The pews are little more than half-filled, but the energy at Shiloh Baptist Church feels like it’s bouncing off the roof. Sunday service has just kicked off and Shiloh’s gospel choir is sashaying down the aisle in blue and white robes, voices lifting high as the heavens.

For the next 10 to 15 minutes, it’s nothing but worship songs. The congregation belts out each tune with fervour.

For a century, people have been singing praises to the Lord here at Shiloh, the oldest black Baptist church in Western Canada. Founded in Edmonton in 1910, Shiloh has long been a refuge for those who couldn’t find acceptance anywhere else.

“The base of Shiloh is a place for people who weren’t welcome at any other church in Edmonton back in 1910. It was usually people that weren’t part of the majority of the people that lived here,” explains choir director Deborah Dobbins, who has attended Shiloh since she was a baby.

When it opened, Shiloh’s congregation was made up mainly of African-Americans who had moved here from the United States, but Dobbins says Shiloh has always been for everyone, regardless of race, colour, class or economic situation.

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Source: Edmonton Journal | Jennifer Fong