Welcome Home! 

Welcome to St. Stephen's and Church of the Redeemer.   I hope that you enjoyed visiting our webpage and learning about us today.   My heart-felt desire is that you will meet Jesus in the midst of our time together.   We are asked to gather together tooffer our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to our Lord.

This is not as difficult a task as you might imagine.   It requires first that you take the step to come through our warm green door, to sit a while, to hear the hymns and voices raised to our Lord and to rest in this place.   For many this is a place to come home to, for many it is a new found home, but for all this is the church, the body of Christ doing its very best to share the stories of our faith and to celebrate our lives in Christ.   May you feel joy here, may you find peace here, may you find the gift of believing.   May you call this home. 

God's richest blessings on you now and always,

Jane+

Rev. E Jane Fletcher BA, MTS, MDIV
(Rector of St. Stephen's Church and Church of the Redeemer)

History of St. Stephen's Anglican Church

In 1841 the Rev. Thomas Welby, Rector of St. John?s Church, Sandwich, seeing the spiritual needs of the people of the Irish settlement in the Township of Sandwich South, began service in a building of hewn native oak on  land belonging to G.B.Collins near to what is now the #3 highway.  In 1871 a frame church was constructed on the Fifth Concession (now Howard Avenue), and in 1913 the present brick church was commenced immediately to the north of it and consecrated in 1921.  Since that time it has continued to provide the spiritual needs of the community and stands as a constant reminder of our historical past and our visions for the future.

History of Church of The Redeemer

Records of history reveal that in 1899, a
Mr. Frederick Hewitt, then a student of Huron College and assistant to the Rev. D. H. Hind of St. John?s Church, Sandwich, had charge of the Mission of Redeemer Church. Services were being held at that time in the Orange Hall, in what was then Sandwich South Township. Mr. Hewitt thought that it would be fulfilling the spiritual needs of the people to have a church of their own. In 1900, the Rev. W. H. Hartley came to St. Stephen?s as rector. He continued to conduct the services and preside over the Sunday school in the Orange Hall. He also saw the need of a church for the Redeemer Congregation.

Accordingly, under the enthusiastic leadership of the rector and committees in charge, building material was hauled for a church to be erected on the Essex Town Line in Colchester North. Bricks were hauled from as far away as Elmstead. The land for the church site was donated by the late Robert Shuel Sr. The following spring, the church building was completed and was dedicated on May 31, 1901. In four years the mortgage on the church was paid off and on a Monday, November 6, 1905 the Church was consecrated. At this service twenty-three (23) candidates were confirmed.