Who We Are

St George's is an evangelical Protestant church where the Bible is the basis of our faith and the Book of Common Prayer is our standard of worship.

Our Biblical preaching and teaching and our traditional "low church" style attract worshippers not only from Hamilton but from across Niagara Region and beyond. Our mission extends both to our congregation and to the wider community. We try our best to meet the spiritual and social needs of all who worship with us, and we try to live the Gospel in the wider community by giving generously and cooperating with causes that address practical human needs.

At St George's you'll be welcomed and made to feel at home. After Sunday worship we hope you'll join us in the church hall for the free fellowship lunch that follows every morning service.

The Reformed Episcopal Church, founded in 1873, is the oldest of numerous Anglican-style denominations raised to preserve historic Anglican faith and practice. It is one of the eight members of the Common Cause Partnership in the United States and Canada.

Update: On Dec 3, 2008 we became a founding member of the Anglican Church in North America, formerly the Common Cause Partnership.

The other Canadian members are the Anglican Coalition in Canada and the Anglican Network in Canada.

 

THE AMAZING STORY OF
ST. GEORGE'S STAINED GLASS WINDOWS

The stained glass windows that appear on both sides of the Lord's Table, here at St. George's Church, were originally installed in St. George's Anglican Church on Tom Street, here in Hamilton in 1940 by the family of Canon Frederick Elliot Howitt, who was Rector of
St. George's Church beginning in 1895.

St. George's Anglican Church ceased to exist in the late 1990's and some of the parishioners wanted to continue their worship together and began meeting in the basement of King St. Baptist Church where they continued for about eleven years, becoming associated with the Reformed Episcopal Church to continue their Anglican tradition.

In 2004 St. Margaret's met the same fate as St. George's, being closed by the Diocese of Niagara. At that time, St. George's congregation was looking for a church building to purchase and a successful offer was made to buy St. Margaret's - which not only meant that St. George's had a new home, but also that St. Margaret's parishioners were able to continue to worship in the church that had been theirs for many years, making the new church so much stronger.

Now begins the amazing story.

Elliot Haverlack, of Meadville, PA - the great grandson of Canon Howitt visited Hamilton, intending to visit St. George's on Tom Street, to once again view his great grandfather's memorial windows. One can only imagine his dismay to find that the church had been taken over by a different religious group, and that the memorial windows had been removed. Contacting the Diocese archivist, Mr. Haverlack learned that the windows had been sold to a funeral home here in Hamilton to install in their Chapel. When he visited the funeral home, the windows were on the basement floor under stacks of papers. After negotiations, Mr. Haverlack purchased the windows and took them to a home he owns in New York State, where they might have remained except for Mr. Haverlack's aunt, Barbara Stewart Ferguson, who wrote a letter to the "Niagara Anglican" protesting the way the beloved windows were treated and warned other families who had commissioned memorial windows for their churches.

Our Minister, John Smith read the article, learning that the windows had been removed. He contacted the family and they offered to give the windows to the new St. George's and two of our members drove to New York and brought the windows back to Hamilton. After all those miles and laying on a basement floor, NOT A SINGLE PANE OF GLASS WAS BROKEN! The windows were rededicated on May 15, 2005 with Canon Howitt's family members in attendance.

The story could end here except for one remaining amazing fact:
CANON FREDERICK ELLIOT HOWITT, IN 1905 BOUGHT THE LAND TO ERECT THIS CHURCH, ST. MARGARET'S WHICH LATER BECAME ST. GEORGE'S! The first service was held in December 1909.

Do you believe in miracles? I DO!