About Us

EARLY HISTORY OF ST. JAMES UNITED CHURCH

The St. James United Church congregation had its origins in the rapid expansion of St. John’s following World War 11 and the development of the “northern suburbs” around Churchill Park and Elizabeth Avenue. As early as 1949 the St. John’s Presbytery of the United Church had given consideration to the establishment of a new United Church congregation in this area. However, it was not until March 27, 1956 that a Church Extension Committee was formally organized under the Chair of Rev. F.E. Vipond of Gower Street United Church. A year earlier on March 8, 1955 the Newfoundland Conference secured a 999-year lease for 9.66 acres of land on the north side of Elizabeth Avenue for church development from the St. John’s Housing Corporation.

The Church Extension Committee subsequently investigated the level of public interest in establishing a new congregation and in a follow-up meeting held on May 8, 1957 in Pitts Memorial Hall on Long’s Hill formal approval was given to pursuing the constitution of a new United Church congregation in the “northern suburbs”. A Committee of Twenty under the chair of Mr. Frederick W. Russell was then approved and between June, 1957 and early 1958 it determined that 235 adults with approximately 300 children were interested in joining a new United Church congregation. It is believed that Mrs. Ruby Joliffe is the only surviving congregational member of this Committee. On June 1, 1958 Mr. T. Alex Hickman assumed the Committee of Twenty Chair and, with the assistance of Rev. F.E. Vipond and seed money from city United Churches, the Rev. Donovan L. Brown, a native of Grand Bank, was engaged as the new congregation’s first minister, effective July 1, 1958.

In September, 1958 a Ways and Means Committee of the new congregation met and decided upon St. James United Church as its name which was then approved by St. John’s Presbytery. The first morning service of St. James was held at MacPherson Academy on November 16, 1958. Rev. Donovan L. Brown was formally inducted at this initial service but the St. James Sunday School commenced at MacPherson Academy as well several weeks before this initial service. The congregation’s first Annual Report dated December 31, 1958 showed an adult membership of 87 and 524 Sunday School registrations with an average attendance of 300 children, far beyond the wildest expectations!

A Church Building Committee was struck on November 24, 1958 to plan for a new church sanctuary to accommodate approximately 500 families and a new manse with an estimated cost of $150,000 to be funded by a bank loan of $100,000 and $40,000 from pledges and other sources. A Champaign Committee chaired by Mr. H. G. Puddester headed this initiative and by December 31, 1959 pledges and special gifts totalling $84,000 and $6,000 respectively were received. The bank loan was secured by personal guarantee pledges between $500 and $5,000 from 62 individuals within the congregation.

On June 8, 1960 the Right Reverend Angus J. MacQueen, Moderator of the United Church of Canada, turned the sod for the new St. James sanctuary which was completed on October 13, 1961 at a cost of $242,500, including a land cost of $52,500 provided by St. John’s Presbytery. It was consecrated during the initial service on October 15, 1961 by its second minister, the Rev. F. E. Vipond and by Rev. R. W. Braine. From its humble beginnings in 1958 there were 1575 individuals and approximately 300 families under pastoral oversight and a registered membership of 248 in the St. James congregation as of October 15, 1961.