Find a church in Fergus

A Scottish town on the Grand

Fergus was laid out in 1833 as “Little Falls” by Adam Fergusson and James Webster on the limestone banks of the Grand River, about 18 km north-northwest of Guelph. The settlers who followed were overwhelmingly Scottish, and a church and school stood by 1835.

The village was incorporated in 1858, became a town in 1953 and joined the amalgamated Township of Centre Wellington in 1999. The 2021 census counted 23,210 residents, up from 20,767 five years earlier, and new subdivisions keep growing around the historic grid of tree-lined streets and stone buildings.

The oldest congregations

Church life is as old as the town.

• St. Andrew’s Presbyterian was established in December 1834. Its Gothic Revival stone church of 1862, designed by David Murray of Guelph, still overlooks the centre from St. George Street West.
• Melville was formed in 1845, when the Disruption split the Scottish church and most of St. Andrew’s congregation left with their minister. Its Credit Valley stone church at Tower and St. Andrew Streets opened in 1900 and holds the largest stained-glass collection in Centre Wellington. Melville joined the United Church in 1925.
• St. Joseph parish was founded in 1854 and worshipped in a small downtown church from 1869 until 2011, when it moved into a 515-seat church beside St. Joseph Catholic School at the north end of St. David Street.
• St. James the Apostle worships in a church opened in 1948 on Queen Street East beside the river. Anglican records in Fergus begin in 1867.

A second wave

The twentieth century added more congregations.

• Fergus North Canadian Reformed Church worships in a building it opened in 2015 on First Line, north of town. It began in 2004 as a daughter congregation of Maranatha.
• Maranatha Canadian Reformed Church was instituted in 1956 and worships on Belsyde Avenue East. It belongs to a federation organized by Dutch immigrants after the Second World War.
• Faith Lutheran was planted in the south end about forty years ago.
• Bethel Baptist, which says it has been in the community for many years, is on Victoria Terrace.
• Grace Christian Fellowship gathers on Farley Road on the west side.
• Spirit-Life Christian Centre, an Open Bible fellowship downtown on St. David Street South, is also recorded on the Township of Centre Wellington’s list of places of worship.

Visiting

• Downtown: the three oldest congregations, St. Andrew’s, Melville and St. James, sit within a few blocks of St. Andrew Street, the main street. Melville, St. Andrew’s and the former St. Joseph’s church are stops on the self-guided walking tour of downtown Fergus, and a riverside trail links the downtown shops to Templin Gardens.
• Parking: downtown parking is on a three-hour program in the core, with a municipal lot on St. Patrick Street.
• By car: the newer churches, St. Joseph, Fergus North, Maranatha, Faith Lutheran, Bethel and Grace, are away from the core and most easily reached by car. Fergus North is north of town on First Line.
• Online and dress: most churches in town livestream or post their services online, and several describe their dress code as “come as you are”. Fergus North notes that its members usually dress quite formally for worship.

Just outside town

Two congregations that serve Fergus families are just past the town line toward Elora, both with Elora addresses: Central Church (Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada) on Colborne Street between the two towns, and Grand River Community Church on Wellington Road 18. Belwood, on the lake north-east of town, has its own United church.