Toronto Chinese Baptist Church
Encyclopedia
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
church serving the Chinese-Canadian community of Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It was originally built as Beverley Street Baptist Church in 1886 by William McMaster
William McMaster
William McMaster was a wholesaler, Senator and banker in the 19th century. A director of the Bank of Montreal from 1864–1867, he was a driving force behind the creation of the Canadian Bank of Commerce of which he served as the founding president from 1867 to his death in 1887.He served in the...
and is a designated historic buildinghttp://app.toronto.ca/heritage/browseLetter.do?letter=B. It overlooks The Grange that is today attached to the Art Gallery of Ontario
Art Gallery of Ontario
Under the direction of its CEO Matthew Teitelbaum, the AGO embarked on a $254 million redevelopment plan by architect Frank Gehry in 2004, called Transformation AGO. The new addition would require demolition of the 1992 Post-Modernist wing by Barton Myers and Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg...
.
The church is located just to the east of the heart of Toronto's Chinatown. Chinese Baptists first met in the basement of the building in 1967. Five year later the church was purchased for the Chinese community with services being held in Cantonese. Today the church offers services in Cantonese, Mandarin and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. The growing Chinese-Canadian Baptist community has also led to the East Toronto, North Toronto, Mississauga and Scarborough Chinese Baptist Churches being established in Toronto's suburbs as well as the Windsor Chinese Baptist Church. Many of these daughter churches have in turn established daughter churches of their own further into the suburbs.
Toronto Chinese Baptist Church is a member of the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec
Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec
Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec is the oldest union of Baptist churches in central Canada.In 1880 a "Baptist Union of Canada" was formed. Since the churches were located chiefly in the central provinces, the name was changed in 1888 to "Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec"...
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