A lone wagon makes its way along a dirt path toward the towering North Shore mountains.
This rough patch of Gordon Road (now 22nd Street) reaches north from Marine Drive and seems newly cut through the surrounding trees.
Just to the right of the wagon sits a wooden structure. Barely standing two storeys tall, it is completely alone in the thick bush.
Built in 1914 by volunteers, it is the first structure to house St. Stephen's Anglican Church in West Vancouver. It is seen in a sepia-toned photo that highlights the rural roots of the area that was once not much more than a collection of cottages.
Before the structure was built, the small congregation of St. Stephen's, the first Anglican church on the North Shore, met in private homes for a year before the first service was held in Dundarave Hall in 1913.
The property seen in the photo was purchased for $1,600, and the first official church hall was open for business on that site in 1915. A rectory was added in 1920, just to the south, and an official church site was built by 1925. That first hall in the bush was demolished in 1962 because the structure had become unsafe.
By 1967, the church had moved to its current site, still on 22nd Street, but across the street from the original location and just a tad farther north.
This month, the congregation of St. Stephen's is celebrating its 100-year history.
Parishioner Janice Harvey has been attending the church since 1992, and recently completed an addition to the parish's history book, which highlighted its first 75 years. The first book was written by a parishioner named Gerald Prevost, who has since passed away.
"He wrote an excellent 75-year history," says Harvey, who was asked to update the book to include the past 25 years, just in time for the church's centenary celebration on April 7.
Information in the book, which is called A Celebration of Faith for 100 Years, was culled from various sources, including archives of church newsletters and vestry meeting notes.
"You can just imagine in a hundred years the changes that have taken place," says Harvey, noting change has happened not only in the physical building, but in the services and the congregation as well.
"There has been growth in some areas and perhaps shrinking in other areas," she says. "The church tries really hard, as all churches do, to reach out to the community."
St. Stephen's has adapted to changing times. In addition to traditional Sunday services, the church also offers Saturday and evening services, as well as jazz vespers, which feature musicians playing non-traditional music during the service. Like many churches these days, they also have a website (ststephenschurch. ca), which was recently updated.
Harvey came to know the church first through her grandmother and her mom.
Her grandmother attended St. Stephen's church in the 1920s and 1930s, with her four kids, including Harvey's mom.
Although the family moved to Ontario in the early 1940s, Harvey, who later grew up on the Prairies, remembers her family talking about the church. She thought if she ever got the opportunity to visit the church she would.
By 1992, Harvey was living on the North Shore and attending the same church.
Because of her grandmother's history with the church, Harvey was particularly interested in the stories of connections between generations when she was researching for the parish book.
"It's so interesting to hear how people are connected in one way or another," she says. She also enjoyed meeting parishioners, who offered personal stories and mementos.
This past fall, Harvey was introduced to a woman who lives in a nearby seniors centre. The woman handed her a piece of paper; it was her marriage certificate from 1940. Along with the certificate came a story of the wedding day.
Thora Dakin married Duncan James McDonald in St. Stephen's Anglican Church on April 8, 1940. At the time, there wasn't a sidewalk outside the church, just some steps leading up to the entrance. When the best man arrived late to the ceremony, he tried to jump the steps and landed in a ditch of water instead. He was wet for the rest of the service. Inside the church, Dakin was attended by just one bridesmaid, her sister, who was wearing a light wool dress, and made the mistake of standing over an air vent during the ceremony. Thanks to a gust of air from the vent, she unwittingly presented to the gathered guests a rendition of the classic billowing dress that Marilyn Munroe later made famous in 1955. Everyone had a good laugh.
"It was lovely for me to have that opportunity," says Harvey of meeting Dakin and putting together the book. It took her about six months to finish the project and she says the process was absolutely fun.
While she admits the history book may not appeal to everyone, she says, "I would hope that people of good faith would enjoy looking at it."
One entry from the book notes: "For its first seven years St. Stephen's had no resident minister. Instead, theological students or ordained ministers from Vancouver and North Vancouver led the services. They travelled by ferry, train or jitney and received $1 for travel expenses."
The first resident priest was Rev. J. P. Dingle, who served from 1921 to 1924. The current priest is Trevor Fisher, who came to the church in May 2009. Fisher notes the genesis of the church can be found in the first service, which was led by a Bishop de Pencier.
"His nickname was Dippy," says Fisher, adding, "He was already called Dippy before he became a bishop."
Fisher has served as a priest in the Anglican faith on the North Shore since 1982, when he was at St. Simon's in Deep Cove. From there he went to Powell River and Sidney, and then returned to West Vancouver's St. Francis-in-the-Wood in 1996.
"Because I was next door at St. Francis for near on eight years I got to know a lot of people in this parish as well, so it wasn't a strange place for me to come to at all," says Fisher of his move to St. Stephen's.
While discussing the church's first meeting at Dundarave Hall in 1913, Fisher notes there is some debate as to whether or not the hall was actually located at the Sagers' building or what is now the fish shop next door.
"I like to think it was held in what is now the pub," says Fisher with a laugh, referring to the Red Lion Bar and Grill now in that spot.
He then explains that in England churches and pubs often served as social centres of a village, and on many occasions they were arranged side by side. There are some villages in which the entrance to the church is through the pub, says Fisher.
Although the role of the church as a social hub of the community has diminished over the decades, Fisher says he believes the church's role here hasn't changed significantly.
"I don't think it's changed significantly although our society, by becoming more of a municipality, we expect a lot more from our politicians and from our public service. But back in those early days when there was no public service, the only place that you could find what we would now take for granted as public service came out of voluntary organizations, and the ones that were most established were the churches," he says.
In times past there was an understanding that there was a spiritual life, says Fisher.
"I think that we haven't had any tough times in the in-between, and so what that has done is foster a sense that we are responsible for our own success," he says, adding back in the days when "you lived and died by whatever vagaries nature could throw at you," there was a sense of understanding that a reliance on God in the spiritual sense was what gave you the energy to continue on despite things.
Fisher says he has talked to people who have come from war and while some got disheartened, some turned to God. Some of them told him when you're in a foxhole with bullets whizzing around you and you can't do anything about it, you suddenly realize the spiritual life is the only one that you can rely on.
"But (we) don't have a foxhole mentality any longer," explains Fisher. "It doesn't mean to say that the need for that spiritual sense of life is missing. I think we're still a very spiritual people. I just think that we're going through one of those periods where Christianity has got to re-prove itself as being something that is worthwhile living. And I think we have to get back to it being a lifestyle as opposed to being just a belief."
He says lifestyles are something you live seven days a week, not just on Sundays.
"Once we help people understand that being a Christian is a lifestyle as opposed to a belief system, then it becomes something that you're part of every day rather than just something that you might agree to between your ears."
Although many Christian churches have seen a decline in regular attendance over the years, Fisher isn't worried about it.
"There has been a change in the church-going population over the years. I've seen it through my ministry and I started in 1975. But it's not a foregone conclusion at all. When churches actually get back to the basics of doing the business of Christ, which is making him known, and then doing his work in the world, then people recognize this is still something that's important."
Among the many changes facing the church are demographics. The area around St. Stephen's has shifted from young families to retirees, and the congregation has gotten older. The congregation now has about 130 families, and Fisher says there is also a definite shift in the cultural makeup of the congregation: it is much more multicultural than it has been in the past.
When it comes to keeping parishioners in touch with the church, Fisher approves of changes in the delivery of services, such as adding Saturday services or jazz vespers.
"I think the church services are really just a method of communication. And I think that making any communication relevant is always something that's important to do."
A centennial service is scheduled for April 7, 4 p.m., at St. Stephen's Anglican Church. Previous vicars and the bishop are scheduled to be in attendance. The event will feature a plaque unveiling and a reception. Copies of the book A Celebration of Faith for 100 Years will also be on sale at the event.
