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Connection
RECOGNITIONS
St. Mark’s Malton Celebrates 50 Years of Christian Witness
16
PRESBYTERIAN
SPRING 2023
presbyterian.ca
St. Mark’s youth in song.
The 50th Anniversary Memorial Wall.
By the 50th Anniversary Committee, St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church (Malton) in Mississauga, Ont.
In December 1971, The Presbyte- rian Church in Canada was invited by the Anglican Church of Canada to have joint use of the site now occupied by the Anglican Church of St. Hugh of Lincoln in Malton, Ont. This invitation set in motion a series of events and led to the exploration of establishing a Pres- byterian church in the area.
The decision was made to rent the Lancaster Senior Public School as a place for worship services. The first worship ser- vice was held on Palm Sunday, March 26, 1972.
St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church was formally erected on Oct. 22, 1972, with 74 charter members. At a congregational meeting on Jan. 14, 1973, a first Session was formed.
At the annual meeting on Jan. 21, 1974, a Planning and Build- ing Committee was authorized to engage an architect and builder to construct a building for an estimated cost not exceeding $133,000. The congregation dedicated the new building to the Glory of God on Palm Sunday 1975, exactly three years since
the first service.
Since its inception, St. Mark’s
has always had a diverse congre- gation. Very early on, we adopted the motto “Out of many nations we are one family in Christ.” During the 1980s, our diver- sity became more pronounced. Sometimes, during the summer months, church services were held on the campgrounds of the Claireville Conservation Area. These services included a picnic and time for games, which in- cluded West Indian cricket.
The Rev. Dr. Jamie Sutherland, who served as a missionary in Taiwan, ministered for 13 years at St. Mark’s, retiring in 1990. The congregation at that time was made up of 154 members and 24 adherents. The Rev. Harry Brad- ley was inducted June 9, 1991. He established a Vacation Bible School program and formed a Christian Education Committee. A breakfast meeting was held before regular service for parents, chil- dren and Sunday School teach- ers. Members from the women’s group, called the Lunch Bunch, met at noon on Wednesdays for a light lunch followed by Bible Study and discussion. A first suc- cessful international dinner and fundraiser was started. The high- light of 1992 was the 20th anni- versary celebration for St. Mark’s. The Rev. Bradley resigned at the end of January 1996.
As of Dec. 31, 1997, there were 108 members and 30 ad- herents. The Rev. Kathy Brownlee was inducted as minister on Sep- tember 21. In October, St. Mark’s celebrated its 25th anniversary.
In 2002, we formed St. Mark’s Young Society and adopted the Leading with Care policy and set up a committee for training.
In 2009, we started a Spring Music Program and an evening of Music and Song to engage the
community.
On April 25, 2010, a new front
entrance to the church was dedi- cated, with Councillor Eve Adams assisting in the ribbon cutting ceremony. Members of the con- gregation felt encouraged to en- hance the Building Fund and so a Portuguese Fundraising Dinner was started by Gita Singh and a fundraising bus trip was started by Velda Walkes.
The Rev. Kathy Brownlee, who had served St. Mark’s for 18 years, retired in July 2015. At the end of 2015, the congregation had 146 members and 48 adherents.
The search committee present- ed a list of seven ministers from which the Session approved the Rev. Germaine Lovelace to be in- vited to preach for a call. The Rev. Lovelace was inducted on Feb. 3, 2019. On September 5, we dedi- cated six new stained-glass win- dows, which were donated by the family of Samuel Jhingree in his memory. In 2019 and 2020, we hosted two congregational Bible studies that included members of other churches in Malton.
In March 2020, because of the pandemic, we invested in the nec- essary technology to live stream worship services and started worshipping online. In October, we started an Innovation Fund with $10,000 from the Building Fund. In just a few months, we raised $45,000, enabling us to outfit our sanctuary with multi- media technology, live-streaming equipment and a new public ad- dress system. This entire system was installed on Oct.28, 2021, and was consecrated during the following Sunday worship.
During the pandemic, several individuals and families called on our church for support. Our members rallied to help by donat- ing non-perishable food items to a foodbank started by the church. This ministry was named St. Mark’s Helpers and, to this day, we have continued to assist 10 families with non-perishable food items every month.
This past year, we celebrated our 50th year of Christian witness with a profound sense of pride. We celebrated our anniversary year with the theme, “Celebrating the Past and Building Towards the Future in Faith and Purpose,” and held special anniversary worship
services and anniversary fundrais- ing ventures throughout the year.
We launched our year of cel- ebrations with an opening service on Feb. 27, 2022, where we invit- ed the Rev. Bonnie Sutherland to be a special guest speaker. Bon- nie is the niece of former minister the Rev. Dr. James Sutherland.
On May 22, in our 50th Anni- versary Memorial Service, we re- membered all the members of our church family who have passed on. For this service, we invited the retired Rev. Harry Bradley to be the preacher.
Throughout the year, the Fund- raising Committee sold engraved anniversary pens and cups, rais- ing $1,680. In August, the Fun- draising Committee hosted St. Mark’s 50th Anniversary BBQ, Raffle and Auction fundraiser, which raised $6,035.
On Sept. 4, 2022, we held our 50th Anniversary Honouring and Recognition Service. Our guest speaker, the Rev. Peter Bush, was accompanied by his wife, Debo- rah, who was a teenager at St. Mark’s when her father, the Rev. Dr. James Sutherland, served as our second minister. During the past 50 years, there have been many people who have served the church in various capacities. Some of these individuals have retired and, sadly, some have passed on. We took the oppor- tunity to recognize the work of some who are still with us. We honoured these faithful servants by presenting them with plaques for their service.
On October 29, we held a 50th Anniversary Homecoming Ser- vice. We invited all known and past members to celebrate with us as well as denominational, civic and community leaders.
The Rev. Germaine Lovelace.
Several past members journeyed from near and far—some who attended were even part of the group of 74 charter members who erected the church in 1972.
We were also blessed to be joined by the Principal Clerk of the General Assembly, the Rev. Vic- tor Kim, MP Iqwinder Gaheer and MPP Deepak Anand. Our guest speaker on this blessed occasion was the Rev. Kathy Brownlee, who was our longest serving min- ister. We received congratulatory certificates from Ontario Premier, the Honourable Doug Ford, MP for Mississauga-Malton, Iqwinder Gaheer, and the Mayor of Missis- sauga, Bonnie Crombie.
The ministry of St. Mark’s continues to grow and flourish despite changing times. Today, our congregation continues to touch lives through weekly Sun- day School, prayer fellowship, St. Mark’s Young Society and the senior and junior choirs. St. Mark’s continues to be led by the Session, the Board of Managers. We also have several committees and groups that help carry out the ministry of our church.
We are thankful for God’s grace and mercy over these 50 years. As we continue to serve this community, we thank God for the countless individuals and families who have made this great congre- gation what it is today. We con- tinue to build toward the future in faith and purpose by the help of Almighty God.
Member of Parliament Iqwinder Gaheer presenting a congratulatory certifi- cate to St. Mark’s.