St. Paul’s began as a community of faith in the summer of 1749; opening the doors of its church building on 2 September, 1750. St. Paul’s is preparing to commemorate our 275TH Anniversary in 2024 – 2025. Our commemorations will be two-fold. First, to thank God (in public) for God’s faithfulness to our St. Paul’s ancestors and fellow parishioners, and to thank our ancestors and fellow parishioners for their faithfulness to God in worship, life, and missions in downtown Halifax. Second, to look ahead to the new mercies of God in downtown Halifax as we are faithful in the worship, life, and missions of St. Paul’s Church which includes moving gently and sincerely through building friendships with our neighbours.
St. Paul’s is the oldest building in Halifax and the oldest existing Protestant place of worship in Canada. Founded by proclamation of King George II in 1749, the building was erected in the summer of 1750. On September 2, 1750 the Reverend William Tutty held the first service inside what was, according to Mr. Tutty, “not completely fitted up”. The architectural plans were based on St. Peter’s Church, Vere Street, London which was designed in 1722 by James Gibbs, a pupil of Sir Christopher Wren. The resemblance between the two churches is remarkable despite the addition of St. Paul’s vestibule and steeple, 1812, the side wings, 1868, and the chancel, 1872. The timbers of St. Paul’s were cut in Saco, Maine and shipped to Halifax. Most of the materials including the bricks to line the walls were made locally. Over two and a half centuries later, the original wooden structure remains as sound as the day it was built. Charles Inglis, first overseas Bishop of the Church of England, arrived in 1787 making St. Paul’s his cathedral. Until the construction of a garrison chapel in 1844, St. Paul’s was also the first garrison church in Halifax. For more than 12,000 Sundays worshippers have gathered here to celebrate Christ’s death and resurrection, to read God’s word and to hear it preached from the pulpit, to bring before Him the needs of the world and to offer Him humble thanks for his goodness.
We give deep thanks to the Mi’kmaq on whose ancestral lands this building rests; and we are committed to ongoing reconciliation with them and their land.
St. Paul’s Church is rooted in the evangelical tradition and is a parish of the Diocese of NS & PEI (nspeidiocese.ca), and a member of the Anglican Church of Canada (http://www.anglicancommunion.org/).
