The High River Baptist Church officially began on Sunday, July 11, 1909. Work began immediately to build a chapel and October 17 of that year saw the dedication of the new building. The stock market collapse of 1929 and the droughts of the thirties hit the Church very hard. It was in this time that the High River Baptist Church almost ceased to exist as they debated closing the doors. But the Lord was faithful to His people.
Under the pastorate of Lorne Irwin the building on 5th Avenue was constructed and we moved into it in 1973. That grand opening celebration brought out nearly 700 people that packed into all corners of the building. This new building gave much needed space for Sunday morning service, Sunday school, nursery and other functions.
The Church continued to grow with attendance reaching an average of 230 on Sunday mornings and so plans began to once again expand the facility. In 2008 work began to add space for Sunday services, a fellowship hall, offices, nursery and more Sunday school space with completion of the addition in early 2009.
In 2013 the High River Flood brought devastation to the town. Our church building was torn down due to the damage. In the months following the flood we were blessed to be able to minister alongside the High River Alliance Church & the Full Gospel Church in sharing their buildings and office space. As we sought the Lord’s direction in how to proceed and where to re-build we were given the opportunity to purchase land on the east side of Highway 2 in January 2014. Then started the process of choosing a company to design and build our new church with construction beginning in the Spring of 2015. We moved into our new church building February 2016 and our first church service was on March 4, 2016.
We look back over our history and praise God for all He has done. We thank God for the pastors He has used over the last 100+ years to minister to our congregation and for those He will use in the future. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness over the years! Our prayer is that as a body of believers we will stand firm in the principles God has given us in His Word.