Fonds auc-14 - C&MA Eastern & Central District fonds

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C&MA Eastern & Central District fonds

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auc auc-14

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5.38 m of textual records and other materials.

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Biographical history

The Eastern and Central Districts of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada came into existence in 1925 as two distinct entities. Prior to this date, the whole of Canada (with the exception of British Columbia) was considered and managed as one district. The newly created Central District would run from Fort William (Thunder Bay), Ontario to the Quebec -- New Brunswick border. The Eastern District would comprise of the Maritime Provinces. However, only a month after the new districts were formed, it was decided by the Home Department that the current missionary offerings from the Maritimes was not sufficient to justify the appointment of a separate superintendent for that area, and thus the work in the Maritimes would have to be carried out by the Central District. Therefore, the combined effort came to be known as the Eastern and Central District, and included the vast and diverse region of the whole of Canada east of Fort William, Ontario. <p>Home Secretary E. J. Richards became titular superintendent of the new district from New York, with Lionel Watson acting as resident assistant superintendent and administrator from Toronto. A year later, in May of 1926, O. J. Smith became superintendent of the combined districts only to resign eight months later. Three months following Smith's resignation, the annual district conference elected Lionel Watson to the position. Watson served as superintendent for one year, after which he was followed in 1928 by the highly qualified and experienced J. D. Williams. After serving diligently for nearly six years (the last of those years as acting superintendent of the Western Canadian District as well), Williams was appointed superintendent of the Pacific Northwest District in May, 1934. James F. Brabazon, a long time missionary to India, was appointed temporary superintendent in his stead. A year later, Brabazon returned to India, and David Mason, a veteran missionary and co-secretary of the Foreign Department, was assigned to the vacant position. During Mason's eleven-year superintendency, the Eastern and Central District remained essentially stagnant both numerically and financially. In 1946, Nathan Bailey took the reigns of the district. During his fourteen years at the helm, the Eastern and Central District experienced its highest ever growth rate over a fourteen-year period. In 1960, Bailey was elected president of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. In his place, William J. Newell, associate pastor of Avenue Road Church, was selected. Newell provided leadership for the district until 1973 when he stepped down in order to become executive director of World Vision International of Canada. Long time Alliance pastor Melvin P. Sylvester was elected at the 1973 district conference to become the next superintendent. During Sylvester's seven year term as district superintendent, he provided much of the leadership in the movement towards Canadian autonomy. In June of 1980, he resigned from the position in order to become the first president of the newly autonomous Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada. Robert Gould, previously superintendent of the Canadian Midwest District, took Sylvester's place beginning in March of 1981. <p>In May of 1983, a long standing dream among many became a reality when the Alliance community in Quebec broke off from the Eastern and Central District in order to form the St. Lawrence District. The newly created district would be headquartered Ste. Foy, Quebec, and Jesse D. Jespersen was elected as its first district superintendent. <p>In 1995, The Eastern District, first conceived of in 1925, finally separated from the Central District to became its own district. The Eastern District would include all of the Maritimes, and that part of Ontario which is east of Hwy 427/27 north from Lake Ontario to Hwy 89, east to Lake Simcoe, then along the southern shore of the lake to the 79th meridian, then north to the Quebec border. Douglas Wiebe was named superintendent of the new district, and remains so to this day (2006). The same year, David Lewis replaced Robert Gould as district superintendent for the Central District, and Yvan Fournier replaced Jespersen for the St. Lawrence District. <p>As of 2006, Fournier remains the superintendent of the St. Lawrence District, while Dr. Ron Bonar has replaced Lewis as the superintendent of the Central District. As of 2005, The Central District had 56 churches within its boundaries, the Eastern District included 72 churches, and the St. Lawrence District was comprised of 30. <p><em>Ivan Panin and the CAMA Woodlands</em>;<p>Ivan Panin was born in Russia in 1855. At the age of seventeen, he was forced to leave Russia due to his participation in plots against the Czar. He ended up in the United States where he attended Harvard University. After graduating in 1882, Panin was converted to Christianity. He settled in Grafton Massachusetts and became a popular lecturer on Russian literature. In 1890, Panin developed his theory of "Biblical numerics," which he would devote the rest of his life too. <p>In 1913, a small Bible study group in Toronto invited Panin to come and speak to them. Eventually, Panin moved to Toronto to become the leader of the group. In 1926, the group (now numbering about fifteen adults plus children) purchased a 38-acre farm near Aldershot, ON; where they built houses and established themselves as the "Church of God Sojourning in Aldershot." Panin died in 1942, and by 1960, only four members of the group remained: Gertrude Baker, Myrtle Osborne, Cecil Ambridge, and William Henderson. The group donated the land to the Alliance in return for care during their old age. <p>Although the Alliance's original intention of building a missionary rest home/furlough centre never came to fruition, they were able to utilize the property in order to provide a long term care facility known as CAMA Woodlands. The facility was officially dedicated in 1970, and operated out of the original two story Ambridge homestead. In 1990, a new 60-bed nursing home was opened, and the Ambridge house was converted into the Central District headquarters.</p>

Custodial history

The contents of this fonds were originally in the possession of the Central Canadian District, and stored on the CAMA Woodlands property; both in a barn and at the district office. With the permission of Dr. Arnold Cook, president of the C&MA in Canada, the collection was salvaged and transported to the Alliance University College Archives by the director of library services, H.D. (Sandy) Ayer, in February of 1996.

Scope and content

The bulk of the fonds consists of a variety of documents relevant to the Central and Eastern District from 1918 to 1984, primarily in the form of correspondence and church reports. Also included are documents such as personnel records and newspaper excerpts, as well as items such as slides, pictures, photographic printing plates, and some marriage registers. Also included in the fonds are documents pertaining to the CAMA Woodlands project. These include various site diagrams, and many proposals and resumes from various architectural and engineering firms. Finally, many items in this collection concern Ivan Panin, and his communal following the "Church of God Sojourning in Aldershot" (who were the original owners of the CAMA Woodlands property). Such items include many notes and lessons on a variety of topics (including Biblical numerics), some essays concerning Russian literature, and a few personal and family Bibles dating back as far as 1836. All material in the fonds has been maintained in its original order, and is arranged in the following five series: Eastern & Central District Correspondence & Reports, CAMA Woodlands, Panin, Printing Plates for Photographs, and Marriage & Church Registers.

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Other materials include 32 cm of marriage and church registers, 32 cm of Bibles, 12.5 cm of photographic printing plates, 73 photographs, 6 negatives, 8 slides, 22 oversize documents.

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  • The material is in English.

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Record No. 2002-11<br><br>

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