1778 - Henry Alline, the “Apostle of Nova Scotia,” helps establish the colony’s first Baptist church

Henry Alline (1748-1784), the “Apostle of Nova Scotia,” was an itinerant preacher in the Minas Basin and a key figure in the religious revival known as the New Light movement. In 1778, Alline helped residents of the Cornwallis and Horton townships establish the first Baptist church in the colony, Horton Baptist Church (now Wolfville Baptist Church). Though a New England Congregationalist himself, Alline greatly influenced the shaping of the Baptist denomination in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. His evangelical preaching reached both settler and Indigenous audiences, though primarily the former.

Even as he planted Congregationalist churches, many of Alline’s followers gravitated toward Baptist views. The New Light emphasis on adult conversion led to questioning infant baptism. Some congregations began practicing believer’s baptism by immersion. Alline taught that churches should be self-governing and autonomous—an idea compatible with Baptist ecclesiology. His style inspired itinerant preachers who eventually organized Baptist churches. Some New Light congregations became Free Will Baptists while others joined with Particular (Calvinistic) Baptists arriving from New England after the Revolution.

Bell, D.G. “Henry Alline and Maritime Religion.” The Canadian Historical Association Historical Booklet, no. 51 (1993), 1-27. 

Photo Credit: “ALLINE, HENRY,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, accessed December 15, 2025, https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/alline_henry_4E.html?revision_id=30815