Bancroft Bible Chapel, ON
From BrethrenPedia
Contents |
[edit] History
Bancroft was one of the larger villages in North Hastings. Settled in 1862, it consisted primarily of flour, saw, woollen, and shingle mills in its early days. In 1855 a young Englishman, Alfred Barker, was among those who first arrived in the area. He was the grandfather of Roy and Gordon Barker and great grandfather of Ken Barker, all of whom have been in fellowship in the assembly meeting in the Bancroft Bible Chapel, ON.
Up until 1902, some of the families who lived in Bancroft, such as the Reynolds, traveled the few miles out to Lakeview. In 1902, Tom Maxwell moved his family to town and opened a harness shop. At about that time, Bancroft residents began to meet over Tom’s Harness Shop and the Bancroft Bible Chapel, ON|Bancroft assembly]] has been in existence ever since. Early leadership was in the hands of Tom Maxwell, Jim Reynolds and Albert Reynolds.
The earliest clear reference to the Bancroft Gospel Hall, ON comes from the local newspaper’s Halloween report for l903, in which the Gospel Hall sign was noted to have been transported to a conspicuous position on Flynn’s liquor store.
In the years which followed Richard Irving’s first visit to Bancroft, the area received constant rounds of visits from many itinerant brethren preachers. These preachers would arrive without invitation or warning, and announce their intentions with respect to meetings and accommodations.
A report from Hybla that a “large number from here attended the conference held in Bancroft last week” suggests a central conference at Bancroft for the area in the early 1900s. Richard Irving was a frequent speaker at the Bancroft Conferences. In 1905, a fall conference was held in Bancroft at which Tom Black, Robert Telfer, Irving, Pinches, Robert McClintock, and Joe Pearson participated. Richard Irving’s last known visit to Bancroft was in the fall of 1942, when he was 85 years old. Although his work was primarily that of an evangelist, he was diligent in instructing new converts about Christian life and practice.
By 1908, Mr. E.W. Roughley had moved into Bancroft from his farm near Paudash Lake and John Gilchrist had moved to town from the Highland Grove area. The Bancroft Times reported the September 20, 1911 marriage in Bancroft of Mr. and Mrs. Clapp’s eldest daughter Pearl to a young assembly evangelist, Leonard Sheldrake from Toronto. Mr. Roughley performed the ceremony.
At the turn of the century the North Hastings region was experiencing unprecedented prosperity and its population was at a peak. When the l901 Census was taken, Bancroft’s population was about 600 and by 1904, its population had risen to 815. However, the migration of families and young men to Western Canada was gaining momentum. This movement of people not only had economic repercussions but also profoundly affected the brethren assemblies of the area and eventually claimed several preachers who lived and ministered here. The North Hastings area, which at one time was home to at least five and perhaps even seven brethren preachers, by 1921 was home to at most one.
In the 1901 Canadian Census, 6361 people were living in the nine northern townships of Hastings County. In 1911, that number was 6273, and in 1921 the Census recorded 6060 residents.
The first known references to Harold Jones and George Calverley ministering in the district were contained in the February 8, 1917, Bancroft Times. Harold Jones and his in_laws the Hookers had moved to Bancroft by 1918. Mr. Jones had a Gospel tent which he and Mr. Hooker pitched from place to place. Harold Jones is remembered as an energetic, boisterous fellow who loved to sing. For the two years that he lived in Bancroft, his presence was felt. For most of July 1919, he had his tent pitched at Baptiste Lake.
By 1918, the Clapps were living in Alberta and Mr. Roughley probably had passed away. In July 1920, Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Hooker, and Mr. and Mrs. Jones, moved to Orillia.
At the turn of the decade it would appear that Mr. Rowe was the only assembly preacher who might have been living in North Hastings. The apparent stagnation in which the area assemblies found themselves however was broken by the arrival of the powerful and personable Gospel preacher, R.J. Brooks. Mr. Brooks was an energetic, down_to_earth man who was deeply respected by those who knew him.
In January 1924, Richard James Brooks arrived from Shelbourne for Gospel meetings. On the first night of the meetings, Eunice Maxwell was saved, and when Richard Irving arrived, he discovered “Great meetings in progress by Lynn and Brooks, about 16 or 17 have professed.” In March, Mr. Brooks came again to Bancroft to hold meetings in the Bancroft Gospel Hall, ON.
A special open air Baptismal Service was held at Lakeview on Sunday, June 22nd, at 2 p.m., conducted by Brooks and Lynn. That day over 30 people were baptized and most of them had been saved during meetings the previous winter. Another seven or eight were baptized at Lakeview in September.
The large number of converts the previous winter were now crowding the meeting room over the Drug Store at 3 Bridge Street West in Bancroft, then the location of the Bancroft Gospel Hall, ON. At Mr. Brooks’ prodding a larger facility, the previously closed Presbyterian Church, was rented in July 1924 and later purchased by the assembly. That October, about 125 Broke Bread at the Bancroft Conference in the Community Hall in the morning; in the afternoon the Hall was full as Messrs. Wellman, Gilchrist, Irving, Miller, and Brooks spoke.
Richard Irving was sensitive to the vacuum which had been created in the area by the departure of preachers such as Clapp and Gilchrist, as well as the death of Mr. Roughley, and sought to compensate with biannual month_long visits. In March 1925, he was in Bancroft having meetings almost every night; he noted that 55 Broke Bread in Bancroft one Sunday of his stay. The Bancroft Conference was moved to June in 1925, and the number of people in attendance reflected the effects of the revival under the ministry of R.J. Brooks. Mr Irving recorded that “about 215 Broke Bread in the Community Hall.” By late summer of 1925, Mr. Irving was back in the area and on September 6, thirty_eight people were present at a Lord’s Supper meeting at the Hartsmere Assembly, ON. In July 1927, Richard Irving was at Hartsmere where he spoke at a full schoolhouse.
In February 1926, R.J. Brooks held a series of meetings in the Old Presbyterian Church in Bancroft. At the Bancroft Conference, about 250 observed the Lord’s Supper, and approximately 400 people filled the Community Hall to hear George Rainey, Mr. Pinches, Mr. Heathwood, Sam Benner, Richard Irving, and R.J. Brooks preach. Small and large baptisms were a regular feature throughout the district in the years after Mr. Brooks’ first visit.
With Mr. and Mrs. Lynn living in Bancroft, the area assemblies received pastoral care which had been missing for several years. Although Mr. Lynn was not a good ‘platform man,’ he was diligent in visitation and personal witness. Mr. and Mrs. Ross McConkey moved to Bancroft in the mid 1930s and remained there most of the years into the 1950s. Leadership in Bancroft was shared by Albert Reynolds and Tom Brownson in the 1930s and 1940s. Tom continued faithfully into the late 1980s. Simon Brownson, Tom’s brother, faithfully preached the Gospel and visited homes in the area from the 1940s into the 1990s.
A new larger building was built on the main street in 1952 with much volunteer labor under the supervision of George Easton. After the first prayer meeting, it was badly damaged by fire, was rebuilt, has had two renovation/expansions since, and is known as the Bancroft Bible Chapel, ON.
Robert McLaren Jr. came in February 1960 for two weeks of Gospel Meetings. The Spirit of God caused a ‘stir’ and when the meetings ended 10 weeks later, at least 75 people had professed salvation or been restored to the Lord. Many were young people. People were burdened to pray at 6:00 a.m. prayer meetings and after the evening meetings. The youth group grew to over 70, and the Sunday School began to grow. In the years which followed many were commended to the Lord’s work in North America and overseas.
Ernie Belch and his wife Evelyn moved to Bancroft in the mid 1960s and worked with the assembly until the end of 1984. George Butcher and his wife Eunice began working with the assembly in 1985. Messrs. Belch and Butcher did about fifty percent of the Sunday preaching. George and Eunice left Bancroft in 2003. Mark McCready and his wife Wendy moved to Bancroft in 2004 to work with the assembly. Mark currently does about 60% of the Sunday preaching.
By the early 1980s, about 225 were in fellowship in Bancroft and about 275 adults and teens were attending Family Bible Hour regularly. This number slowly declined so that by the mid nineties approximately 100 were in regular attendance at the Breaking of Bread service and 125 at the family Bible hour.
In 1987 a committee was formed to evaluate a government program for housing for seniors. By 1988 the Bancroft Bible Chapel Non-profit Housing Corporation was formed, and by April 1989, seniors occupied the attractive 40-apartment R.J. Brooks Living Centre immediately behind the Chapel.
[edit] Address/Contact
|
Current Address, DAte 106 Hastings Street North P.O. Box 866 Bancroft, Ontario, Canada Phone # (613) 332-2480 www.bancroftbiblechapel.org office@bancroftbiblechapel.org |
Contact Address 106 Hastings Street North P.O. Box 866 Bancroft, Ontario, Canada Phone # (613) 332-2480 www.bancroftbiblechapel.org office@bancroftbiblechapel.org |
|
Past Address, DAte Building Name Street |
Past Address, DAte Building Name Street |
[edit] Links
[edit] Meetings
Evening Service -
[edit] Leadership
Present Elders
Past Elders
Present Deacons
Past Deacons
[edit] Commended Workers/Ministries
Full-Time Service
[edit] Also See
Bancroft Bible Chapel, ON
[edit] Author
Dan H. Smith, Ed.D. President, Emmaus Bible College
[edit] Resources
Questionnaire responses and other correspondence
The 75th Anniversary of The Windsor Assembly, 1916 to 1991
Excerpts from a History of the Brethren Movement, by Norman E. Crawford
Sketch of the History of Bethel Gospel Chapel North Bay, Ontario, 1997; based on book to be published in 1999: When Your Children Ask, by Donald E. Carney
The History of the Barrie Ontario Assemblies, by H. Bruce Hicks
Brief History of Early Assembly Work in North America, by Norman Crawford, 1999
Until He Comes, A History of the Spring St. Assembly, in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, 1899-1997, by Wayne and Heather Rodgers
History of the Lansing Assembly, by Hubert Lucas, Sr., 1973
Reflections of Turner Road Chapel, 1930-1990
In His Name, by John S. Robertson, March 1960 (a history of Toronto Assemblies)
A Kernel of Wheat, by Chester Donaldson, 1982, updated 1994
A Grain of Mustard Seed, The Story of Bible Fellowship Assembly, by Chester Donaldson,1983
Deer Lake Gospel Hall, by Bert French, 1997
The Growth of God’s Assembly, Planted in Welland, by Lorne Yade, 1985
Saved to Serve, by John M. Martin, Gospel Folio Press, Grand Rapids, MI 1994
Wallenstein Bible Chapel, The first thirty years, 1968-1998, by Albert Martin, 1998
Englehart, 1933-1993, 60 Years of Memories of an Assembly and its People, by P. Wood, 1993
History of Christians Gathered Unto the name of the Lord Jesus Christ at Strongville, Ontario, by Mrs. William Williams and others, 1990.
A Record of Gospel Testimony in Northern Ontario, by Bethuel Carr, 1979
Graphite Bible Chapel, by Doug Robinson, undated
Waverley Gospel Hall, undated
Let The Tide Come In, by C. Ernest Tatham, 1976
Shoreacres Bible Chapel, 1959 - 1994, 35th Anniversary Reunion
When Your Children Ask, a History of Bethel Gospel Chapel North, Ontario, by Donald E. Carney, 1999; published by Donald E. Carney
The Brethren Movement in North Hastings 1885 - 1924 (A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Department of Historical Theology, Dallas Theological Seminary), by Robert Garry Jenkins, May 1986.
History of Bancroft Area Assemblies, Garry Jenkins, unpublished, 1986.
Letters of Interest, August/September 1955, p. 14; October 1955, p. 15; January 1959, p. 7; December 1966, p. 8; June 1969, p. 14; September 1975, p. 20
