Northlea United History
Here in your hands, the heart of our community church.
When the sod was turned for this church, on May 10, 1953, over 200 North Leasiders symbolized their commitment to their brand new congregation by turning over a shovelful of dirt. Imagine the sight: kids with plastic sand shovels and adults with spades, swarming over the pine-treed land.
As Reverend Amos told the Globe and Mail, “we felt that every member of Northlea’s 700 membership were important personages….So, instead of inviting one personality to turn the sod, everyone was invited to lend a hand.”
That simple, beautiful invitation to “lend a hand” still sums up the character of our community, woven from the daily encounters we have with each other, as our lives’ journeys crisscross North Leaside.
Northlea Pastoral Charge was officially constituted at a meeting in Northlea Public School on February 6, 1950. We can, however, trace the congregation’s beginnings back farther, to a meeting of neighbours in the Halpenny family home, on Glenbrae Avenue, in December, 1948. Yes, thought the group in that living room, a new United Church for this new neighbourhood seems like a good idea.
60-plus years on, it is still a good idea. While Northlea United has been affected by the demographic and cultural currents of our six decades, we have held fast to our commitment to “lend a hand” to our local community, and to the wider world. For many of us in the neighbourhood, Northlea United Church is the constant in our lives and our community.
We are called to be the church, our New Creed proclaims. We, as a congregation, come together to enjoy each other, to steady ourselves in the face of loss and sorrow, to celebrate God’s love for us, and to strive to be instruments of Christ’s peace here on earth.