View source for St. Matthew's United Church (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

{{Short description|Church building in Nova Scotia, Canada}}
[[Image:St Matthews, Halifax.JPG|right|thumb|225px|St. Matthew's United Church]]
'''St. Matthew's United Church''' is a [[United Church of Canada]] church in [[Downtown Halifax|downtown]] [[Halifax Urban Area|Halifax, Nova Scotia]]. The church was founded at the same time as the original colony in 1749 as a home for the various groups of [[dissenters|dissenting]] Protestants who were from [[New England]] and who did not follow the Church of England. It originally met Sunday afternoons in [[St. Paul's Church (Halifax)|St. Paul's Church]], the Church of England building completed in 1750. The church got its own home in 1754 when a church was constructed at Hollis and Prince streets. This building was destroyed by fire in 1857, and a new church was built at the current location at 1479 Barrington Street, land parcelled off of the [[Black-Binney House]] estate by Bishop [[Hibbert Binney]].  The church used the [[Old Burying Ground (Halifax, Nova Scotia)]].
[[File:Halifax1762ByDominicSerres.jpg|thumb|left|St. Matthew's (left), 1762]]
The church was originally an amalgam of various dissenting Protestant groups with it mostly being a mix of [[Scotland|Scottish]] [[Presbyterians]] and [[Puritan]] [[Congregationalists]] from the American colonies. Over the course of the 19th century the number of Presbyterians gradually increased and they came to dominate the church. In 1787, an agreement was made to adhere closer to [[Church of Scotland]] polity. They formally joined the [[Church of Scotland]] in the 1830s and joined [[Presbyterian Church in Canada]] in 1875. In 1925, however, it returned somewhat to its roots when the United Church of Canada was formed uniting several of the major Protestant denominations including the Presbyterians and Congregationalists.
[[File:Saint Matthew's Church, Barrington Street, Halifax.png|thumb|Saint Matthew's Church, Barrington Street, Halifax, c. 1900]]
[[George Monro Grant]], grandfather of [[George Parkin Grant]] and great-grandfather of [[Michael Ignatieff]], was Minister from 1863 - 1877. Grant was appointed to [[Kingston, Ontario]] as Principal of [[Queen's University at Kingston|Queen's University]], by the [[Presbyterian Church in Canada]]'s General Assembly, meeting within the congregation in June 1877. [[Sandford Fleming]] was also an Elder in congregation during Grant's tenure. The 250th Anniversary celebrated in 1999, with a new history book, ''A sentinel on the street; St Matthew's United Church, Halifax 1749-1999'' by Elizabeth Townsend, et al.
== Ministers (1751–1883) ==
* Rev [[Aaron Cleveland]] (1751–1753) (died in the home of his friend [[Benjamin Franklin]])
* [[John Seccombe]] (1761–1783)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/seccombe_john_4E.html|title = Biography – SECCOMBE, JOHN – Volume IV (1771-1800) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ifQ-AAAAIAAJ&dq=John+Seccombe+is+the+author+of+Father+Abbey%E2%80%99s+will&pg=PA7 Seccombe's book]</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/stream/historycountylu00desbgoog#page/n279/mode/1up/search/negro Reference to Seecomb's "negro woman-servant". ]</ref>
* Thomas Russell (1784–1787)
* Rev [[Andrew Brown (minister)|Andrew Brown]] Old College, the [[University of Edinburgh]] (1787–1795)
*Rev [[Archibald Gray (minister)|Archibald Gray]] (1795–1826); buried in the [[Old Burying Ground (Halifax, Nova Scotia)]]
*Rev. [[John Scott (minister)]] (1826–1883)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/collectionsofnov16novauoft#page/n250/mode/1up|title=Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society|publisher=Halifax}}</ref>
<gallery>
Rev Aaron Cleveland.png|Rev [[Aaron Cleveland]] (1751–1753)
Bust of Rev Andrew Brown by Thomas Campbell (1815), Old College, Edinburgh University.jpg|Rev [[Andrew Brown (minister)|Andrew Brown]] Old College, the [[University of Edinburgh]] (1787–1795)
Rev Archibald Gray by Robert Field.png|Rev [[Archibald Gray (minister)|Archibald Gray]] (1795–1826); buried in the [[Old Burying Ground (Halifax, Nova Scotia)]]
File:Rev. John Scott, Halifax, Nova Scotia.png|Rev. [[John Scott (minister)]]
</gallery>
Current Minister of Word, Sacrament, and Pastoral Care: The Rev. Elizabeth (Betsy) Hogan, 2010-
== Notable members ==
* [[Joshua Mauger]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*{{official|https://www.stmatts.ns.ca/}}
* [https://archive.org/stream/collectionsofnov16novauoft#page/n193/mode/1up History of St Mathew's Church. NS Historical Society. p. 137]
*[https://archive.org/stream/stmatthewschurch00pres#page/n1/mode/2up  St. Matthew's United Church. 1910.]
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{{United Church of Canada}}
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[[Category:Churches in Halifax, Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:United Church of Canada churches in Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:Gothic Revival architecture in Halifax, Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:Burned buildings and structures in Canada]]
[[Category:William Thomas (architect) buildings]]
[[Category:Gothic Revival church buildings in Canada]]