Photo supplied.
Members and friends at Centerville-Harmony Church with Rev. Lynda Hodgins celebrate their journey together.
With this new year, a fresh chapter in the history of one of our township’s churches begins as Centreville Presbyterian and Harmony United join to become Centreville-Harmony Church, a shared ministry of the United Church of Canada and the Presbyterian Church in Canada.
“It has been a journey of several years to get here,” says United Church minister Lynda Hodgins, “but we did it!”
Rev. Kathleen Van Engen, who has recently accepted the call to pastor the Christian Assembly at Millbrook’s Pentecostal Church, congratulated the congregation during a service she led at Centreville-Harmony as guest preacher in late November.
“I really think that it’s really beautiful, what you are doing here at church, as a community.” the pastor remarked. “I’m a pretty big fan of big, bold, out-of-the-box thinking, and I think that’s what you have done here with your collective churches.”
A community hub is how Rev. Lynda describes Centreville-Harmony Church, “a gathering place where folks can come together to share a time of fellowship, music and conversation.” She adds, “We welcome folks from any denomination and folks with no affiliation to join us as we worship as one community of faith at 10:00 am on Sunday mornings.”
“Once upon a time,” writes Rev. Lynda on the church’s website (Centreville—Harmonychurch.com), “there were many churches on the highway between Port Hope and Peterborough. Today, the church in Centreville is the only church on that stretch of road that is still open. Our hope is that we can be a place of warmth, inclusion, welcome and hope for our community.”
The church itself was built in 1863 on land donated in the 1820s by John Deyell, the surveyor and entrepreneur who named the townships of Cavan and Monaghan and who settled just south of the church on the north bank of Squirrel Creek. The hamlet of South Monaghan was once named Centreville in recognition of its location midway between Port Hope and Peterborough. The church stands on County Road 28 at Zion Line, one concession south of the roundabout.
A new fellowship wing has been added to the historic church, with a bright hall well used by the community for activities that range from meetings of the Millbrook Needlers Quilt Guild to exercise and yoga classes. A chapter of the Sandwich Sisters uses the well equipped kitchen to support the work of One City in Peterborough; in 2024 the volunteers at Centreville-Harmony made over 350 loaves of sandwiches, all covered by donations of food and funds. The Millbrook Community Choir also meets at Centreville-Harmony on Monday evenings, in the beautifully preserved sanctuary.
Nancy McKie, chair of the Centreville-Harmony Board, noted that Rev. Lynda described the past several years as a dating process as the United Church congregation – itself a blending of folks from Bailieboro, Springville, Millbrook and Cavan – rented worship space at Centreville and the two communities of faith became better acquainted.
Both the Lindsay Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in Canada and the East Central Ontario Regional Council of the United Church of Canada approved the Ecumenical Shared Ministry Agreement that makes the accord official. Each denomination will continue to maintain their own bank accounts and charitable donation status, and will issue their own income tax receipts, but will move to a combined banking system to pay joint expenses.
“Now the agreements have been signed between the United Church and the Presbyterians,” Nancy declares, “I guess we are married now. I think we have a good thing happening with our two congregations.”
By Celia Hunger