Denomination Presbyterian PCA Province Ontario Parish Ontario | Dedication St. Andrew Phone +1 416-860-0895 | |
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Former name(s) St Andrews Presbyterian Church, St Andrews Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Presbytery Presbytery of Eastern Canada Address 383 Jarvis St, Toronto, ON M5B 2C7, Canada Similar Grace Church on‑the‑Hill, St Andrew's Church, Allan Gardens, Jarvis Street Baptist C, Metropolitan United Church | ||
O come o come emmanuel nov 24 2013 grace toronto church
Grace Toronto Church is a Presbyterian Church in America congregation in Toronto, Ontario, Canada worshipping in the historic St. Andrews Church building.
Contents
Be thou my vision oct 9 2011 grace toronto church
History of the Building
The church was originally built as Old St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. St. Andrew's Church, (Church of Scotland) had dated back to 1830 when Toronto was still the Town of York. This congregation had split in 1874 over whether it should move west from the corner of Adelaide and Church Streets. The majority erected a new church in 1876 at King and Simcoe that became known as "New St. Andrew's", and it remains there to this day. The church was renovated by Henry Langley (architect) in 1877-78. Those who wished to stay in the area stayed in "Old St. Andrew's". There was however, a need for a new building, and in 1878, they moved northeastward into this building at the corner of Jarvis and Carlton Streets.
The Soviet invasion of the Baltic regions had produced an influx of refugees into Toronto. At the same time, the United Church of Canada, which Old St. Andrew's had joined in 1925, was in relative decline within the downtown core of Toronto.
In 1950, Old St. Andrew's had joined with Westminster-Central to become St. Andrew's United Church near the corner of Bloor East and Yonge Streets, and by 1951, the Old St. Andrew's building was sold, and it became the main church of Toronto's Latvian and Estonian worshippers. Saint Andrew as a renowned saint of the Christian Church, was retained by the congregations.
Until September 30, 2015, the church remained home to two congregations of both the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran and Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Churches.
As of October 1, 2015, St. Andrew's became the new home for Grace Toronto Church. The historic building became home of a Presbyterian church again.
History of Grace Toronto Church
Grace Toronto Church was founded in 1992 by Stephen Beck. During this time the church flourished. In 2002, Beck and his family left to become missionaries in Germany, and attendance at Grace began to dwindle. In 2004, Reverend Dan MacDonald became pastor of the church. The church was reduced to a handful of people in 2004, so Dan and Sue, under the guidance of the denomination, re-planted the church. The congregation was reduced to 10 people. In 2006 there were 25 regular attenders. Since 2006 the congregation has grown exponentially.
Beliefs
The Building
St. Andrew's Church was built by Langley & Burk in 1878 for Rev. M.G. Milligan and the congregation of the original St. Andrew's Church. The building is designed in a gothic style with a linear orientation on an East-West axis, with towers dominating the western side where the main entrances are located. The facade is a simple-yet-elegant design featuring groupings of stained-glass windows on the north, east and south sides of the building, to allow maximum light exposure during the morning hours when service would take place. The materials used in the construction are brick, wood, stone and stained-glass. The exterior shows mainly the brick and stone elements, while the interior reveals more of the warm wood texture complemented by the intimate lighting from the stained-glass windows. The approximate dimensions of the building are 36 meters by 25 meters for the body of the building, and 17 meters high to the top of the pitched roof, and 46 meters and 25 meters to the tops of the two steeples.