Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Lancaster (also known as St. Andrew's, South Lancaster and as St .Andrew's, Kirktown) began with services from about 1787, conducted by the Rev. John Bethune. A frame church was completed in 1790. A stone church (from which the later name for the congregation of the "Old Stone Church" comes) was built in the mid-1850s. The church in Lancaster was originally part of a pastoral charge of four churches established by the Rev. John Bethune - the other three were in Summerstown, Martintown and Cornwall. He served these congregations until his death in 1815. Beginning in the 1850s, the church in Lancaster was linked as a two-point charge with a church about 5 miles distant called the Second Concession Church. Both of these congregations were connected with the Church of Scotland and in 1875 voted to continue that connection rather than join the newly formed "The Presbyterian Church in Canada". This changed in 1898, however, when they decided to join the Canadian church. In 1899, they were joined together with the Presbyterian church in Curry Hill to form a united congregation under the name "St. Andrew's, Lancaster" - one congregation with three church buildings. The nature of this relationship caused a fair bit of difficulty at the time of the Church Union vote in 1925. In the end, the outcome was decided by Mr. Justice Orde who gave his report on October 1926. The "Old Stone Church" in Lancaster remained Presbyterian while the Curry Hill church and the Second Concession church became part of the new United Church of Canada. The "Old Stone Church" continued under the name of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Lancaster. In 1976 Martintown was linked with St. Andrew's, Lancaster to form a two-point charge.