This book is about the struggle to preserve the Presbyterian Church in the city of Halifax after the creation of the United Church of Canada in 1925. The authors advance a hard-hitting and revisionist view of the Church Union movement, arguing that the advocates of union, including many Presbyterians, undermined and attempted to destroy Presbyterian witness. This assault on Presbyterianism was the result of the Church unionists' dogmatic zeal to create a new national Church.

Those Presbyterians who refused to become members of the new United Church were left without a church, any property, or a minister. This book charts how the “non-concurring” Presbyterians built a renewed and vibrant Presbyterian Church. The great strength of the book is its description and analysis of congregational life. Separate chapters on worship, music, missionary outreach, and voluntary organizations provide a richly detailed picture of the social and cultural history of a twentieth-century urban congregation. The chapters dedicated to each of the ministers are intellectual studies of the Church's continuing devotion to Presbyterian preaching and doctrine.

Despite the success of the Presbyterian Church of Saint David, an ominous apocalyptic tone lurks throughout the book. With an aging congregation and changing immigration patterns, the Church has been experiencing a precipitous decline in membership and attendance since the 1960s. Church Union did not kill the Presbyterian Church in Canada, but it is now suffering a long painful demise as a result of deep and powerful historical forces.