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.