Malagash United Church Malagash NS

Malagash United Church is nestled on the beautiful South Shore of the Malagash Peninsula. The congregation is enthusiastic in their approach to ministry, they have a dedicated choir, and a hug at the door is a regular occurence for members and visiters alike. Malagash United Church strives to be a faithful, warm, and welcoming presence.

Three Harbours and River John West Branch
United Church of Canada - COLLABORATIVE MINISTRY
St. John's, Malagash, St. Andrew's, Salem, and West Branch

 

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United Church Women

Malagash UCW

Our UCW meets on the second Tuesday of each month, with the exception of July and August. We meet on a rotational basis in our members homes at 10:00 a.m.. We enjoy working together to support our church and to reach out into our community.  

 

OUR HISTORY

(taken from a sermon by Rev. Connie McNamara, originally preached on September 26, 2010)

In a time of turmoil and upheaval the Prophet Jeremiah continued to predict defeat, and yet in a surprising turn of events, he buys land. In the most detailed business transaction recorded in scriptures, Jeremiah buys a piece of land from his cousin and has the deed publicly witnessed. He preserves the deed in a clay pot so that it might last a long time. And then Jeremiah says, “houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.” A rather strange story to tell in today’s day and age isn’t it? Or is it? Let me tell you of another time, perhaps not a time of war and destruction, but certainly a time of uncertainty and upheaval none the less. It is the late 1700's, not long after the American Revolution, and Empire Loyalists have flocked to Nova Scotia, and to this area in particular, to avoid the atrocities of that war and its aftermath. Immigration from Europe is rampant, bringing with it new languages, customs, and religious denominations. Politically the land is unsettled, and it is still many years before any talk of the unity of Confederation will begin. The people and the land are in a state of flux, and hardship abounds as these pioneers built log cabins and tried to make a home and community in the wilderness.

In 1791, Rev. William Grandin of the Methodist Circuit began preaching in Wallace - in the homes of Thomas Huestis, Stephen Canfield, Thomas Fulton - and this work extended into Malagash. In 1793, the great pioneer of Nova Scotia Presbyterianism, Dr. MacGregor, came to Wallace and the Presbyterian tradition and the Methodist tradition began to work side by side on the North Shore. Rev. Joshua Marsden, who served the Methodist Circuit in Wallace and Malagash and much further afield in 1801, wrote many years later in a book entitled, “Marsden’s Mission”, of ‘primeval land, log homes, hardships, and startling experiences’. And yet, in the midst of all the upheaval, change, uncertainty, and less than stellar conditions, in 1808, a piece of the land grant originally in the name of Gabriel Purdy, is donated by Thomas Huestis to build a Methodist church and a parsonage in Wallace; and in 1818, William Treen, who is our own Howard Treen’s several times great grandfather, deeded land which was stated to be used for, “the lately erected house or tenement known by the name of the Methodist Chapel”.

The little church in Wallace, known even then as St. John’s, was replaced by a second church on the same site in 1851, and after that church had served the congregation for 52 years, it was replaced by a third church, which is the current sanctuary, in 1903. In Malagash, the South Shore church was destroyed by fire in 1860, but was rebuilt again by 1865, and an addition, where today the pulpit and choir loft are housed, was added in 1891.

The upset continued not just in terms of disaster and rebuilding, for during the mid 1860's in the United States the Civil War was raging, in Canada the long road to Confederation was being ploughed in some places and barricaded in others, and in the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, and ergo in Canada, there was great turmoil and schism which would not be settled for years. And yet again into the middle of chaos and upset, comes a piece of land. This time a lot of land is donated by Kenneth McAulay, who is our own John Langille’s great grandfather, and the old Presbyterian Church from the Gulf Shore is moved by 40 yoke of oxen to reside near the current location of St. Andrew’s United Church. The old church, while beautiful with a balcony, pews with doors, and a high closed pulpit, required many repairs over the ensuing years, and so although by 1907 the balance on hand at St. Andrew’s is recorded as only .47 cents; in 1912 a building fund was begun. Land was once again donated, this time by Kenneth McAulay’s son, Kenneth, who was John’s Langille’s grandfather, near the original church site, and on October 18, 1931 a new St. Andrew’s Church was dedicated, and incidentally the very next week, John Langille became the very first baby baptized in the new church.

Today we sit in those very same churches on those very same pieces of land that were donated and utilized at a time when most would have thought it unwise to invest in such a large and uncertain endeavour. And just as Jeremiah’s land in a time of despair was a sign that things would one day be better, so too, does our land signify the hope that is found in God and in this community in the face of all that comes before us.