A UEGACY OF FAITH Chapter 9 Reaching the 20th Century New Baptist Church on , 1891 When the Charlottetown Baptist Church opened its new structure on January 11, 1891, the membership of over 300 was praising God, in an aura of new beginnings. It was a new year, a new church and they were only a decade away from moving into a new century. The only thing old was a used pulpit, quite possibly the pulpit from the Great church which had been in storage. As happened with the big octagonal Baptist church just over a decade before, the grand opening event would be a week of praise, prayer and thanksgiving. At the 11:00 am opening service on Sunday, Rev. John A . Gordon gave a brief history. He noted that when the building committee was appointed the remaining debt was $4,700, which when combined with the cost of the new church made a total debt of $17,000. He told how a major fund-raising effort by the congregation, equal to the one that built the octagonal church, had already reduced the overall debt to $8,000. This was a massive stepping stone into the future as they now had an asset. Pastor Gordon said that the hope and prayer of the Charlottetown Baptist Church was that future building would be limited to God's work and membership, rather than brick and stone buildings, as it had been for the past dozen years. In the afternoon, Rev. John Read of First Methodist Preached and at the 7:00 pm evening service, Rev. Cahill of Baptist was in the pulpit. On Monday, the Daily Examiner reported that the congregations, " were so full all could not gain admittance". The news story also reported that collections for the three services amounted to $250. Special services were held every evening all week with three more standing-room-only services the following Sunday. it had been another great series of services marking the opening of the new Baptist Church in Charlottetown . If nothing else was accomplished, the people of Charlottetown were well aware that their Baptist population was a denomination that could handle adversity, as they had once again expressed their faith through 57