An abridged history*
1885 Rev. James Turner held services in Kamloops. He was a Methodist missionary.
1886 First Methodist church built at Seymour and Third Avenue
1887 First Methodist congregation formed.
1872 First recorded Presbyterian service of public worship with the first congregation formed in 1887.
1911 The Fourth Avenue Methodist Church was built at 4th and St. Paul.
1925 Church Union
1927 The united churches of Presbyterian and Methodist chose the Fourth Avenue Methodist Church as their home location.
1953 Dr. Grafton gave Kamloops United Church a monetary sum that was used to purchase 46 acres at Shuswap Lake.
1955 First building built at the Shuswap Lake property, now known as Camp Grafton.
1961 The Christian Education Centre was added to the 1911 church.
1969 The KUC Thrift Shop opened
1979 Demolition of the 1911 church building
1980 (April) First worship service held in the new sanctuary.
2012 The sanctuary building was redeveloped in preparation for demolition and redevelopment of the Christian Education Centre building.
2013 The Opening Ceremony for the sanctuary building was held in January. Speech for KUC Sanctuary Opening
2014 Housing Project: Presale of the 56 Units, including 40 units with (HOP) Home Ownership Program, at 429 St. Paul. Official sod turning Sept. 8.
2015 Construction of 429 St. Paul building (56 housing units, KUC Thrift Store, KUC staff offices and meeting rooms).
2016 Homeowners, Thrift Shop and KUC staff move into 429 St. Paul. Community celebration held May 13 and 14.
2016 Fundamental change in the operation of the church by hiring an Administrative Manager.
2018 “KUC~Centre for Community & Spiritual Discovery” reaches out to community groups & triples use of the facility by community and spiritual-seeking groups from 2016 to 2018.
2021 Kamloops United Church launches online worship services on our YouTube channel.
Outreach and Community Work
1943 KUC began weekly radio broadcasts of the Sunday worship services.
Daily 15 minute daily meditations were broadcast by various community churches.
1964 “Talk Back”, a weekly TV show was sponsored in co-operation with the Anglican Church.
1978 Vision 20/20 redirected the focus of the congregation to downtown ministry.
1979 Local Food Self Reliance seminar spring boarded the Farmer’s Market with many from KUC actively involved in the project.
1981 Food assistance program initiated as “Hank’s Cupboard”.
1983 Kamloops Community Food Bank, with KUC joined by the Salvation Army food outlet.
1985 A Downtown Ministry minister was hired. KUC was part of an active inter-church food support ministry.
1986 – present KUC still active with the Food Bank and provided administrative assistance
2015 KUC self-identifies as “a Centre for Community and Spiritual Discovery”
2018 Rainbow sidewalk is painted in front of KUC and permanent installation of a KUC Fiber Arts “Affirming” quilt in the Sanctuary.
2020 Camp Grafton Society begins upgrades to Camp Grafton septic systyem.
*The timeline above, prior to 2000, was extracted from the booklet: Kamloops United Church, We Celebrate: Our Past, Our Present, Our Future by Ross Styles, 1999. Subsequent dates have been added by the website administrators and KUC staff.