Christ Church, Dresden

350 St George Street, Dresden, Ontario, N0P 1M0

Organist: Nancy Hughson (pictured)

Churchwardens: Janice Unsworth (pictured) and Gay Hooper

Treasurer: Pat Highgate (pictured)

Services are held each Sunday at 9:30 am. A coffee-and-muffin social hour (and sometimes an outing for breakfast) follows. You are most welcome to join us anytime.

The ACW (Anglican Church Women) meets the first Monday of each month at 7:30 pm at the church. Its president is Linda DeBurger (pictured at right). Linda is also Christ Church’s lay delegate to Synod.

Second Helpings, the parish dinner and bible study group, meets here in the hall. Pat Highgate is the fantastic chef for that. See the Announcements page (link to the left, and below) for further details.

For upcoming events and current Sunday schedules (who’s preaching), see the Announcements page (link to the left, and below). There appears some interesting information about Dresden on the Did You Know? page (link to the left, and below), too.

Below is an abridged version of the article sent to the Diocese of Huron Site. You can also read about Christ Church, and Dresden, in 2004’s Stepping Back in Time…Along the Trillium Trail In Dresden, by Marie and Jeffrey Carter, ISBN No. 0-9734178-0-3, available at the Dresden Library.

About Christ Church:

Christ Church is located on old Highway 21 (the main street of town) in Dresden, a community of the Municipality of Chatham-Kent.

The history of Christ Church, Dresden, is really the story of one man's work, for if the Reverend Thomas Hughes had not felt called to be a missionary to the escaped slaves, there would have been no Anglican Church in Dresden until a good many years later. The Rev’d Mr Hughes had read Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe and felt he must do something for these despairing people. He started his ministry in Dresden on June 9th, 1859. (Pictured at right are the Rev’d Zaza Roloti, Docent Brenda Lambkin of Dresden’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and the Rev’d Caroline Nyabaza during a South African companion diocese exchange in 2006.)

In 1867 the cornerstone was laid by Hughes’ youngest son, a boy of seven years. The church was finished in October 1868 at a cost of $2,043.16. This included stoves, church furniture, pulpit, etc. Our antique cupboard contains a picture of the church at the time it was built, as well as the original communion chalice, alms box and collection plates. A picture of the Rev’d Thomas Hughes, his bible and original prayer books are also included, as well as his diary. The church today has a small number of parishioners, but that was not always the case. A homecoming service to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the church saw 141 people in attendance. For the evening service 118 formed the congregation.

The current parishioners have been good stewards of the physical property with a church hall and Sunday School facility built in 1960. The ACW is still an active group (see above) as is our church choir. All parishioners are invited to participate in the services as readers. (At left are Bonnie, Jean and Ilene at a 2006 special event, and at right is Winnifred Unsworth in 2007.)

Christ Church has a slate of vestry officers that changes each year but information regarding services is most easily obtained by contacting Tom DeBurger, Churchwarden and Lay Reader, at 519-683-2620 or tomdeburger @sympatico.ca. (Close the space between the r and the @ when you write.)

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