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{{Infobox Christian leader
| type             = priest
| honorific-prefix = [[The Very Reverend]]
| name             = George C. Pidgeon
| honorific-suffix = 
| title            = 1st [[Moderator of the United Church of Canada]]
| image            = George C Pidgeon.jpg
| alt              = 
| caption          = Pidgeon dedicates the cornerstone of the new Christian education wing of Royal York Road United Church, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, April 7, 1958
| church           = [[United Church of Canada]]
| archdiocese      = 
| province         = 
| metropolis       = 
| diocese          = 
| see              = 
| elected          = 
| appointed        = 
| term             = June 10, 1925 – 1926
| term_start       = 
| term_end         = 
| predecessor      = 
| successor        = [[James Endicott (church leader)|James Endicott]]
| opposed          = 
| other_post       = 
<!---------- Orders
The Orders section may be omitted in favour of Template:Ordination for those
clergy claiming Apostolic succession, such as Catholics, Orthodox and Anglicans. ---------->
| ordination       = 1894
| ordained_by      = 
| consecration     = 
| consecrated_by   = 
| cardinal         = 
| created_cardinal_by =
| rank             = 
<!---------- Personal details ---------->
| birth_name       = 
| birth_date       = March 2, 1872
| birth_place      = 
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1971|06|15|1872|03|02}} 
| death_place      = [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]]
| buried           = 
| nationality      = 
| religion         = [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]]
| residence        = 
| parents          = 
| spouse           = 
| children         = 
| occupation       = 
| profession       = 
| previous_post    = 
| education        =
| alma_mater       = {{Unbulleted list|[[The Presbyterian College, Montreal|Presbyterian College, Montreal]]|[[Vancouver School of Theology|Westminster Hall, Vancouver]]}}
| motto            = 
| signature        = 
| signature_alt    = 
| coat_of_arms     = 
| coat_of_arms_alt = 
<!---------- Other ---------->
| other            = 
}}
'''George Campbell Pidgeon''' (March 2, 1872 – June 15, 1971) was a Christian [[clergy|minister]], first in the [[Presbyterian Church in Canada]] and then in the [[United Church of Canada]], as well as the last Moderator of the Presbyterian Church before amalgamation and the first Moderator of the newly formed United Church of Canada. He was a strong proponent of the proposed union of churches and later in life championed [[ecumenical|ecumenism]].
  
Pidgeon was ordained by the Presbyterian Church in 1894 and earned his [[Doctor of Divinity]] degree from [[Montreal]]'s [[The Presbyterian College, Montreal|Presbyterian College]]. His first posting was at Montreal West Presbyterian Church (now Montreal West United Church). He then moved to the [[Toronto]] area, serving first in the [[Streetsville, Ontario|Streetsville]] area (now [[Mississauga]]), before moving to the [[The Junction|West Toronto Junction]] area.

From 1909 to 1915, he left pastoral ministry to teach [[theology]] at Westminster Hall in [[Vancouver]]. He then returned to Toronto in 1916, where he served as minister of Bloor Street Presbyterian (now [[Bloor Street United Church]]).

He became Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in 1925, and was a strong proponent of the proposed church union between the [[Presbyterian]], [[Methodist]] and [[Congregational church|Congregationalist Church]]es in Canada. However, a substantial minority of Presbyterians remained opposed to church union. Their threat to the entire project was resolved by giving individual Presbyterian congregations the right to vote on whether to enter or remain outside the United Church. In the end, 302 out of 4,509 congregations of the Presbyterian Church (211 from southern Ontario)<ref>{{Cite news  | title = Vast Majority of Presbyterians Favour Union  | newspaper = Brantford Expositor  | date = 1925-01-25  | url = http://vicu.utoronto.ca/archives/Display/75-Display6.html  | access-date = 2010-06-05  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070214002241/http://vicu.utoronto.ca/archives/Display/75-Display6.html  | archive-date = 2007-02-14  | url-status = dead  }}</ref> chose to reconstitute themselves as a "continuing" [[Presbyterian Church in Canada]].

[[Image:United Church of Canada inauguration 1925.jpg|left|thumb|Inauguration of United Church at Arena Gardens, Toronto, on June&nbsp;10, 1925]]
With the pro-union support of the majority of Presbyterian congregations now guaranteed, The United Church of Canada was inaugurated at a large worship service at [[Toronto]]'s [[Mutual Street Arena|Arena Gardens]] on June&nbsp;10, 1925.

The ecumenical tone of the new church was set at the first General Council in 1925. The former Methodist General Superintendent [[Samuel Dwight Chown]] was considered the leading candidate to become the first Moderator because the Methodist Church made up the largest segment of the new United Church. However, in a surprise move, Chown stepped aside in favour of Pidgeon in the hopes that this would strengthen the resolve of the Presbyterians who had chosen to join the new Church.<ref>{{Cite web  | last = Gallinger  | first = Kenneth R.  | title = United, Unorthodox, Unlimited  | publisher = Lawrence Park Community Church  | date = 2009-02-08  | url = http://www.lawrenceparkchurch.ca/services/Sermon-2009-02-08.pdf  | accessdate = 2010-03-09  | url-status = dead  | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110706184144/http://www.lawrenceparkchurch.ca/services/Sermon-2009-02-08.pdf  | archivedate = 2011-07-06  }}</ref> As first [[Moderator of the United Church of Canada]], Pidgeon served for one year.

Pidgeon was a supporter of the [[temperance movement]], home [[missionary]] service and later in life, was one of the driving forces behind the formation of [[ecumenical]] organizations such as the [[Canadian Council of Churches]] in 1945 and the [[World Council of Churches]] in 1946.

He served as minister of Bloor Street United Church for 32 years, retiring in 1948. He died in 1971 at the age of 99.

==References==
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{{s-ttl|title=[[Moderator of the United Church of Canada]]|years=1925–1926}}
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[[Category:1872 births]]
[[Category:1971 deaths]]
[[Category:Ministers of the United Church of Canada]]
[[Category:Moderators of the United Church of Canada]]