The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland has maintained a presence in Canada for over a hundred years, including several locations in Southern Ontario, as well as Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. At present we have a well-established congregation in Chesley, Ontario, along with individuals and groups across Canada.
Click here for the worship location in Ontario, and here for the worship location in Vancouver.
Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Psalm 60:4
The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland is the constitutional heir of the historic Church of Scotland. Moreover we descend directly from that church first established through the God-owned labours of John Knox and others in 1560. The Church of Scotland (along with Calvin’s Geneva) was the most Scriptural of the Reformation churches. The principles of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland today go back to the Apostolic Church. The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland endeavors to preserve faithfully the doctrine, worship and practice of the Scottish Reformation. Therefore our claim to be Reformed in Doctrine, Worship and Practice is grounded in holding Scripture as our only supreme standard. Also, the entire Westminster Confession of Faith is our subordinate standard.
Though unworthy and weak in ourselves, yet in dependence upon the God of all grace the witness the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland seeks to uphold, is:
1. Entirely Biblical including unreserved belief in the whole Bible as the inspired, inerrant and infallible Word of God.
2. Thoroughly Reformed (not merely “Evangelical”) with a hearty attachment to the foundational principles of the Reformation, and a vigorous Protestant witness against Roman Catholicism
3. Reformed in Doctrine including an unreserved acceptance of the doctrines of sovereign grace, as summarised in the Five Points of Calvinism, along with full acknowledgment of man’s total inability, his responsibility to believe and repent, and the necessity of preaching the free offer of the Gospel.
4. Reformed in Worship with consistent implementation of the regulative principle of worship. We sing Psalms only, and exclude musical instruments and ‘festivals’
5. Reformed in Church Practice with adherence to presbyterian church government and the faithful administration of church discipline.
6.Reformed in Godliness, including insistence on the necessity of regeneration to produce real experimental acquaintance with Christ. The necessity of practical godliness, the abiding requirement of Sabbath-keeping, family worship, and a testimony against worldliness.
The main congregations of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland in Canada have been in Ontario, Winnipeg and Vancouver. Other locations of worship groups included Saskatoon, Regina, Calgary, and Edmonton.
Rev. Donald Beaton visited Winnipeg in 1907 and commenced church services, which continued until 1973. During this time the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland congregation in Winnipeg opened a mission hall in 1915.
The Rev. M. Morrison conducted services in Saskatoon during 1924 and a number of Deputies visited until at least 1940. In addition to Saskatoon there were also a few people belonging to the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland in Regina.
The Rev. J.R. Mackay visited Calgary in 1914 and the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland witness there continued at least until 1972. In addition to Calgary, there were also groups in Innisfail and Edmonton.
Here is more on Doctrine, Worship, and Practice.
Here is more on why the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland is unique, and distinct from all other denominations.
Find out more here on the witness of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Our Free Presbyterian Heritage by Rev. D. Beaton
To contact the church in Canada: [email protected]
You can find the main website of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland here.
There is a direct historical link between the present day Free Presbyterian witness in Canada with that of the original Free Church of Scotland of 1843 in Ontario.
