In 1890, a handful of Baptists met together in the loft over the top of George Raven’s wagon-wheel repair shop in the 100 block of Victoria Street, just a stone’s throw from the train tracks. Those few Baptists, less than a dozen in total, pledged themselves to working together to establish a Baptist church in the downtown of Kamloops for the glory of God’s Kingdom. Their prayer was that God would use them to lift high a lamp for the sake of the Gospel, a lamp that would shine with the truth of Jesus Christ down through the centuries. We give thanks for those precious few Baptists who resolved themselves to that difficult task, for God heard their prayers, and He answered. Today, that lamp which they lifted high still shines by the grace of God here at First Baptist Church!

Over the course of the 20th century and into the 21st, tens of thousands have heard the gospel, thousands have professed faith and been baptized, dozens of missionaries have been sent to the farthest corners of the globe, three sister churches have been planted in the surrounding area, a Bible translation for the Hazara people of Afghanistan has nearly been completed, and this church has gathered to worship the Lord, and to seek His blessing for our community, week after week, Sunday by Sunday. That torch, first lifted high long ago by just a precious few souls, still burns, and it burns brightly to our city and beyond!

Now, this church is setting out on a new endeavor. In 2016, the BC Ministry of Education began changing both the educational standards and other traditionally accepted norms within the provincial public schools. Parents of young children at First Baptist Church began to realize that changes within the public system would result in a loss of opportunity and other inequalities for struggling middle class parents and single moms who could not afford the more expensive private schools within the Province.

Confronted with a loss of access to quality educational opportunities that upheld high academic standards and supported traditional family values, the congregation of First Baptist Church began laying the foundation for what would eventually become First Baptist Classical Academy. The vision established by the church in 2016 was to educate children according to the classical methodology, to uphold high academic standards, and to support children who come from poverty by keeping tuition as low as possible.

Opening its doors in 2018 with twenty children enrolled, First Baptist Classical Academy has grown from an Elementary-only School to a full fledged Classical High School with over eighty students. The school expects its first graduates to receive their diplomas in 2026. Student at First Baptist Classical Academy are thriving, and already making a difference  within the community.

We invite you to join us on this journey. In the gathering clouds of these dark times, the moment has arrived for a new generation of Baptists to consider how to lift this torch just a little higher and how to hand it off to the next generation, that it may burn brightly for another hundred years. We invite you to give to this campaign, a journey to make the Future Ready for the return of our King.