This is us! We are a small but mighty group of ethnically diverse believers who bring their own stories , experiences, and love for Jesus with them each Sunday. We blend traditional and contemporary in our worship, celebrate the Lord’s Supper monthly, and have a small Sunday School and Nursery. This year we celebrated our 133rd Anniversary and, for the last 15 years, we have been worshiping in this wonderful church (Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd) with easy access within the city and from neighbouring towns.
FAQS Contact Information What’s happening We are part of the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec located in the Niagara Hamilton Association.
Carrie Bosco is our minister of worship. Trained in piano and voice, she uses her creativity and musical talents to encourage others to participate in a variety of ways. She sees worshiping God as a collective experience in which we all participate. Carrie is always interested in broadening our musical experience and has introduced many new instruments to us. Carrie also uses her gifts and those of others to enhance worship through visual arts.
Rev. Leslie Makins, BRE, MDiv is our Pastor. Leslie loves meeting people and hearing their stories…. especially over coffee! She hopes that everyone who comes to First Baptist feels welcomed, at home, and encounters God in some way. As a Jesus follower, Leslie is so grateful for a faithful and gracious God who gently transforms us from the inside out. Leslie has also done additional studies in Spiritual Formation, Grief and Breavement, and is a trained Spiritual Director. Leslie is married to Gary, has two grown children and five extremely loveable grandchildren.
Over 136 years ago, the journey of ‘First Baptist Church’ began when a small group of Christians responded to God’s call to share the good news of Jesus with their local community.
Initially an outreach of Main Street Baptist Church, the group began meeting in a small building on Morrison St. in 1892. By 1911 the church had grown dramatically through the baptism of new believers and an active Sunday School program. By 1915 they had outgrown the building on Morrison St. and moved to a new location on Jepson St., where they stayed until 1960. During that time, the congregation responded to the community with its active youth and music ministries as well as by sharing their building – first as a makeshift emergency hospital during the Influenza epidemic of 1918 and then as a blood donor clinic from 1943-1945.
With the baby boom of the 1950’s, the church continued to grow and after prayerful thought and deliberation, decided to move out to the Cherrywood Acres subdivision – suburbia, its location for fifty years. Today as we look back upon our history we see a trail of those who have sought and responded to God’s leading.
Our history is still being written…after many years, we decided to sell our church building and once more, re-locate. Today we are tenants of the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, where we hold our services at 11 am. We share in their facilities which has been a blessing to us.
Our postmodern society presents us with many changes: in family structures; multi-cultural diversity; and, technological advances. Despite these changes the longings of the human spirit have remained constant, a longing to know who we are and why we are here, a longing to be loved and to love, to experience grace and be forgiven, a longing to belong to community.
Today we continue, as God’s people, to listen for his voice amongst the many voices that compete for our attention. We long to live our lives obedient to His will and our desire is to share the good news of Jesus and God’s redeeming love with our friends, families and community.
