On Sunday, August 30, I had just found a pew at the back of McPhail Memorial Baptist Church at 249 Bronson Avenue — the back being where many good Christians across the denominational divide are apt to sit — when Reverend Steve Zink sat down next to me. “Good morning, I’m Steve,” he said with a warm smile. And we then proceeded to chat for some ten minutes before the service about churches in Ottawa, as well as the heritage of local Baptist faith communities. I was here to attend the 10:30 AM service, joining around 60 members of this historic downtown congregation.
Built in 1893, McPhail Memorial Baptist Church is a great example of late Victorian era architecture, drawing inspiration from both the Queen Anne Revival and Romanesque Revival. The church includes a unique turret on the south side of its facade. The congregation is named after the late Reverend Daniel McPhail (1811-1875), the Baptist pastor of Scottish heritage who was central to establishing a Baptist presence in Eastern Ontario and the Ottawa valley as early as 1836.
Reverend McPhail served for two decades at Osgoode Baptist Church, as well as during the early years of a Baptist chapel situated on Queen Street. This chapel — too small for the growing Baptist community — was demolished in 1892. The faithful had already moved out of it years earlier, erecting First Baptist Church at the corner of Elgin and Maria streets. (Maria Street is now Laurier Avenue.)
Reverend McPhail had been a pioneering spirit. He traveled through the Ottawa Valley by horse, ministering to Baptists wherever he found them. He became known to his nineteenth century contemporaries as “the Elijah of the Ottawa.” Historian Michael Haykin wrote an insightful essay on Reverend McPhail’s conversion experience, formation and his early years on his Substack. Reverend McPhail was described by a contemporary in this way: “a man of continual prayer, by day [and] by night, in the closet, in the family, as he sat, as he walked, in the pulpit and out of it, his ardent spirit held converse with his Master.”
The Ottawa Journal reported briefly on the opening of McPhail Memorial Baptist Church in its December 27, 1893 issue. When McPhail Memorial Baptist Church was completed, Bronson Avenue bore the name Concession Street. The Ottawa Journal frequently carried notices of the new church’s upcoming Sunday services. For example, in its October 27, 1894 issue, The Journal shared: “The Pastor, A.N. Frith will conduct the services. Morning theme: ‘Enemies of the Cross.’ Evening theme: ‘Superficial hearers.’ A welcome to all.” Earlier that same month, the preaching had been equally bracing: “How to die” served as the morning theme and “Bad listeners” was the focus of the 7 PM gathering.
It became clear to me at the August 30 service that McPhail Memorial Baptist Church has a clear sense of history and heritage. During the service, the family of the late Estella and Horatio Laing, originally from Jamaica and long-time dedicated members of the congregation, presented a plaque in their memory. They affixed it to the pew in which the Laings sat. In addition to Victor Laing’s words of remembrance, Vanessa London offered a musical tribute.
The hymns sung at the service were accompanied on the church’s digital organ. The community’s Director of Music is Sue Sparks. Among the hymns were “To God Be the Glory,” “Holy Spirit, Truth Divine,” “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” and “Be Still, My Soul.” Following the offerings, during a period of quiet reflection, we also heard Margot Lange on the violin and Sandra Webster on the piano. They shared Felix Mendelssohn’s piece “On Wings of Song.”
Amidst the beautiful music and the Scripture readings, the congregation prayed these words together, written in the form of a collect prayer: “Creator of light, maker of sun and stars, Giver of life, illuminator of the mind, share with us today the light that reveals, the light that exposes, the light that gives wisdom, the light that shows the way, the light that saves. So that we, in turn, may be light to those around us.”
The Scripture reading included Zechariah 11:7, where we read: “So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slain for those who trafficked in the sheep. And I took two staffs; one I named Grace, the other I named Union. And I tended the sheep.” The Gospel reading, the Parable of the Good Shepherd, further illuminated the verse from the Hebrew Scriptures. Zechariah served as the basis for Reverend Zink’s sermon, which included evocative language and imagery. Channeling a little of Henri Nowen’s concept of the wounded healer, Reverend Zink shared:
In addressing another’s need, a deep need of our own is met. Our passage today concerns a nation that had gone off the rails. Their life priorities were all sour, and it was just greediness for material gain that seemed to be the sole driving interest at hand. And their unity as a people, that had all decayed. The love of many had grown cold…But one man named Zechariah tried to turn things around. He attempted to assume leadership of the people, and rather than the usual accoutrement of leadership of that day, like crowns and thrones and scepters and the like, he took a page out of the playbook of the shepherds of the field: two staffs, hooked at the end, hooked for rescuing sheep. Obviously symbolic. He gave them names. “One I named Grace,” said Zechariah. “The other I named Union.”
In his naming, the way to improve the human situation is to hook people by grace and pull them out of their pitfalls, and bring the estranged together. Grace and Union is one translation, but there are others: Favour and Agreement. The New King James translation is this one, which I quite like: Beauty and Bonds…Have you ever been pulled back from some dark thing by the grace of another?
Following the service, all were invited to the Church Hall where something more than the customary church coffee awaited. This time, the congregation was treated to Jamaican specialties as well, including ginger beer and jerk chicken. These added some tasty spice to the post-service fellowship.
Christopher Adam
Born in Montreal, Christopher Adam has called Ottawa home for the past twenty years. He received his MA from Carleton University, with a thesis focusing on twentieth century European church history, and a PhD in History from the University of Ottawa. Over the years, he has published widely and works in the faith-based charitable sector in Ottawa.