Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Surnames/tags: congregations religion
First Baptist Church began as a Sunday school meeting in Blair Hall, at the back of Blair Saloon, at the corner of Abbot and Water Streets, on Sunday, June 6, 1886. The following Sunday afternoon was the Vancouver Fire, and Blair Hall was burned down along with almost every other structure in the city. The Sunday school met in the open air for a time, then in the rebuilt Blair Hall, then in a hall behind the Gold Hotel, then in Sullivan Hall. On March 16, 1887, in Sullivan Hall, First Baptist Church was organised with 10 members. Within six weeks, the members had purchased a lot and put up a small frame building on Westminster Avenue (now 432 Main Street) at a cost of $700.00.
The church soon outgrew the original building, and on September 15, 1889, the church moved to a new wood frame building with a prominent steeple at the corner of Hamilton and Dunsmuir (where the Vancouver Playhouse now stands) which seated 800 people.
On June 11, 1911, the church dedicated a new stone building at the corner of Nelson and Burrard, with seating for 950 people, expandable to 1,200. The cornerstone for the new building was laid by John Morton, the first white settler in what is now Vancouver, and a Baptist layman. A fire which started in the early morning of February 10, 1931 gutted the sanctuary, and the church met in the Dominion Theater until the church was rebuilt and rededicated on November 15, 1931.
First Baptist Church is part of the Baptist Convention of British Columbia, which in turn is part of Canadian Baptists of Western Canada, which is a constituent part of Canadian Baptist Ministries.
Contents |
Former Pastors
Name | Began | Ended | Notes | Sourcing Level1 | Connected?2 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Robert Lennie | 1884 | 1887 | Missionary pastor, and later pastor of Olivet Baptist Church, New Westminster. | 3 | Yes |
John Whitehouse Daniels | 1887 | 1887 | First pastor. | 3 | Yes |
James Bell Kennedy | 1887 | 1890 | 3 | Yes | |
William Cornett Weir | 1890 | 1894 | 3 | Yes | |
Wesley Thomas Stackhouse | 1896 | 1899 | 3 | Yes | |
Walter Benwell Hinson | 1899 | 1900 | Later served as pastor of East Side Baptist Church in Portland, Oregon. After his death, the church was renamed after him. | 3 | Yes |
Roland D. Grant | 1900 | 1903 | 3 | Yes | |
Joseph Willard Litch | 1904 | 1907 | Later went on to become Superintendant for Home Missions in British Columbia, Alberta, and Manitoba. | 3 | Yes |
Henry Francis Perry | 1909 | 1915 | 3 | Yes | |
John L. Campbell | 1915 | 1919 | 3 | Yes | |
Gabriel Reid Maguire | 1920 | 1923 | 3 | Yes | |
John Jacob Ross | 1923 | 1929 | 3 | Yes | |
Orville Ernest Daniel | 1926 | 1927 | Associate Pastor. Later went on to be a missionary in India, and later become the General Secretary of the Canadian Baptist Overseas Mission Board. | 3 | Yes |
John Reid "J. R." Turnbull | 1926 | 1927 | Associate Pastor. | 3 | Yes |
W. Geisweit | Interim Pastor. | ||||
Henry Knox | 1929 | 1931 | Interim Pastor. | 3 | Yes |
Elbert Paul | 1932 | 1951 | 3 | Yes | |
Fredrick Tipton Williams | 1944 | 1946 | Associate Pastor. | 3 | Yes |
Gordon Woodcock | 1948 | 1950 | Associate Pastor. | 3 | Yes |
Wayman Kenneth Roberts | 1951 | 1955 | Died in ministry. | 3 | Yes |
Henry Knox | 1955 | 1955 | Interim Pastor (second time). | 3 | Yes |
Robert George Quiggin | 1955 | 1956 | Interim Pastor. | 3 | Yes |
Fredrick Tipton Williams | Associate Pastor (second time). | 3 | Yes | ||
J. Gordon Jones | 1956 | 1963 | 3 | Yes | |
J. H. Slimon | Temporary while Dr. Jones was in India. | 3 | Yes | ||
James Willox Duncan | 1963 | 1964 | Interim Pastor. | 3 | Yes |
Bob Vaughan | 1962 | 1965 | Associate Pastor. | No | |
Arnold Westcott | 1964 | 1970 | 3 | Yes | |
Stuart Frayne | 1964 | 1968 | Associate Pastor | 2 | Yes |
Roy Bell | 1970 | 1981 | 0.5 | No | |
Ernest Runions | 1982 | 1983 | Interim Minister of Preaching | 1 | Yes |
James Willox Duncan | 1972 | 1981 | Minister of Visitation. | 3 | Yes |
Arthur James Hadley | 1994 | 1995 | Interim Director of Ministries. | 0.5 | No |
Katsumi Imayoshi | 1999 | 2010 | Minister of Pastoral Care | 3 | No |
Bob Swann | 1999 | 2020 | Minister of Mission and Outreach | No | |
Thomas "Greg" Anderson | 2000 | 2005 | Executive Minister | No | |
Andrea Tisher | 2011 | 2019 | Minister of Minister/Associate Pastor | No | |
Darrell Johnson | 2009 | 2015 | Senior Pastor | No | |
Darrell Johnson | 2015 | 2018 | Preaching Pastor | No | |
Elly Krogman | 2015 | 2015 | Tranisitional Pastor | No | |
Timothy Kuepfer | 2016 | Senior Pastor | No | ||
Judith Lang | 2011 | 2014 | Associate Minister for Congregational Care | No | |
Jo-Ann Matiachuk | 2006 | 2010 | Executive Minister | No | |
Jo-Ann Matiachuk | 1998 | 2006 | Minister for Children and Families | No | |
Frank McLeod | 2005 | Pastoral Care | No | ||
David Bruce Milne | 1984 | 2000 | No | ||
David Musser | 1981 | 1982 | Minister of Music | No | |
Janet Porcino | 1990 | 2011 | Minister of Discipleship | No | |
Jim Postlewaite | 1987 | 1997 | Ministry of Education/Adult ministries | No | |
Neil Redenbaugh | 2011 | 2015 | Youth Director | No | |
Myrna Sears | 1980 | 1985 | Associate Minister | No | |
Santosh Ninan | 2005 | 2008 | First@Night | No | |
Jaylynn Warren Byassee | 2018 | Minister of Outreach | No | ||
Monica Westerholm | 2013 | 2014 | Int. Coordinator of Music and Worship | No | |
Bradly Steyn | 2007 | 2017 | Shelter Ministry Coordinator | No | |
Yvonne Archer | Pastor | No | |||
Robert Bahr | 2015 | 2015 | Chaplain Leader | No | |
Filipe Baliero | 2017 | 2020 | Director of Youth Ministries | No | |
Filipe Baliero | 2021 | 2023 | Associate pastor | No | |
Jeremy Bell | 1981 | 1988 | Minister of Outreach | No | |
Keith Boschman | 2018 | Minister of Outreach & Evangelism | No | ||
Anthony Brown | 2019 | 2022 | Senior Pastor | No | |
Marianne Buerger | 2006 | 2008 | Director of Children and Family Ministries | No | |
Jason Byasse | 2018 | 2018 | Interim Pastor | No | |
Theodore Chan | 1996 | 1998 | No | ||
Thomas Cowan | 2004 | 2009 | Senior Pastor | No | |
John Cuddeford | 2009 | 2001 | Minister at Large | No | |
Benjamin Ewert | 2021 | 2023 | Associate Pastor/Worship Arts | No | |
Jack Farr | 1988 | 1993 | Associate Pastor | No | |
Luz Figueroa | 2009 | 2013 | Director of Children and Family Ministries | No | |
James Glabraith | 1994 | 1997 | Intern, Youth and CE | No | |
Edna Grenz | 1990 | 2010 | Minister of Worship | No | |
Abraham Han | 2010 | 2015 | Associate Minister of Urban & Community Life | No | |
Abraham Han | 2017 | present | Executive Minister | No | |
Phil Harbridge | 1992 | 2004 | Youth pastor | No | |
John Hayashi | 2005 | 2008 | Minister of Youth and Young Adults | No | |
Michael Hayes | 1998 | 2001 | Lay Leadership | No |
Missionaries
Name | Began | Ended | Country | Sourcing Level1 | Connected?2 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mary Evangeline Pattullo | 1924 | 1931 | Bolivia | 3 | Yes |
Arthur Howard Plummer | 1924 | 1931 | Bolivia | 1 | Yes |
Orville Ernest Daniel | 1929 | 1948 | India (Later served as General Secretary of the Canadian Baptist Overseas Mission Board.) | 3 | Yes |
Barbara Forster | 1983 | present | international ministries at FBC | No |
Former Organists
Name | Began | Ended | Notes | Sourcing Level1 | Connected?2 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Laura Carlisle | 3 | No | |||
John Alexander | 1905 | 1905 | 1 | No | |
Evan Walters | 1928 | 1956 | 3 | Yes | |
Roger Grose | 2023 | No | |||
Ay-Laung "Ellen" Wang | 2017 | No | |||
Jane Kim | 2018 | present | No |
Footnotes
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Sources
- Carmichael, W.M. These Sixty Years: Being the Story of First Baptist Church, Vancouver, B.C. Vancouver, BC: First Baptist Church (1947) (Printed by Capitol Press.)
- Chan, Kenneth, "Stunning church restoration part of The Butterfly tower in downtown Vancouver." Urbanized, November 30, 2021.
- Changing Vancouver: Burrard Street – north from Nelson Street, January 29, 2014.
- Changing Vancouver: First Baptist Church - Burrard Street (1), January 31, 2014.
- Changing Vancouver: First Baptist Church - Dunsmuir and Hamilton, July 30, 2014.
- Changing Vancouver: First Baptist Church - Burrard Street (2), November 1, 2018.
- Cummings, Leslie J., Our First Century. Vancouver, BC: First Baptist Church (1986).
- First Baptist Church of Vancouver
- MDM, "Church Membership Transfers." Vancouver As It Was: A Photo-Historical Journey, August 4, 2017.
- MDM, "'10 Commandments' for Church Ushers." Vancouver As It Was: A Photo-Historical Journey, October 20, 2020.
- MDM, "Art Glass at First Baptist Church." Vancouver As It Was: A Photo-Historical Journey, May 1, 2021.
- MDM, "Radio FBC." Vancouver As It Was: A Photo-Historical Journey, July 14, 2022.
- Ritchie, Flyn, "The sky’s the limit at First Baptist, but the church’s purpose remains the same." Church for Vancouver, April 7, 2021.
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