Bayfair History

1935 Our story at Bayfair started back in 1935 in the hearts of Mr. G Attrell who began with the help of his wife and four other families a Sunday school work in a cottage on the west side of Frenchman's Bay. This group gave birth in later years to a small Church by the name of Dunfair Baptist Church under the leadership of Pastor Moman.
1956 Dunfair Baptist Church prospered over the years until in October 1956 Dunfair was accepted into the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptists Churches of Canada.
1961 A small group of people under the direction and guidance of Mr John Jamison started meeting in Bay Road School and called themselves Bay Ridges Church. Within seven months of starting in March 1962 Mr Clifford Schenk took over the leadership of this small group and served faithfully as Lay- Pastor until 1969.
1969 This was a busy period for the Bay Ridges Church, moved to Bayview Heights School and then into a portable building. That same year a young pastor by the name of J Hannah was called to lead this young church. That same year Bay Ridges was accepted into the fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches of Canada.
1970 This is the year of the birth of Bayfair Baptist Church and this was achieved by the amalgamation of Dunfair and Bay Ridges. Pastor Hannah continued as the pastor of this new church and saw it blessed by God in many ways.
1977 Sam Martin a new immigrant from Scotland became the Senior Pastor in this year. Over the period of the ensuing 26 years under the leadership of Sam Martin the Lord blessed Bayfair Baptist Church in many ways. Several building projects were completed during this period. Also, many summer short term mission trips were organized and completed to areas throughout the world. During this period the Arms of Jesus Children’s mission was formed by Pastor Martin and to this day is meeting the needs of children in many parts of the world.
1980 Bayfair Daycare was incorporated and has grown through the years to be one of the region’s largest daycare facility and certainly one of the best.
2004 Dan Collison accepted the position of Senior Pastor in this period. Dan highlighted the necessity of outreach in the local church and also the unity of the churches in the Durham Region.
2008 Brian Wardlaw accepted the position as Interim Teaching Pastor at Bayfair for a period of one year. Brian has had a long relationship with Bayfair as a missionary in the Amazon area of Brazil.
2009 Brian Wardlaw accepted the position as Lead Pastor on June 1st at Bayfair. Brian has many years of cross cultural training that makes the future of reaching our multicultural society really exciting, already new initiatives have been initiated to that end.