Montreal Chinese Presbyterian Church 3.21

The Chinese Presbyterian Church is the oldest Chinese protestant church in Montreal. In 1897, Rev. Nam Sing Chan and Dr. Joseph Thompson, a Cantonese speaking missionary doctor who had returned from China, began conducting worship services in Chinese in a building on Beaver Hall Hill. A marked initial growth resulted in the congregation moving several times over the next 20 years. However, the passing by Parliament of the Oriental Exclusion Act in 1923, prevented new immigration and the community gradually withered and the congregation closed briefly from 1937-1940. In the 1940s, Rev Paul Chan and a deaconess, Mrs. Alice Louie, were called to restart the church and a new building was erected in 1949 in Chinatown. With the repeal of the Oriental Exclusion Act in 1948, the church grew rapidly and became an important worship and community centre with Sunday worship and week night prayer meetings, weekday preschool nursery and kindergarten, fellowship groups and Sunday School for children and youth, English classes for immigrants, and a very active Women’s Missionary Society. In 1977, the church land was expropriated by the federal government to build Place Guy Favreau and the congregation moved to its present location in Outremont. The congregation is now a mixture of immigrants from all different periods of its history. With several generations of offspring who are very much part of Quebec and Canadian society, the congregation has evolved into a multicultural one which welcomes all to come and worship and serve God together.