New Brunswick

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[edit] History

New Brunswick is situated on the east coast of Canada. It is bordered on the west by Maine, on the south by Nova Scotia and the Bay of Fundy, on the east by the Northumberland Strait and on the north by Quebec. Approximately 40% of the population is French-speaking, and most of its young people are bilingual.

Brethren pioneers from Ireland and Scotland reached New Brunswick in the mid 1880s. John Knox McEwen was perhaps the first. John Grimason, in a report written from Baie Verte, New Brunswick in 1886 to the Barley Cake magazine stated: “A whole province here to myself, all strangers to me, but they are the kind God saves – the poor.”

Mr. and Mrs. John Martin (not John M. Martin from Ontario) came to New Brunswick from Kilmarnock, Scotland in the mid 1880s and settled on a farm near New Scotland, a community northeast of Moncton. Mr. Martin had previously preached in the Boston area, Maine, and California. He reported the following in the Barley Cake in 1887: “...Brother Mitchell and I left Nova Scotia on July 1st for Tidnish, New Brunswick where Brother Grimason had labored a year ago and a few souls got saved and gathered out according to Matthew 18:20. We had two weeks meetings in Timber River 8 miles north of Tidnish. Before we left, we had the pleasure of baptizing two brethren. Then we went to Buctouche, 62 miles north on the coast (quite a French settlement) with several Scotch settlements in that neighbourhood... The people came out well, some from far distances. We had a schoolhouse at Mill Creek (6 miles from Buctouche)...” Mr. Martin describes many other preaching experiences in the Maritimes in subsequent letters.

Ansley Goodwin, a native of Timber River, was saved in 1886 when Mr. Grimason and Mr. McEwen visited there. The Tidnish Bridge Assembly, NB was started at that time, and is the one referred to by Mr. Martin. This was apparently the first brethren assembly in New Brunswick. An assembly was also planted shortly at Bayside. Ada King wrote that she had been at the opening of the Bayside Gospel Hall, NB in January 1889.

David Scott was born in Ireland in 1867, according to his grandson Gaius Goff. At the age of 18, he emigrated to the USA. While in fellowship in the Cliff Street Gospel Hall in Boston, he became interested in taking the Gospel to the Maritimes. He came in the summer of 1891 to New Brunswick on his vacation and preached in Coates Mills, Kent County, where several were saved. He was then commended by the Cliff Street Assembly, NB left his employment in Boston, and came to the Coates Mills area the next year, accompanied by John Blair. Many were saved in the Coates Mills/Dundas/New Scotland area while Mr. Scott was preaching there.

Many people from Scotland emigrated to Canada in the 1890s and obtained land grants in New Brunswick. One of these families were the Donald Macdonalds. Mr. and Mrs. J. Harris Bears and their family moved to New Brunswick in 1897 and joined with the assembly in New Scotland.

The New Scotland Assembly, NB was formed around 1896. After the Donald Macdonalds arrived, the Christians met in their home for the morning meetings; other meetings were held in the local schoolhouse. Later, after the Macdonalds moved to Moncton, the assembly met in John Martin’s house. J. Harris Bears and Donald Macdonald were Sunday School teachers in the New Scotland Assembly, NB and also preached the Gospel along with John Martin.

Others in the New Scotland Assembly, NB were Mrs. Gourley, Mr. and Mrs. Cary Brown, and Mr. and Mrs. Hugh MacLean of MacLean Settlement. As the older Christians died and the younger ones left the area, the meeting in New Scotland slowly diminished, and discontinued after the death of John Martin in 1924.

When Ansley Goodwin of Timber River became exercised about the Lord’s work, he left his employment and joined David Scott in preaching the Gospel. He subsequently preached with Robert Milnes, William Brennan, and Isaac McMullen in Kent County and also in Moncton.

Isaac McMullen came to Moncton in 1921, having been commended from the Central Gospel Hall in Toronto. When he was in Boston, he was told of the need for workers in New Brunswick to preach the Gospel, so he went there in 1921 and had Gospel meetings with Robert Milnes. In July 1922, he married Miss MacNeil in Moncton, and they established a home there.

Robert McCracken was commended to the work in the Maritimes by the Bloomfield Assembly in Belfast and arrived in Moncton in the spring of 1938. That fall, his brother John joined Robert in meetings in Scotch Settlement. When they couldn’t use the school, they held the Gospel meetings in the Gospel Hall, then on St. George Street in Moncton. Many were saved at these meetings.

Reginald Jordan from Ireland lived and preached in New Brunswick from 1948 to 1951; he was one of the full-time workers in Moncton and also preached with Isaac McMullen at Dorn Ridge, Dundas, and other places.. Others among the many who preached the Gospel in New Brunswick were George Heidman, Wade LeBlanc, David Kember, Murray McCandless, Gerard Roy, Leslie Wells, and Jonathan Procoppio.

Moncton is the second largest city in New Brunswick. In the early years it was known for ship building, and for many years was the home of the Canadian National Railway.

J. Harris Bears moved into Moncton from New Scotland in 1916 and was instrumental in seeing the Moncton assembly, NB formed. It was through him that the preachers came to preach the Gospel in Moncton. The preachers often held meetings in the open air and in the shops of the Canadian National Railroad. In 1919 a tent was pitched in Moncton, and all summer William Brennan and Robert Milnes labored, going from door to door with tracts and preaching in the open air and in the tent. A number were saved. In November 1919, seven met to Remember the Lord, the beginning of the Moncton Assembly, NB. These were Mr. and Mrs. J. Harris Bears, Mr. Norman MacNeil, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Nichols, Kate MacLeod, and Mrs. Carr.

The Christians met first in a little room above a grocery store on St. George Street in Moncton. They later moved across the street and again were upstairs over a grocery store located between Highfield and Weldon Streets. Some of the men who preached there called it a ‘sweat box’ as the room was so small and contained so many cooking odors. The assembly was using Moncton Gospel Hall, NB as the name of their meeting place by that time.

In 1938 Robert McCracken moved to Moncton from Ireland to preach the Gospel. So many were saved when John and Robert McCracken preached in 1938 and 1939 that the assembly had to move to larger quarters, which was a room on the third floor of the Orange Hall at 124 Archibald Street. Mr. MacNeil had started an Assembly Roll Book in the 1920s and listed 21 adults as being in the aassembly. He added 109 more names in the Roll Book for the 1930s and 1940s.

When the Christians moved into the Orange Hall on Archibald Street, they found it was possible to hold Bible Conferences. The first one was held on New Year’s day, 1938. Usually, the men of the assembly were the teachers for this Conference and they were held on New Year’s day for many years.

As the number of people in the assembly in Moncton increased in the 1940s, a building fund was started and land was purchased at the corner of Mountain Road and Lutz Street in 1946. Plans for a new hall were drawn up, and construction began in 1950. The new hall was made of tile and brick. Over 100 were in fellowship then.

Seating was purchased from a local theater and consisted of row seats with wooden seats and backs. These were anchored to the hardwood floors on iron legs in the main auditorium and in the balcony. Moveable chairs were used at the front of the hall on Sunday mornings for the Remembrance meeting. Some years later, the row seats in the auditorium were replaced by more comfortable chrome chairs, and the hardwood floors were all carpeted.

When the adjoining lot on Lutz Street was up for sale in 1955, the assembly bought it for an addition to the building and space for parking. In 1997, a new addition was constructed to the front of the building.

After the move to 195 Mountain Road, a Conference was held in October of 1950 to mark the opening of the building. The Gospel was preached each evening of the Conference; the balcony was filled as well as the auditorium necessitating that chairs be placed in the aisles on the main floor to accommodate all who came.

About 50 students were in the Sunday Schools in 1950. The attendance seemed to peak during the late 1960s and early 1970s when classes were held in every available space in the Moncton Gospel Hall, NB. Fred Ward was a Sunday School Superintendent for many years and was dearly loved by all the children. When he died, money was given in his memory for the building of six Sunday School classrooms in the basement.

Special Sunday School programs have been held in December or January for many years. Children’s Meetings were held on Friday nights from September to April, attracting about 50 children. Meetings for the children of the Lewis Street area on Victoria Street were also conducted under the leadership of Eric Adsett and Harold Horseman. Forty to fifty children attended these meetings each night.

The Tract Band in Moncton had its start in the early days of the assembly, when some of the younger sisters met in homes to address envelopes. They obtained lists from the Post Office and mailed the envelopes with tracts. Later, they met in the Orange Hall for this work, and then in the basement of the Gospel Hall on Mountain Road. They now send out the Seed Sower’s package, which contains a bilingual text as well as tracts and offers of a New Testament to anyone who writes in to request one.

In the early 1950s, some of the sisters were exercised to help assembly missionaries. This effort began in homes but soon moved into the Hall where they could store their supplies. They made quilts, bandages, children’s clothing, and stuffed animals. Calendars were made and sent out Spanish-speaking countries. At Christmas time, many boxes were made up for needy families of Sunday School children.

Street meetings were held in Moncton for many years. On Saturday nights, Christians would preach on the corner of Oak and Main Streets. On Sunday evenings, the open-air meetings were held in the Lewis Street area and in Bore Park and Victoria Park.

In 1962, the elders of the Moncton assembly, NB applied to the Government of Canada for Incorporation, as ‘Christians gathered in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.’ The name given by the government was ‘Christian Brethren.’

Elders in the Moncton assembly over the years include Donald Macdonald, Ernest Morton, Fred Ward, EEric Adsett, Lawrence Adsett, Fred Nichols, and Norman MacNeil. The latter was one of the founders of the Moncton assembly, NB. His spiritual influence was not limited to just his home assembly but was felt throughout the assemblies of the Maritimes. A bilingualist who spoke fluent French, he worked almost singlehandedly in bringing the Gospel to the French community.

Another stalwart in the assembly later was Raj Manuel, a Christian who had immigrated with his family to the area. When he learned of Gospel meetings at the Moncton Gospel Hall, NB, he went and was so impressed with the Gospel message being preached so plainly that he and his wife Patrima joined the fellowship. Mr. Manuel was a great personal worker.

[[Rick Pardy[[ was saved through Mr. Manuel’s testimony. He and his wife Pauline joined the fellowship at the Gospel Hall, and through them, others were saved and joined with the assembly. Rick Pardy, with the help of Mark MacPherson, held home Bible readings. Later the Bible studies moved to another home, with Bill Swan and Bob Budd as the leaders. Among those who accepted Christ at these studies were Frank LeBlanc, Alton Stevenson, Jim Harper, and David McQuinn.

In 1988, the general offices and repair shops of the Canadian National Railway were closed and 1300 jobs were lost, the work being transferred to Montreal and Winnipeg. Two of the leading families in the Moncton assembly, NB had to leave because of the closure – those of Raj and Patrima Manuel, and Rick and Pauline Pardy. By the early 1990s, the hall was renamed to Mountain Road Gospel Hall, NB. The Moncton assembly, NB is the largest in New Brunswick, with about 95 in fellowship at this time.

Of the travelling preachers who have come to Moncton, J. Boyd Nicholson and Douglas Howard have had the longest continuing association with the Moncton assembly, NB continuing more than 50 years in both cases.