Friendship United Church Demorestville ON

Welcome to Friendship

We'd love to welcome you as a friend. We gather weekly for worship and fellowship, then go into the world to love and serve others in Jesus' name.

Please look through this website to learn more. You can click on the links to the left.

You are welcome to come for worship on Sunday mornings at 11:00 am in Demorestville. Come as you are; you'll be loved.

Children of all ages are welcome and nursery care is available for infants along with Sunday School for older children.

The church is wheelchair accessible.

Demorestville is in Prince Edward County, Ontario, about 15 km north of Picton, and 25 km south and east of Belleville. This welcoming congregation worships at 11am each Sunday.

Our Mission

Friendship United Church is a group of followers of Jesus Christ making God’s love known to all ages through joyful, warm worship and compassionate caring for one another, our community and God’s creation.

 

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The History of Friendship United Church

The existing Demorestville Church was erected in 1860. It was probably built over an older original church called the "old stone church." We don't know much about this original church except that it was built circa 1818 to 1825. It was located on Jane Street where later stood an old hop evaporator.

Rev. Anson Green, a noted Methodist saddleback preacher wrote of a visit to Demorestville circa 1825. "On Friday he rode 12 miles to Demorestville, fasting until tea time. This place was generally called Sodom because of the activities of the lumbermen when they came into the village from the forests. There was a small church with a gallery at Demorestville which was built by Guilliame Demorest Esq. father of Methodist preacher Thomas Demorest." He assessed there were 150 to 250 residents in the village. Another account of the Old Stone Church says that it had galleries on both sides and across the back and it had a spire. On August 5th 1873 , work began to remodel the Demorestville church as we know it today.

On May 29th, 1873 , the people had a meeting to see about repairing the original stone church. At that meeting, a committee was formed and $378 was raised for the renovations. The committee met with Mr. Lyons whom they hired as the builder. They also visited Wellington , Picton and Bloomfield churches to get some good ideas for remodeling.

On August 5 th 1873 , the workers began by clearing the church. They removed the gallery, attic railing, seats below, four doors with casings, stove pipes and chairs. The men who helped were: Ira Barton, Chas. Wright, S.S. Roblin, Thos. Mills, the Fisher Boys, and Randel Howell. These things were stored in E. Gordon's shop. On August 16th they had a bee to draw stone and sand (the stone came from Nostram Sprague's farm). The men who helped with this work were N. Sprague, I. Hamilton, Nelson Allison, Mr. Graham, I.Cole, Isaiah Mills, Peter Vanblaricom, N. Wood, Chas. Baker, Isaac Crow and Randall Howell. Perhaps you can recognize some of these family names!

August 17 th was Sunday and church services were held in the Episcopal Methodist Church from then until March 15 th, 1874 . On August 18th, more things were cleared from the church: window curtains, eight lamps, candle sticks, two pulpit lamps, two hanging lamps with brass wire hangings and various other side lamps. At this time the committee decided to add 10 feet to the front of the church, build a stone tower and raise the roof six feet. Mr. Tompson furnished the timbers for the sills of the extension.

The committee also decided to buy a bell with the cost not to exceed $150. Mr. Good from Belleville made the diamond sash for $2.50 per window and Stephen Barton put in the glass. Note! some of the original glass panes are still in the windows today.

Friendship Church has had 72 ministers since 1845.

The above was written by John Tomlinson.

In 1873, the Wesleyan Methodist (later United) Church was remodelled by Northcott and Alford of Picton. To the original edifice was added a new tower and spire; twelve feet was added to the length of the building. New seats were put in and new galleries added and the interior replastered. The size of the enlarged building was 45' by 84' and it was said to be the most commodious and neatly finished church in Prince Edward County outside of Picton. The style of architecture was Gothic throughout. These members of the church supervised the work: Messrs. Sprague, Hamilton, Barton and Howell.

At this time the Barton brothers, Ira and Stephen, donated their artistic talents to the beautifying of this church. Ira painted the mural and Stephen did the carving and building of the pulpit which was high, having steps up to it on both sides, from which hung brass oil lamps with white shades. The central lighting of the church was provided by a huge chandelier with the same but numerous lamps in circular tiers, suspended by a weighted rod that raised and lowered it as needed. The back was curtained off between two pillars with the same kind of lamps attached to the pillars.

The above two paragraphs are from "History of the Churches of Prince Edward County ", The Picton Gazette Publishing Co. Limited, 1971, pp 97-99.

In 2003 a new sound system was installed in the sanctuary to accommodate the band and other expanded uses.

At a congregational planning Meeting on May 30, 2004 the Church Board was authorized to spend up to $75,000.00 to restore the church to stone; deal with the drainage issues around the church and Christian Education Centre; repair the south end of the church building to stop the leaking; caulk the windows (the crack between the stone and the outside of the window frame); and to install eavestroughing on the church and the Christian Education Centre.

Hank Hiddink volunteered to act as project manager for the work specified in the above motion. The congregation gave the Church Board the responsibility to oversee the work and to supervise the spending of the money. It was agreed that Hank will report to the Church Board.

The restoration of the exterior of the building is expected to be completed by the summer of 2008.

In the fall of 2004, new tables and chairs were purchased for the Christian Education Centre. An electric screen, digital projector, laptop and software were purchased for use during services and other events in the sanctuary. And a large illuminated sign was erected at the front of the church to inform the community of upcoming events. As well, a CD lending library was established to support the youth group and others in the congregation who are interested in contemporary Christian music.

The spring and summer of 2005 saw the congregation hire a university student to conduct a study to determine whether members of the community surrounding the church are aware of the current programs and activities and the "who, what, where, when and why" of meeting needs and wants of the citizens of Sophiasburgh (and others who may wish to become a part of Friendship Church in any way). Stepping Back Into Our Past

In the fall of 2008, we contracted Kingston Masonry Services to remove the white parging from the exterior walls of the Sanctuary. What appeared under the cement was a beautiful limestone building . What also appeared was a seam in the middle of the front window. This verifies the information from the above article from “History of the Churches of Prince Edward County” where it states that 12 feet was added to the south (front) end of the building. This is evident by the seam in the stone on the east wall which runs right through the centre of the front window. In 2008 we also replaced the concrete sills on the bottom of the windows. Our next major project will be to repair the tower and restore it to its original state.

On January the 12th, 2009, Prince Edward North Pastoral Charge welcomed Reverend Robin Sherman as our 70th minister since records were kept from 1845 when Isaac B. Aylesworth preached.