Camlachie United Church
this is who we are
we believe.
We are “A Christian Community Welcoming and Serving All People”. We enjoy being together, worshiping together, working together, and serving together. We welcome all who enter our doors, as each of us was welcomed in the past. We believe in each other, and who we are as a Christian Family.
we are rooted.
Camlachie United Church is located on the beautiful homeland and traditional territory of the Chippewa, Odawa, Potawatomi, and Delaware First Nations. We thank these nations for their welcome to us through their treaties, ancestral traditions, and languages. We continue to work with them in the stewardship of this good land.
a new creed
We are not alone; we live in God’s world.
We believe in God, who has created and is creating, who has come in Jesus,
the Word made flesh, to reconcile and make new, who works in us and others
by the Spirit.
We trust in God.
We are called to be the Church: to celebrate God’s presence, to live with respect in Creation, to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil, to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen, our judge and our hope.
In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us.
We are not alone. Thanks be to God.
our symbol
The C and U are for Camlachie United, surrounding the Ichthys, an ancient Christian symbol of the fish. Consisting of two intersecting arcs, the ends of the right side extend beyond the meeting point to resemble the profile of a fish. It has been speculated that early Christians adopted the symbol as a secret sign, a shibboleth to determine if another was indeed Christian.
At the feeding of the five thousand, a boy is brought to Jesus with “five small loaves and two fish”. The question is asked, “But what are they, among so many?” Jesus multiplies the loaves and fish to feed the multitude.
our history.
Camlachie United Church had its early beginnings with the establishment of Bethel Methodist Church in 1860 in the area of Camlachie, Ontario. Camlachie became the head of the circuit of itinerant preachers in 1876. The small early church was dismantled in 1889 and taken to Camlachie to assist in building a new church. That structure was replaced by the new Camlachie United Church building (which is now the museum), with the opening and Dedication Service held on October 14, 1956. Due to increased attendance and changing needs, an addition was added in 1981. Towards the end of that century, our thoughts turned again to a bigger building, fully accessible to all. After years of fundraising and searching for property, we erected the sign on our new property in October 2003, began construction in October 2007, opened Phase 1 of our new building on November 23, 2008, and held our first service in the new sanctuary on December 11, 2011.