One of the better ways to measure a communities evolution is to examine the history of its religious practices. Since Methodism was one of the first religions to take hold in the Conception Bay area, it might be worthwhile to briefly examine its beginnings.</p> <p>According to Semple (1996) the first Methodist mission began in the fishing outports of Newfoundland with the arrival of Lawrence Coughlin at Conception Bay in 1766. His influence on the religious, social and cultural life of the area cannot be underestimated. Coughlin was an Irish convert from Roman Catholicism who served as a Wesleyan traveling lay preacher in England and Ireland from 1755 to 1764. No doubt the conditions he found in Conception Bay were similar to those that existed in England and Ireland at the time.

He became disillusioned with Wesleyanism when Wesley refused to accept his ordination at the hands of Bishop Erasmus, but he retained his commitment to what he believed was Wesleyan evangelicalism. He was later ordained by the bishops of Lincoln and Chester through the permission of the bishop of London in early 1766 and left immediately to serve the settlers at Conception Bay, Newfoundland. By the end of the year, he was again in England, where he received 50 pounds and the sanction of the Anglican Society for the Propagation of the Gospel to continue his work in Newfoundland. Much has been written about him and his work around this time which is available at the Center for Newfoundland Studies at Memorial University.

For the most part, he was met by a populace resolutely uninterested in religion, "while oppression, violence, profanity and licentiousness were practiced without check." Except at St. John's and Trinity Bay, where there were Anglican ministers, the islanders lacked Protestant spiritual guidance. Even when a few were disposed to Methodism, effective pastoral oversight was all but impossible because the settlements were small and isolated. However, after nearly two years of familiarization the population with the rudiments of religion, Coughlin was able to report some success in 1788: "At length God was pleased to bless my endeavors in a very wonderful manner ... The word was now like fire, or like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pie es. It was indeed quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword. Under every sermon and exhortation, some were cut to the heart, and others rejoiced in loud songs and praise." Small societies sprang up in Carbonear, Harbour Grace, and Old Perlican, and a chapel was erected at Blackhead in 1769 which many believe was the first to be erected in Newfoundland. During the revival, communicant membership rose, according to Coughlan, from about eighty to nearly two hundred. When he returned to Britain, primarily because of the opposition of local merchants, he believed that the had laid a firm foundation for Methodism on the island.</p>

<p> The only evidence that Heart's Content Road existed at this time can be extrapolated from the fact that people went overland from Carbonear to Heart's Content. There is no evidence that anyone lived there at this period of history, though some speculate that overland journeys to Blackhead were undertaken which would have had people pass though the valley.

These journeys were never easy as Levi Curtis writes, " A glimpse of circuit itineraries in those days will not be lacking in interest. "Summer traveling in the circuit was very laborious, as we had to climb high hills, wade the streams and plunge through the mire of the marshes, with our bundles on a stick, and carried upon the left shoulder, while our persons were denuded of coat, sometimes of vest and neck-cloth likewise and, when wearied or hungry, we would doff our bundles, partake collation therein containing, drink from the purling brook, and, after resting for some time under the shade of some tree, would again pursue our journey toward its terminus.

'In traveling we never wore boots; for they were useless to keep us dry, as we would always get over the tops of any boots we could put on, when wading over the numerous brooks. We were always careful to have good soles on our shoes, to keep the feet from injury by the rocks, over which we had to walk.

Winter traveling was even worse, for it was often beset with danger and there were many stories of people being lost on the barrens between Carbonear and Heart's Content.

Coughlin's early success in the area was short-lived. Although he was a stirring preacher, his unbending moral standards and, more importantly, his over enthusiastic approach gained him only a limited following. Theologically he was closer to George Whitefield and the Countess of Huntington than to the Wesleys. Despite the fact he established a few class meetings that would prove vital for the survival of an embryonic society, his revival converts were rarely permanent. Coughlin relied more on emotional response than on a sound doctrine of grace, and his failure to appreciate the need for organized structures made disintegration almost invertible after the flame of revival had died down.

However, it was perhaps too much to expect that any eighteenth-century Methodist preacher would possess a mature sense of church organization. Certainly, the early failure of Methodism in Newfoundland was not Coughlan's alone. As late as 1813, Richard Taylor complained from Carbonear, "There has never been anything like system [sic] acted upon since the first laborers came out ... The people in general are as ignorant of our rules as if nothing of the kind existed." Coughlan was not unique in failing to develop a systematic plan for his mission, and no solitary preacher could hope to furnish regular pastoral car to his scattered flock. Bert Parsons in Blackfoots gives a detailed history of Methodism in Carbonear and lists all of the clergy who served from these turbulent times to the present.

After Coughlan's departure, the cause was overseen by lay leaders, including Thomas Pottle at Carbonear, Arthur Tomey and John Stretton at Harbour Grace, and John Hoskins at Old Perlican. Without the authority of an ordained minister and faced with increasingly hostile Anglican mercantile and government factions, they were constantly frustrated in their work. When John McGeary arrived as Coughlan's first ordained replacement in 1785, he found fifteen members and only a faint memory of the past revival. Although he provided some stability, he never developed cordial relations with the independent-minded lay leaders, and the fundamental problems remained. Parsons presents a list of all Ministers who served at Carbonear from 1785 - 1964 in his book.

McGeary resided in Newfoundland until 1791 and was resident minister at Carbonear from 1785 - 1788 and from 1790 -1791. During his final months he witnessed a new revival led by the visiting superintendent of the Nova Scotia district, William Black. Black arrived at Carbonear on August 11, 1791. Over the following months he preached at Port de Grave, Bay Roberts, Harbour Grace, Carbonear, Freshwater, and Blackhead. In addition to the two hundred converts he reported, he organized proper class meetings, appointed leaders, deeded property to the connection, and attempted to explain Methodist doctrines and rules to the societies. Although Black's visit was of critical importance at the time, it failed to provide the impetus for a permanent, well organized mission. After his departure and McGeary's a few months later, Newfoundland again lacked Methodist clerical supervision and membership soon declined sharply.

From 1792 - 1793 no clergy served Carbonear. In 1794 George Smith arrived to succeed McGeary, and over the following two decades a succession of missionaries gradually rebuilt the Methodist presence. William Thoresby joined Smith in 1796 and remained for two years; James Bulpit served from 1799 to 1806; John Remington worked alone from 1806 until 1808, after which he was supported by William Ellis(1808 - 9, 1810 - 1811) and Samuel McDowell (1809 - 1810). The three expanded the work from Conception Bay to Bonavista and Trinity. William Ward served Bonavista from 1810 until he drowned in 1812; Richard Taylor worked for two years at Carbonear beginning in 1812; and Sampson Busby replaced McDowell in 1813. These were followed by John Walsh (1816 - 1817) and George Cubit (1816). Of these, only Ellis made Newfoundland his permanent home; the remainder left after their short tours of duty were completed. Up until this time no Newfoundland born clergy were brought into the Methodist itinerant ranks. The lack of long-term service and local manpower were symptoms of the serious problems facing the Methodist movement on the island. These problems were aggravated by the fact that many of the missionaries added teaching or other secular work to their preaching in order to supplement their meager incomes. Such activity prevented full-time evangelistic labors. In addition to irregular religious services, discipline was generally lax and Wesley's rules were only indifferently followed by the adherents. The work of the church was slow and erratic at best.

Although Methodist membership had reached about 500 in 1797, it stood at only 340 seventeen years later. The intervening period had seen peaks and valleys, but the cause was never strong. No missionary was serving St. John's. The single important centre on the island. The only real progress was the construction of churches at Harbour Grace, Carbonear, Lower Island Cove, and Old Perlican by 1799. In fact, the future of Methodism looked bleak until the reorganization of the British missionary operations. In 1815 Newfoundland became a district directly responsible to the British Conference, and plans were instituted to expand missionary work from Conception Bay. In the same year, a minister was stationed at St. John's and a church was opened there. In 1816 the British Conference assigned six new missionaries to the reorganized circuits of Harbour Grace, Western Bay, Trinity Harbour, Fortune Bay, and Hant's Harbour. These circuits supplemented the existing ones in St. John's Carbonear, Blackhead, Island Cove and Perlican, Port de Grave, and Bonavista. From this period, Methodism expanded under the double impetus of greater financial support from Britain and increased local prosperity resulting from a temporary increase in the price of cod.

This boom was short-lived, however; a depression set in by 1818, and British assistance significantly diminished after 1820. Despite its head start, the story of early Methodism in Newfoundland typifies much of the general history of the island. Both were plagued by isolation and poverty. Methodism in the colony suffered from "isolation without supervision, from emotionalism without doctrinal foundation, from evangelism without sound faith or sufficient discipline." Without substantial external ministerial and financial support, it was sustained for long periods only by a dedicated laity and by private worship and prayer. Nevertheless both Methodism and Newfoundland contained strong-willed and determined people. Once evangelized, Newfoundlander demonstrated a resilient private resourcefulness and a deep spirituality, and Methodism provided an effective moral structure to community life.

By the general conference of 1883 the name of the Church was changed from "The Methodist Church of Canada" to "The Methodist Church." The Newfoundland Conference of that year reported 7781 members with 1276 on trial. The number of charges was forty - two and mission offerings reached $5,681.21.

One other important event, to which reference should be made, was the consummation of union with the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches, in Toronto on June 10, 1925. The new Church was named "The United Church of Canada," and is the largest protestant church in the Dominion. But in Newfoundland it meant little more than a change of name from the "Methodist" to the "United Church," as the changes in terminology and administration affected the general work of the Church in no essential way. The same ministers continued to preach the same Gospel to the same congregations; the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper were administered and the congregations continued to worship as before

There is little wonder that no separate Methodist Church existed at Heart's Content Road, Victoria Village or Victoria until late into the 1800s or early 1900s, and then religious services were conducted from the homes of individual residents.