In Genesis 16, an angel of the LORD asked “where have you come from, and where are you going?” We are all a people with “history” and as a church we believe that much of where we have come from is a strong part of where God is leading us. This story is not just for new people to the church but a reminder to us as a community in order to know where we have come from in order to know where we might just be going.
East Toronto Chinese Baptist Church (ETCBC) started as the East Side Mission of Toronto Chinese Baptist Church. The East Side Mission was established with rented space from Temple Baptist Church at 14 Dewhurst on June 30, 1974. The first congregation has seventy-eight (78) transferred members. Rev. T.P. Li was our first Pastor with an appointed Executive Board under the guidance of our Mother Church Deacons.
The East Side Mission grew with the Gospel and local Chinese population. It was established for the first time as the East Toronto Chinese Baptist Church (ETCBC) in January 26, 1980.
A majority of the ETCBC congregation moved to a new Church Building at Yonge & Finch to form the North Toronto Chinese Baptist Church (NTCBC) in 1987. The Gospel work continued in 14 Dewhurst as the East Side Mission of North Toronto Chinese Baptist Church.
The NTCBC East Side Mission grew into an independent church in January 5, 1991 and it was established for the second time as the East Toronto Chinese Baptist Church (ETCBC). Due to a terminating lease and needs for more space, the congregation as a whole moved into a new Church Building at 22 Carnforth Rd. in March 1999. We are privileged to have many leaders and co-workers sharing our 27 years passage as a Church. They are:
• Rev. T.P. Li began Gospel work in 1974 and guided us to form the 1st ETCBC
• Rev. Laurence Loo joined us in 1988 and guided us to form the 2nd ETCBC
• Rev. Alfred Lam joined us in 1991, established the ETCBC English congregation and lead the relocation of our Church
• Paula & Lisa Chan interned with us in the mid-90s to start our youth work
• Pastor Gilman Ho joined us in 1997 to strengthen our youth work
• Pastor Grace Hou has been working with us since the late 90s overseeing the growth of our Mandarin congregation. She joined the Church as a full time Pastor in 2000
• Mrs. Chui Lin Tsang joined the Church as Administrative Assistant in 2000
• Pastor Eric Chu joined us in 2000 to further strengthen our Cantonese Ministry
• Rev. Tim Tang joined us in 2001 to continue to strengthen our English Ministry
• Rev. Raymond Cheng came on staff in 2005 to take up the Cantonese Ministry
• Pastor Paul Kao took the lead role in our Mandarin Ministry after years of serving faithfully as a deacon
Looking back into our 35 year history, we have experienced many changes in ETCBC as a congregation. For every one of these defining moments God has sent His workers to strengthen and lead us into new opportunities for spreading the Gospel.
We have indeed experienced His greatness and blessing as a Church. And now as 3 equal congregations we move forward in however God may lead and guide us with confidence of his sovereignty. To commemorate and celebrate our 10th year at Carnforth Road, this short video was made: