VERNON RIVER CHURCH

It could be said that the Vernon River United Church owed its beginning to a Mr. Abbott, an early English settler on the Union Road. He had been connected with the Bible Christian Church in England and was most anxious to see his own church established on

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Prince Edward Island. He appealed to the officials of the English Conference that a missionary be sent out. The members of the English Conference, although faced with limited funds and a considerable debt Load, felt this call from abroad was a call from Gof. These men of faith, courage, and vision commiSSioned Mr‘ Francis Metherall as a missionary to Prince Edward Island.

Mr. Metherall was a man prepared for his task, haying entered the ministry of the Bible Christian Church at the age of thirty—one in the year 1822. After serving for nine years in England and the adjacent Islands, he came to Prince Edward Island in 1832 and began to minister to the settlers of the "fertile Vernon River Valley."

In 1834, twelve acres of land had been given by Mr. James Laird for the use of the ndssionary. The Vernon River people assisted Mr. Metherall to erect a parsonage on that land. This parsonage was used as a dwelling, but also as a centre of worship

for the settlers.

In 1842, what is known as the ”Great Revival” commenced in the