The event was the culmination of several months of organization and preparation by an anniversary committee headed by co-chairs Kathy McIntosh and Ben Ayres and composed of Carol Abrams, Marie Cowlin, Dorothy Jones and Rev. Peg Turner, minister of the Copetown-Rockton charge for the past six years.

Conducted by the Very Rev. Lois Wilson of Toronto, an internationally renowned peace activist and the first woman Moderator of the United Church of Canada (1980-1982), the service featured a choir composed of members from the Lynden, Troy, Rockton and Copetown United churches. Specially formed for the occasion, the choir was led by Gisela Rupka and moved longtime member Jones to comment, “I couldn’t keep back the tears when I heard the medley of old hymns.”

The songs brought back memories of many happy occasions, including baptisms and weddings, said Jones, whose husband, the late Kneal Jones, was a descendant of one of the founding families of Copetown United Church. Mrs. Jones will be entering her 63rd year as a member of the church.

Cowlin, a member of the congregation over 50 years, also spoke glowingly of the event. “It was wonderful to see so many at the October 19 service, which was really the culmination of a lot of activities” held over the year to mark the special anniversary, she said. “It was spectacular to see.”

Joanna Lawson, who has been filling in as preacher at the church for 20 years, was equally struck by the powerful emotions evoked by the service. “It was spine-tingling; it was just unbelievable,” she said. “It shows that the church has had a phenomenal impact on people.”

One of the highlights of the recent service was the dedication of a plaque titled, “Where They Worshipped (1808-2008).” To be installed in the Millennium Garden near the church entrance, the large metal plaque was produced in Flamborough by Cambridge Metalsmiths, Lynden Road.

The plaque presents a brief history of the church, from its beginnings when services were held in settlers’ homes and its joining with a large circuit of parishes in 1808 to the building of a white frame church in 1828 near the site of the Copetown Cemetery, its replacement in 1859 by a new red brick building a few yards from the present-day church and, finally, the building of the current church on Governor’s Road in 1908 to accommodate a growing congregation.

In the early years, when the church was part of many different circuits, it took the saddlebag ministers as much as a month to do the rounds, Jones said. With the Church Union in 1925, the Copetown Methodist Church became part of the United Church of Canada. A year earlier, Rockton joined the circuit and in 1935, the two became the Copetown-Rockton pastoral charge.

Attending church in pioneer days must have been quite an experience, Jones noted, as there wouldn’t have been any roads and chores would have to be done before heading off to church.

Among the earliest recorded recollections of services at the present-day church are those of former church member, 102-year-old Jean Dyment Hall, now a resident of Guelph, whose memories appear in a memory book along with those of 82 other congregation members, past and present. Edited by Lawson, the 115-page book was recently completed as an anniversary project.

In her account Dyment recalls, 'I remember there was a shed along the back and to one side of the church for the horses and buggies or sleds.” But perhaps her most vivid memory is of the part she played when the cornerstone of the current church was laid on her second birthday. “Mr. Misner, who had the trowel to set the cement, handed it to me to smooth out the last little bit. I remember I had on Mary Jane shoes, a nice middle-red coat and bonnet to match that tied under my chin with a red bow,” she recalls in the memory book.

The book took six to eight months to compile. Lawson credits Jones for “rounding up” many past church members and encouraging them to share their recollections. Also working on the Memories committee were Abrams, Rev. Turner, Katie Allen and Kay Strauch.

Yet another committee was struck during the anniversary year, to compile a book of recipes from the past. Present and former church members submitted their favourites and the book was published, featuring color reproductions of the church’s stained glass windows as dividers.

Several former ministers returned to the Copetown pulpit to conduct services throughout the year. Other events marking the 200th anniversary included a ham dinner in April, a fashion show by Westfield Heritage Village volunteers in May, a Mother’s Day plant and bake sale, the Wesley Walk-a-Thon in June, a picnic and reunion on June 15, a special presentation about Sleeping Children Around the World in September, a roast beef dinner in early November and a concert in support of the Wesley Centre Case for Kids last Sunday. The final anniversary event will be Christmas Eve services at 7:30 p. m. in Copetown and 9:30 p. m. in Rockton.

“This church has always been an instrumental part of the farming area and this community,” Cowlin remarked, summing up the influence Copetown United Church has had on area residents. The congregation currently consists of 60 households or 130 people.