News

  • At it's regular meeting Tuesday May 20, presbytery sustained a call from St. Paul's church, Ottawa to Rev. Elizabeth Chan, currently serving St. Andrew's church Kars and Osgoode church, Vernon. Induction will take place Sunday June 22 @ 7pm at St. Paul's church. Jackson Bradley was appointed summer student at St. Andrew's church, Aylmer QC at the special presbytery meeting on April 23, has started his work. His term will be from May 1, 2025 to August 25, 2025. Welcome, Jackson!

  • We regret to announce the passing of Art Pattison, retired minister on the appendix to the roll, in Ottawa on March 28, 2025. A memorial service took place at St. Paul's church on Thursday, May 22 @ 3pm. Read Art's obituary here. View the livestream recording of the memorial service here.

     The service celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Presbyterian Church in Canada took place Sunday May 4 @ 3pm at St. Paul's church, Ottawa. Here are the links:   view the livestream recording  ·  download the program

  • The WMS Synodical of Quebec and Eastern Ontario AGM was held on Friday, April 25th, 2025 from 9.30 am to 3 pm at St Paul’s Presbyterian Church, 319 Prescott Street, Kemptville (MAP). The theme will be “Resilience” with speaker Diana Kemp on Cuba. The lunch meal costs $15. A poster is available here.

    The Easter Blood Drive, a city-wide interdenominational Christian effort to mobilize Christians in Ottawa to donate blood or plasma, is now in its 3rd year. The need to donate remains ongoing: while 1 in 2 Canadians are eligible to donate, only 1 in 81 does. Christians are a giving and grateful people – and donating is another impactful way to live out these qualities. For more information including registering to donate, click on the blood-drop image. The Blood Drive dates are March 29, 31 and April 1 - 5.

  • Lifted - Presbytery of Ottawa Youth Event - Friday, March 28th at 7:00 pm.
    Youth in all of the churches in the Presbytery are invited to meet at St. Timothy’s Presbyterian Church. The evening will consist of fellowship, worship, fun activities, a discussion, and snacks. We will be talking about how we support and lift each other up as part of God’s family  - click on image for poster.

  •  At it's regular meeting on 21-jan-2025 the resignation of Liz Chan as interim moderator for St. Paul's church was accepted, and Jim Pot was named as replacement.  Also, a Guide for addressing Presbytery was approved by Presbytery for guidance of sessions and congregations when cited to appear before the presbytery and is now available linked off the documents page.

  • 20-nov-2024:  The updated Standing Orders have been uploaded to the Presbytery site - here.

  • Face to Face - Presbytery of Ottawa Youth Event - Friday, November 29th - 7-9 p.m.
    Youth grades 6-12 (with a leader) are invited to an in-person presbytery-wide youth event at St. Paul’s Church at 971 Woodroffe Ave. The event will consist of icebreakers, worship, group activities, and a guided conversation and prayer. This event is a chance for the youth to get to know one another better and build a community within the presbytery. If you have questions, please contact our Presbytery Animator, Sunjay Henry at prezminanimator@gmail.com or 613-407-8075. Poster available here.
          Youth Leaders (workers and volunteers) are invited to a Pizza Dinner, hosted by the Presbytery Ministry Animator, also on Friday, November 29th, at 6 p.m. Come to be fed, encouraged and supported in your ministry, and to meet other youth leaders. Poster/reminder available here

  • Synod 2024... met in Arnprior ON on Oct. 18 & 19. This year was a "full court" (all members of any of the 5 presbyteries could attend). A conference was also be held, with theme speaker Carey Nieuwhof. Slides and videos of the two main theme talks are now available, linked off the Synod 2024 page here.

  • Passings, 2024... We are thankful for the contributions to the life and work of the Presbytery of Ottawa by the following elders:
          Bonnie Anderson   (21-Sep-2024)
          Kalman Fejes   (11-Sep-2024)
          Don MacMillan   (17-Jun-2024)

  • 27-aug-2024:  The Acts and Procedings from the 2024 General Assembly are now available for download here.

  • 01-aug-2024:  On the retirement of Grant Wilson from St. Paul's Ottawa effective today, Liz Chan becomes St. Paul's interim moderator; also, Meg Patterson replaces Grant as co-interim-moderator for Grace church, Orleans. God speed, Grant!

  • At it's regular meeting on May 22, 2024 it was agreed to hire Sunjay Henry as Presbytery Animator commencing 1 June 2024. Welcome, Sunjay!; also, Shahrzad Kandalaft was named Interim Moderator for Knox Church, Manotick.

  • At it's regular meeting on April 16, 2024 the resignation of Phil Kim was received and accepted, effective April 30. Phil has accepted a call to ministry at Emmanuel Alliance Church in Ottawa (Bell's Corners). A one-day retreat was held on Wednesday, June 19, 2024 at Galilee Retreat Centre; more info in 2024-05-24 e-mail from Clerk).

  • 16-jan-2024:  Gracefield...  Registration for campers and applications for staff for the summer of 2024 are now open.

  • Victor Kim, Clerk of Assembly, announced that the following individuals were nominated by at least two presbyteries and their names appeared on the ballot for the election of the official nominee for moderator of the 149th General Assembly:
              Harry Currie
              Patricia Dutcher-Walls
              In Kee Kim
              David Robinson
        Rev. Dutcher-Walls was elected.

  • Passings, 2023... We are thankful for the contributions to the life and work of the Presbytery of Ottawa and the wider Presbyterian Church by the following ministers, elders and missionaries:
          Ian Shugart   (25-Oct-2023)
          Stephen Tamasi   (13-Jun-2023)
          Linda E. Robinson   (16-May-2023)
          Pauline Brown   (1-Apr-2023)
          Kalman Gondocz   (16-Jan-2023)

  • Fall Retreat... "Investing in Ourselves for the Greater Good: Listening to God's Voice; Listening for God's Invitations"
                where?  Galilee Retreat Centre, Almonte
                when?  November 5-7, 2023 (plus pre-retreat book discussions)
                resource: "When Church Stops Working" by Blair Bertrand and Andy Root
                speakers: David Sherbino, Blair Bertrand and Andrew Root
                more info: here

    Dr. Peter Henderson Bryce, image from Wikimedia Commons

  • Dr. Peter Bryce Indigenous Scholarship in Medicine...  The Presbytery of Ottawa has endorsed an initiative of Knox church, Ottawa, a scholarship in honour of the public health pioneer Dr. Peter Bryce and his efforts to address medical conditions in residential schools. Dr. Bryce was a member of the Presbyterian Church in Canada which was responsible for a number of these schools. The scholarship will provide $2,000 annually to an indigenous student in the Undergraduate Medical Education Program (UGME) in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. Presbytery has committed to donate $2,000 per year until the scholarship fund's principal goal of $60,000 is reached. The Synod of Quebec & Eastern Ontario will also be supporting the scholarship fund financially.
    Read more about
            the scholarship (info from Knox church, Ottawa)
            Dr. Peter Henderson Bryce:   Canadian Encyclopedia ·  Dictionary of Canadian Biography
            The Bryce Report "The Story of a National Crime, being an Appeal for Justice to the Indians of Canada": canadashistory.ca ·  C.M.A. Journal.

  • Sept. 2, 2023:  The 2023 Acts and Proceedings are now available for download on presbyterian.ca here

  • At it's regular meeting on Tuesday June 20, 2023, Reports of the recent General Assembly were received from eight commissioners and one Young Adult Representative;  Blair Bertrand was named interim moderator of St. David and St. Martin Church, Ottawa, effective July 1;  Grant Wilson & Denise Allen McCartney were named co-interim moderators of Grace Church, Orleans, effective Sept 1;  Gracefield Camp will be looking for a Retreat Cook starting in September;  Presbytery agreed to have the proposed land acknowledgement statement read at the beginning of each regular presbytery meeting;  Paul Wu's proposal re: a Healing and Reconciliation project involving Kitigan Zibi and Gracefield camp was supported by Presbytery; related to this, Presbytery agreed to provide the majority of funds to send 5 children from Kitigan Zibi to Gracefield Camp this summer.

  • At it's regular meeting on Tuesday May 23, 2023, Jonathan Dent, minister at Grace Church, Orleans, was granted leave to retire effective September 1, 2023;  St. Giles church will host the June presbytery meeting and St. Andrew's Richmond the Sept. meeting (the latter including dinner);  A special meeting for the celebration of the ministry at Rockland Community Church will be held at Grace Church, Orleans on June 18, 2023 at 7 p.m. (Presbytery meets @ 6:45). The Worship & Witness committee is keeping a list of those available for pulpit supply within the presbytery;  New interim moderators are also being named for St. Andrew's Richmond (Doug Kendall, effective Aug. 1) and St. Martin's St. David's (to be named);  Presbytery has provided 10 camperships to Gracefield, and an additional four are currently available from Fort Coulonge Presbyterian Church, on a first come first served basis (clerk has contact info).

  • The votes are in...   The Presbyterian Church in Canada has announced that the nominee for Moderator of the 2023 General Assembly will be The Rev. Mary Fontaine, Founding Director of Hummingbird Ministries. Read the official announcement here, including a link to Mary's responses to a number of questions posed to all candidates in preparation for the vote.

  • At it's regular meeting on Tuesday March 21, 2023, the Presbytery agreed that the congregation of Rockland Community Church be dissolved effective March 31, 2023. It also agreed to meet in-person in May, June and September, and that the date of the May meeting be moved to the 4th Tuesday, May 23rd, venue to be set by the moderator and clerk. St. Andrew's Richmond, celebrating their 200th anniversary, have invited the Presbytery to meet there in September.

    Miscellaneous

    • "NOT SECURE" got you worried? More info on websites and SSL Certificates in the webserant's report to the May 2019 meeting of Presbytery, available (in advance) here.

    • Presbytery QR codes, including background info, a QR code for the Presbytery of Ottawa, one for Presbytery Youth and a link to a QR code generator.

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    © 2025, Presbytery of Ottawa, the Presbyterian Church in Canada