About Our Story
Welcome to Plains Baptist
The Plains church is a small rural congregation whose population is drawn from St. Thomas and the rural area south of the city to the shores of Lake Erie. Our average Sunday attendance is about 70 adults and children.
The church was the First Baptist church established by early settlers in the Township of Yarmouth (now part of the Municipality of Central Elgin) in 1830 and was built on the Oak Plains of South Yarmouth Township, hence its name, First Yarmouth (Plains) Baptist Church. It is affiliated with the Elgin Baptist Association and the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec.
The congregation and its friends built a new meeting house in 1981 in close proximity to the former building which was demolished to provide parking spaces. The new church was on one level and so fully accessible. The Rev. Margaret A. Bell, M.A., M.Div. became pastor in 1990, the first Baptist woman minister to serve in Elgin County. In 2001 the building was further developed to the west and includes Oak Hall and a new kitchen.
Plain Facts Flashback 2004 Steeple Chase
Reviews from the Pews
I love that
-the voice of a child is as important as the voice of an adult
-our Plains Prayer list contains the names of people we know and people we will never know but have
been asked to pray for
-the warm pleasant atmosphere of the building reflects the warm, pleasant attitude of the congregation
-Margie is always innovative in her method of message presentations and service
193 Years Old
church
Fully Accessible
air conditioned BUILDING
147
Members
Available to Rent
hall
Our Pastor
PASTOR
Rev. Robert Spicer
Bachelor of Theology
Prior to becoming the Pastor at Plains Rob had pastoral responsibilities including:
the Associate Pastor of Youth and Family ministries at Woodville and Billtown United Baptist Churches. After graduation from Acadia Divinity College , he returned to Ontario where he was employed as Pastor of West Oro Baptist Church from AUG 2006 – SEP 2015. In OCT 2015 Rob and his family moved to Arkona, where he began as Pastor of Arkona Baptist Church, 1 NOV 2015. Rob has about 20 years of ministry experience in different contexts starting as a Sunday School teacher when he was a teen, and later he volunteered as a youth leader. In 2002-03 he was employed as the Christian Education Director at Bethany Baptist Church in Ottawa and worked primarily with the youth and children. His other experience in pastoral roles is briefly outlined above.