Saturday, April 25, 2015

Calvary Baptist Church

Calvary Baptist Church is south of the downtown core in Ottawa, east of the Rideau Canal. The congregation happens to be marking its one hundredth anniversary this weekend with numerous events. I passed by some days ago and took a couple of shots amid the rain. The church building is the original sanctuary for the congregation, though additions have been made in the century since its founding.


38 comments:

  1. I see that Ottawa has a lot of churches. People should be very religious.

    Tomás.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Another nice building. I enjoy learning about the places in Ottawa. Thank you :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. it doesn't look so much as a church.

    ReplyDelete
  4. 1915 would have been a tumultuous years to start.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Happy Anniversary to this simple church. These building offer soooooo much more than 'crystal cathedrals'. Well, at least in my book.

    ReplyDelete
  6. 100 years is something to celebrate.

    ReplyDelete
  7. @Randy: compared to some, yes, but it has character.

    @Cloudia: thanks!

    @Tomas: there are quite a lot of churches, and more Baptist churches than I'd realized.

    @Denise: you're most welcome.

    @Marianne: it's simpler than what I might see in a Catholic church, but that actually works well.

    @Revrunner: yes, particularly with so many young men over seas.

    @Hilary: it does, yes.

    @Birdman: I quite agree.

    @Tex: definitely.

    @Red: it's quite an anniversary.

    ReplyDelete
  8. A nice looking church, but I miss the steeple... :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. The building still looks good for being that old.

    ReplyDelete
  10. No steeple?

    It does look good for its age though!

    ReplyDelete
  11. There is a friendliness about its scale.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Unpretentious and stood the test of time.

    ReplyDelete
  13. @MB: I certainly do think so.

    @Judy: I agree!

    @Karl: not all churches have them, but they often do seem to be the standard.

    @Lowell: It looks like they've taken good care of it. The landscaping by the sidewalk, however, is harbingers of what's to come. That street, as I understand it, is having serious work done for the next year or so, so it's going to be chaos.

    @Cheryl: that's what I thought.

    @Shelly: red brick features into many a place here.

    @VP: indeed!

    @RedPat: I did think so.

    @Jackie: it certainly has.

    ReplyDelete
  14. The church is a lovely old building. It has a "homey" shape. I am surprised that the surrounding is not more in tune with the church, but your comment above suggests that changes are in the pipeline.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Lovely building William, I wish them well..

    ReplyDelete
  16. There's a lot to be said for modesty and unpretentiousness. This seems a nice example of both.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Very sweet little church William, so curious to know what it's like inside. It's quite interesting just how many churches are built on street corners!

    ReplyDelete
  18. That's a major anniversary. When I hear about this sort of thing, I always wonder if there are descendants from the first congregation in the current one....

    ReplyDelete
  19. @Gemma: the area's been built up in the decades since, with some modern infill, particularly with retail.

    @Geoff: it's a church with character.

    @Jan: it is!

    @Gill: true, but not every church needs to be over the top.

    @Linda: I agree.

    @Linda: I do think so.

    @Kay: indeed.

    @Orvokki: thanks!

    @Grace: it does have a lot of history- and the interior would be different from what I'm used to... but then again, maybe not.

    @Norma: I would imagine that is possible.

    ReplyDelete
  20. The architectural lines are much simpler than some of the other denominations.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Just by looking, I would not know it was a church.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I am the pastor of this wonderful congregation here on Main St. First of all, I want to thank William for featuring us on his site, during our centennial celebrations no less. It was very thoughtful, and the picture you took is a great one.

    Thank you also to all the kind commenters, wishing us well, and commenting on the modesty, homeliness, and unpretentiousness of the building. It takes a lot of work to maintain a building this old, but we have many faithful servants who help take care of it.

    We have a saying in our church, which is based on what the Bible teaches about the church: "The church is a people, not a building." (Or, "The church is made up of people, not bricks.") We are extremely grateful to God for the building in which we can meet to worship each week. But the true character of a church is found in its congregants, and of course even more so in the God they worship.

    So for all those wondering what it's like inside, I heartily invite you to visit sometime. We meet on Sunday mornings at 10:30 a.m. Come see what it looks like inside: perhaps it will be what you expect--perhaps not at all what you expect. But more so, meet the true Calvary Baptist Church in its diverse, multi-ethnic, multi-generational followers of Jesus. We'd love to meet you sometime, and I pray we'd live up to the kind comments on this blog.

    calvarybaptistchurch.ca

    ReplyDelete