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The church was formed by 12 fugitive slaves in 1826, under the leadership of Elder Washington Christian. Reverend Christian was a former slave who established multiple Baptist churches in Canada.

It had not been possible to attend existing white churches because the fugitives were required to have a letter from their old church and to pay their old slave masters for the money lost due to their escape.

At first, services were held outside or in the homes of members of the church. Reverend Christian rented a masonic temple in 1827. Although some white congregants attended the black church's services, a church for white members was established in 1829.

There were reportedly 66 members of the First Baptist Church in 1837. In the same year, a visitor noted that half the congregation was white, half was black.

In 1841, the congregation moved to its first permanent location after being gifted land by the family of Squires McCutcheon to build a church at Queen Street and Victoria Street. Soon after, white members left for a different Baptist church. In 1843, Elder Washington Christian went to Jamaica for two years, returning with enough raised funds to pay off the new church's mortgage. The location was known as "First Coloured Calvinistic Baptist Church" or "Queen Street Coloured Baptist Church."