History of Our Church

Southern Baptist roots go all the way back to the Reformation in England in the sixteenth century. Various dissenters called for purification of the church and a return to the New Testament Christian example. As the English Baptists struggled with recognition, some began to come to America. They came to America, like other counterparts, to escape religious persecution in England. By the mid eighteenth century Baptist numbers grew even more due to the Great Awakening pioneered by Jonathan Edwards. By 1790, Baptists had began to organize and expand. At this time Baptists organized missionary societies to spread the Christian lifestyle to others. It was these mission societies that led to other organizational structures that would eventually define and make a denomination of Baptists. By 1830’s tension began to mount between the Northern and Southern states that corresponded with the rift that was growing between northern and southern culture in America. In 1844 these issues came to a peak and the Home Mission Society separated into northern and southern divisions. As a result of this the Baptists in the south met in May of 1845 and organized the Southern Baptist Convention to ensure that mission work continued regardless of the political tensions between the States.

After the next 100 years, "Southern Baptists" were invited North. The Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists formed in the 1950's first in B.C. and Alberta. Today, the CCSB has grown to 220 churches working together across Canada towards a national vision of planting 1000 churches by 2020. The Journey joined this effort as a church plant in 2004 and is focusing to reproduce itself in the Brampton / Georgetown area of the GTA.