"Relics from the past hang on the walls and line the shelves at First Baptist Church; items like a burned brick from a fire the structure once endured and a delicate communion set from the early 1800s. As the church celebrates its 200th anniversary, Pastor Wendell Gibbs says they hope to continue honouring its legacy while building its community. "We were birthed in 1826, so we're actually older than Canada, which is pretty interesting," he said, adding the church is known as the oldest Black institution in Toronto. "We've renovated over the years and transformed not just the building, but I would say we've transformed lives in many ways, both inside and outside of these walls.""
"Gibbs said First Baptist Church is the site of one of the first places of worship for early slaves who had made their way north to freedom in the early 1800s. After local white churches imposed impossible standards for former slaves to attend worship, he said, 12 men and women who had escaped through the Underground Railroad started their own, led by Washington Christian, a former slave from Virginia. At that time, it was called the Coloured Calvinistic Baptist Church."
First Baptist Church preserves physical relics like a burned brick from a past fire and a delicate early-1800s communion set while marking its 200th anniversary. The congregation traces its founding to 1826 when 12 formerly enslaved men and women who escaped via the Underground Railroad established a Black-led congregation originally called the Coloured Calvinistic Baptist Church after exclusion from local white churches. The congregation relocated to 101 Huron St. in Chinatown in 1955 and became a gathering place for Black immigrants and Nova Scotians. The current membership reflects a diverse downtown Toronto community and continues renovations and community-building efforts.
Read at www.cbc.ca
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