Welcome Home!
As the ARB Church Family, we exist to declare Jesus Christ in our lives, in our community, and in the world, and to faithfully share in His mission.
It has been over 30 years of worshipping and serving the community from our Avenue Road location, however our being a part of this community and this city reaches well back into the 1850's.
More than one and a half centuries ago, a small black Baptist congregation first located a church at what is now the corners of Ainslie Street and Park Hill Drive.
The pastor was “Judge” Thompson, part-time minister and part-time barber.
White Baptist settlers met in private homes until 1875 when they organized a group to meet in a rented hall in downtown Galt. The following year, South Water Street Baptist Church was born with black and white members in the congregation.
It was in 1876 that the first officially organized Baptist Church was established in Galt and became known as South Water Street Baptist Church. It later changed its name to First Baptist, until it amalgamated with Delta Park Baptist to become Avenue Road Baptist Church, and built a new church building across from Shade's Mills Conservation Area. The new church structure was dedicated on Jan. 8, 1984, though our services began in the building here in November of 1983.
For over 140 years, Avenue Road Baptist Church and its forerunners have been a leader in Christian community service.
Again in 2008, the congregation launched a major building program that added 8,000 square feet to provide a full-size gymnasium, a fellowship room, meeting rooms, additional washrooms that are fully accessible for wheelchairs, a cloak room, storage space and an elevator to go between floors. This new $950,000 building expansion was officially opened on April 27th 2008, providing further opportunities for service.
During the church's entire history, it has been involved in community projects. In its current location, within the Fiddlesticks Neighbourhood Association area of the city, the church has partnered in many community activities, including social and recreational programming.
Our history is deep and so is our future. We can't wait to see what God keeps doing here at Avenue Road!