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Backgrounder
First Baptist Church, Amherstburg
The Amherstburg First Baptist Church played a crucial role in the development of Black communities and identity in eastern Canada, chiefly in its role as the Mother Church of the Amherstburg Regular Missionary Baptist Association (ARMBA). Established with the help of the leaders of the First Baptist Church in 1841, the ARMBA was one of the most important Black organizations in the region. It enabled people of African descent to pursue their ambitions, develop their talents, and assume positions of leadership at a time when they were denied these prospects elsewhere. The organization offered opportunities for self-governance and leadership that were not available in the society around them. The ARMBA continues to operate in Ontario.
The church was built in 1848-1849 under the leadership of the charismatic pastor Anthony Binga. Even before the church dedicated its own purpose-built structure, the congregation supported the flight from slavery, specifically through the people, places, and activities collectively known as the Underground Railroad. Because of its proximity to the international border and because of the narrowness of the Detroit river at Amherstburg, the town was a primary receiving point for African-Americans seeking freedom. They began to settle there in the 1820s, joining a previously established African-Canadian community. By the mid 1840s, the Black Baptist community at Amherstburg desired a formal, purpose-built church to house its activities. Construction began after years of fundraising led by Anthony Binga, whose efforts on behalf of the church are legendary in the community. The church was built in large part by its congregants.
The church has a simple, compact, rectangular form, with a small front vestibule. It is known as an auditory church because its open, compact form allows congregants to hear the preacher, a key figure in Baptist practice, and to participate in the call-and-response rituals that characterize Black Baptist worship. Early additions to the church of specialized architectural features such as the baptismal pool behind the pulpit and the social hall behind the sanctuary offered a fitting spiritual home for thousands of Black Baptists. Beneath the white vinyl siding that currently covers the church exterior the original wide plank siding of the 1849 building is preserved. The First Baptist Church exhibits a clarity of plan, simplicity in massing and decoration, and modesty of scale typical of auditory churches built by Black settlers, as well as other Protestant groups in this period in what would become Ontario.
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The church was built in 1848-1849 under the leadership of the charismatic pastor Anthony Binga. Even before the church dedicated its own purpose-built structure, the congregation supported the flight from slavery, specifically through the people, places, and activities collectively known as the Underground Railroad. Because of its proximity to the international border and because of the narrowness of the Detroit river at Amherstburg, the town was a primary receiving point for African-Americans seeking freedom. They began to settle there in the 1820s, joining a previously established African-Canadian community. By the mid 1840s, the Black Baptist community at Amherstburg desired a formal, purpose-built church to house its activities. Construction began after years of fundraising led by Anthony Binga, whose efforts on behalf of the church are legendary in the community. The church was built in large part by its congregants.
The church has a simple, compact, rectangular form, with a small front vestibule. It is known as an auditory church because its open, compact form allows congregants to hear the preacher, a key figure in Baptist practice, and to participate in the call-and-response rituals that characterize Black Baptist worship. Early additions to the church of specialized architectural features such as the baptismal pool behind the pulpit and the social hall behind the sanctuary offered a fitting spiritual home for thousands of Black Baptists. Beneath the white vinyl siding that currently covers the church exterior the original wide plank siding of the 1849 building is preserved. The First Baptist Church exhibits a clarity of plan, simplicity in massing and decoration, and modesty of scale typical of auditory churches built by Black settlers, as well as other Protestant groups in this period in what would become Ontario.
News Release associated with this Backgrounder.
