First Hamilton Christian Reformed Church

First Hamilton Christian Reformed Church stands at the corner of Charlton Avenue West and Hess Street in Durand. The red-brick Gothic Revival church was designed by the Hamilton architect P. Brass and dedicated on 3 October 1883 as the Hannah Street Methodist Church; the City’s heritage inventory, quoting an earlier description, calls it “an extraordinary towerless church with three gabled facades” and notes its date stone of 1882. It later housed Charlton Avenue Methodist and Charlton Avenue Baptist congregations, and in November 1948 First Christian Reformed Church took it over, paying $23,000 and handing over its own smaller church at Dundurn and Main Streets.

The congregation began in Burlington in the late 1920s as the Netherlands First Christian Reformed Church, and in 1929 it bought the vacant Dundurn United Church in Hamilton and began services under the Reverend John S. Balt. It grew with the Dutch immigration that followed the Second World War, and the heritage inventory describes it as the “Mother Church” of the Christian Reformed congregations founded around Hamilton, among them Fruitland (1950), Mount Hamilton (1952), Flamborough (1954) and Immanuel (1961). Its staff today include Pastor Hayden Regeling and the manager of its Christians Against Poverty debt centre.

Since 6 September 2026 Sunday worship has begun at 11:00 in the morning, in person and streamed live on YouTube. From the same date Blessings Christian Church, a Canadian Reformed congregation, has held its own services in the building at 9:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., until further notice, while its own building on Stanley Avenue is renovated.

What to expect

The church says its people come from all across the City of Hamilton: some walk to church while others drive, and some wear suits and ties while others dress casually. In worship the congregation immerses itself in God's story and sings together, in a musical style that blends contemporary and traditional songs, and the sacraments of the Lord's Supper and baptism are celebrated in the services. Nursery is offered every Sunday morning, along with Children's Worship and Sunday School for children from JK through Grade 5.

What members of the Christian Reformed Church believe and how they worship