Our History
Following Winchester was another Scot, J. G. Inkster, 1921-1939, who had been ministering in Canada for some years. He sought to maintain all the strands developed by his predecessors, and like Alexander Topp was heavily involved in denominational affairs. He took a lead in seeking to resist the movement for Church Union which would form the United Church of Canada in 1925, believing that such a position was a reaffirmation of orthodox and evangelical truth. Appropriately, the first action of the Continuing Presbyterians, as they were frequently called, was a prayer meeting conducted by Inkster at Knox on the night of June 10. 1925. The numbers at Knox grew remarkably during his ministry, and in spite of his assiduous pastoral visitation and denominational involvement he also gave time to many other Christian ministries, being remembered, for example, as the primary author of the fine Statement of Faith of the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship.
The Scottish contingent continued with the induction of the very youthful T. Christie Innes in 1939, when he had not yet reached his thirtieth birthday. He was greatly interested in ministry to students, but his interest in literature ministry led him to the USA in 1944. Knox might have had a Canadian minister, since it extended a call to Charles Ferguson Ball, minister of Bethany Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, often called the Wanamaker Church after the great Christian department store owner. Ball had grown up in Winnipeg, was married to a daughter of John Bellingham, the beloved superintendent of Elim Chapel in that city, and his parents had moved west from Stratford, Ontario. However, he turned down the call.
Another lengthy vacancy occurred before Robert Barr arrived from South Africa who would serve for only six years. A gentle and poetic soul, who radiated the personal knowledge of Christ, he was responsible for bringing to Knox some of the outstanding British preachers of the post-war world and for launching the outreach of radio ministry.
After another long vacancy William Fitch arrived from Scotland in 1955, fresh from the leadership of the committee of the Billy Graham crusade in Glasgow's Kelvin Hall. In many ways he was a new Robert Burns, so like his fellow Scot from the Glasgow area who had arrived 110 years before. He was a great preacher, whose expositions gave positive evidence of his doctorate in biblical studies. In his evangelistic zeal he sought to reach the students of the University for Christ. He sought to follow the model of British ministers such as John Stott in London, who made a church alongside a university into a student centre, without in any way neglecting the rest of the congregation. He also continued the stress on missions and most of the Knox missionaries whose pictures are on the north wall of the Winchester Room went out under his ministry. In the later years of his ministry Fitch was far from well, and retired in early 1972.
