, Northern Waters, South West, and Toronto Southeast. On January 1, 2019, Toronto Conference disbanded and the congregations within its boundaries became part of the following Regional Councils: Shining Waters Regional Council, Western Ontario Waterways Regional Council, Horseshoe Falls Regional Council and East Central Ontario Regional Council.
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The Toronto Ministerial Association of the United Church of Canada was active from at least 1934 and was later renamed The Toronto and Toronto District Ministerial Association in 1944. The association, made up of ministers from presbyteries in Toronto would meet monthly. Speakers were regularly planned to discuss theology and social issues, including temperance. Beginning in the 1930s, the Ministerial Association established a Committee on Assistance to Coloured Churches. This Committee collected funds for mainly the British Methodist Episcopal Church and the African Methodist Episcopal churches in Toronto until the early 1940s. The Association began to meet infrequently by mid 1960s. It is unknown when it officially disbanded.
The principal function of the Toronto Conference Lay Association was the planning of the Conference annual meeting. The Lay Association disbanded in 1963 following General Council’s assignment of these tasks to the Coordinating Committee for Lay Activities.
The Minister’s Wives Association was active at least from 1932. The association disbanded after their 1979 April 25 meeting due to declining membership.
Series consists of correspondence and newsletters of AOTS, 1983-1991; minutes of Deaconess Board, 1931-1934; minutes and correspondence of the Toronto/Toronto and District Ministerial Association, 1934-1965; correspondence and financial records of the Ministerial Association’s Committee on Assistance to Coloured Churches connected with the British Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada, 1934-1945; minutes, correspondence and scrapbooks of the Minister’s Wives Association, 1931-1979; minutes of the Porcupine Ministerial Association, 1939-1949; minutes and attendance books of the Lay Association, 1947-1963;
Microfilm copy of records of the Ministerial Association’s Committee on Assistance to Coloured Churches, 1934-1942 and minutes of the Toronto Ministerial Association, 1939-1944 available on 2 unverified microfilm reels (84.043C) (positive and negative).