The 20 Pastoral Charges of Sydney Presbytery are almost all face to face with what government people call "down-sizing", both in industrial areas and fishing communities.

It must surely be due to the large infusion of Presbyterian fortitude that has made it possible for the churches to move onward in the face of economic heart-ache. As late as 1855 there were only two Methodist circuits in Cape Breton - at Sydney and Margaree - with a combined membership of only 126. By 1924 there were eleven circuits and membership had increased ten-fold.

As in many other places, the first Methodist workers were laymen. The name of John Watts, 1789, is associated with early work in Sydney, but John George Marshall, Chief Justice of Cape Breton, brought the first official entry of Methodism to Sydney.

Sydney Presbytery takes in the Industrial Area of Cape Breton and surrounding parts of Cape Breton, Richmond and Victoria Counties.

Sydney Presbytery has its own Web Site. Its 20 Pastoral Charges are listed below.

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