International Alliance 0f
CHURCHES OF TRUTH
( I A C T )
C A N A D I A N
H I S T O R I C A L P E R S P E C T I V E
TOPICS
MEMBERS
INDIVIDUAL
& GROUPS
INCORP-
ORATION
CAN & USA
HISTORY OF
CHURCHES
OF TRUTH
IN CANADA
HISTORIC
LEADERS
CURRENT
OFFICERS
C OF T
TEACHING
PURPOSE
OF THE
ALLIANCE
H O M E
P A G E
By Dr Herman Aaftink (2007)
We are all coming from somewhere and when people know where we are coming from, they understand us better and we appreciate our own roots to our advantage. We realize, of course, that we are a part of the worldwide metaphysical movement. More specifically we are also a branch of the International New Thought Movement. What may not be so apparent is that we as independent Churches and Centres of Truth have
a profound Canadian heritage.
It was in April 1904, now 98 years ago that a spiritual healer named Clara T. Stocker of Cascade, British Columbia established a centre of what she called High Mysticism, known as "Holy Silence Prayer Temple". Ms. Stocker wrote a message entitled "Realization Through Concentrated Attention" which came to the attention of the minister of the Universalist Church of Spokane, Washington, Dr. Albert Cotton Grier, who had for many years been in very poor health. This happened in 191 0. In Dr. Grier's own words, Ms. Stocker's essay "was the match which set on fire....my soul and through its tiny flames the big flame was started." )"at he was saying is that he was healed and so inspired by this new "realization" that to him it was the discovery of the "Truth" of life and living. As some of us have attempted to do in similar circumstances, he tried to persuade his colleagues in the Universalist Church of the merit of his new vision.
This was not met with enthusiasm, so he eventually left that ministry and built a new
church which he called Church of the Truth. He eventually moved from Spokane to Pasadena, California, then to New York City establishing Churches of Truth. He retired in Laguna Beach, California where he made his transition in October 1941. Both Dr. Grier and his successor Erma Wiley Wells were great orators and writers. They also taught and trained a large number of outstanding metaphysical leaders. It is because of their untiring efforts and dedication to their Truth that such luminaries as Ervin Seale, Emma Smiley and William M. Graham became an enlightening and empowering force in the lives of untold numbers of people, the world over.
You and I are the recipients of a proud and glorious spiritual heritage. Although our culture, its technology and environment changes, human needs for what Albert Grier identified as "the Truth that will set us free", are just as profound as at any time in history.
We all may share in this great vision of the liberation of the human soul that reverberates throughout all our experiences.
Part Two -- Just as the roots of our spiritual heritage, in the early years of the 20th century have a distinctive Canadian flavor, so, we of the first years of the 21st Century may look with gratitude and pride at what has been accomplished in the last four decades on Canadian soil.
As was the case with our founder, Albert Grier, our current story starts with a mystical healing awakening experienced by young Dutch-Canadian named Herman Aaftink in August 1960. Herman was serving in the United Church of Canada ministry at the time and was guided to attend a lecture presented by Church of Truth Chief Executive Officer William M. Graham at Emma Smiley's Truth Centre in Victoria, B.C. Dr. Graham became Herman's mentor and in 1969 Herman started lecturing in Calgary, Alberta on behalf of the Church of Truth - and hasn't stopped since!
Feeling somewhat isolated from the International New Thought main centers of activity, such as California, Florida and New York City, Herman
began to organize annual New Thought Seminars in the Canadian Rockies in Banff, Alberta. Outstanding New Thought authors and leaders were invited and participated in these increasingly popular events, such Ervin Seale, Emma Smiley, Jack and Cornelia Addington, Joseph Murphy, Jack Holland, Marcus Bach, Stuart Grayson, Margaret Stevens, Sig and Janie Paulson, Johnnie Coleman, Alan Anderson, Donald Curtis, Frank Goble and Blaine Mays. The event expanded from the Banff Centre of the Arts to the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel and later an annual conference was added at Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise.
A dynamic young lady from Edmonton, Alberta named Jaclyn Darby attended one of the early seminars and heard the spiritual call to start the Church of Truth work in Edmonton. Both the Calgary and Edmonton centres flourished and became places of spiritual nourishment, enlightenment and empowerment for hundreds of persons, by extension affecting thousands of lives for the better, continuing "as we speak".
Now functioning as Life Enrichment Centres, their leaders, Jaclyn and Robert Darby in Edmonton and Herman Aaftink in Calgary have served as teachers, healers, speakers and counselors, coaching and training, and as a result there are today a wide variety of New Thought centres and churches in Canada that did not exist forty years ago and whose origin may be traced back to the two centres we call ours in Calgary and Edmonton. Both Herman and Jaclyn served on the Executive Board of the International New Thought Alliance for many years, both centres worked together on the Canadian Rockies Seminars and both Jaclyn and Herman were co-chairs of the only INTA, International New Thought Congress ever held in Canada, at the Fairmont Palliser Hotel in Calgary in the Summer of 1985, which was a great success.
Herman wrote two books, both widely distributed throughout the New Thought movement: "New Thought - A Way of Life" (now out of print) and "Brand New Me - The Art of Authentic Living", containing summaries of 25 years of courses taught.
Jaclyn Darby initiated the incorporation of the various independent Churches of the Truth and Centers that originated in this heritage. Her husband Robert and Herman Aaftink joined her in this untiring effort,which resulted in the formation and recognition within the International New Thought Alliance of our "The International Alliance of the Churches of Truth", registered both in Canada and the U.S.A. (IACT for short).
We have, as IACT, facilitated the certification and ordination of new leaders in almost every Province of Canada. There are also independent Churches of the Truth in the United States. So, the tradition and the heritage continue; the influence of what has been accomplished in terms of the liberation and enlightenment and empowerment of the human soul, cannot be measured and is, to all of us who love and are dedicated to this cause, a real source of satisfaction and contentment. We welcome all who share our vision of freedom, awareness, independence and spiritual authenticity to join us in setting this course for a better world. To us it is clear that this philosophy of life is needed more, in these years of the young 21st century, than ever before. Indeed, this Truth does set us free, as Jesus taught some 2000 years ago!
Let us appreciate our opportunity to rededicate ourselves to Clara Stocker's realization of the Truth of a century ago!
Presented at the ordination of Rev. Kim Fairrelland Rev. Pat Zogar in Victoria, B.C., in 2007 by Dr Herman Aaftink of Calgary, Alberta.
