Jim McConnell's Autobiography 1877 - 1957Canadian pioneer farmer in Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia |
|
Go to...
Index
Summary
page 1 |
23.
(eds. note: This entire page recounts Jim's personal spiritual journey away from the established Protestant Church to an Evangelical sect called the friends ; there is no family/Canadian historical information on this page.) Our Minister had his term in now in 1929 and so resigned. Another man came along to take the position at Terrace. The homeless travelling Evangelists had also moved on to another Mission. I had not made a decision, but their ministry and example had made an impression on me that I could not erase from my mind. Without realizing it, I was comparing our Church and all its different departments with the New Testament Ministry and the Ministry of Paul and others who continually travelled from place to place. Then they separated their converts and some of them had opened their homes for the gatherings so that the N.T. Church is spoken of as the Church in the home as in: Romans 16:5 "The Church that is in their house." Colossians 4:15 "The Church which is in his house." and in Philemon 2 "The Church in thy house." In no place in all in the New Testament could I find where a public building was ever even spoken of as a Church. A few incidents took place now which helped me to come to a real decision some time later. First, a friend I knew sent these two preachers two dollars by way of a young boy, when he learned that they had not taken up a collection at their meetings. The preachers asked the lad if this man had ever been to any of their meetings. When the boy said "no," they said "Well here. You had better take this back to him. Then on the other side with our Minister, it was different. When our new preacher arrived, he paid fifty dollars freight on his goods which were shipped by railway. At one of our first church board meetings, the new preacher asked if we would make this good to him. This may seem quite a small sum, but I knew from the struggle I was having just to meet my feed and grocery bills that we did not want any extras added. Terrace was poor at any time, but now the first years of depression were making it harder for a man to keep his family. There was no relief or public help given at that time. Soon after this, we had a visit from the church travelling secretary. A meeting of the congregation was called. We gathered in the church and had cake and coffee and a social evening. Just before our meeting ended this churchman called for the church Elders to have a separate meeting. I now expected that this man had some real spiritual counsel and instruction for us about the office entrusted to us by the Church. Here again I was completely wrong. This head travelling man had just one question to ask: "How do you get enough money collected to keep the church going here?" I was so surprised that I had nothing to say. Others spoke of how tough it was unless the Ladies' Aid put on something to make money. So we were given counsel of how to go out and visit all members and supporters and have each sign a pledge agreeing to give a certain sum once a year. Then as we needed money, we could call in the amounts that had been pledged. At the Conference also, I had heard of the need of money for Missionaries who were prepared and waiting for money needed to go to foreign lands and for money needed to maintain Missions at home. From my earliest recollections, I could remember hearing in our Methodist Church of the great need of money: first to build a new church, then to pay up the debt, and money for maintenance. It had always seemed to me that the call for money completely overshadowed the Evangelist message of our Church. All this appeared more clear to me now since I had seen and heard God's
Read more about Jim McConnell's family in Rootsweb Genealogy pages. |