Christ Church & St. John's

A warm welcome to St. John’s

The year 2008 marked the 150^th anniversary of the discovery of oil in Oil Springs, a community just 15 km to the south of Wyoming.  It was this discovery that sparked the growth of the community of Wyoming, and the establishment of St. John’s in the years that followed. 

In 1859, the railway line was completed between Komoka and Sarnia, and a stopping place for trains along this line was established in Wyoming.  The direct north-south road between Oil Springs and Wyoming became the route for supplies to get to the oil fields, and for oil products to find their way to markets.   All passenger traffic to Oil Springs also passed through Wyoming by buggy and stage coach.  With the development of the oil industry, Wyoming became a thriving community and home to five oil refineries, a foundry and machine shop, wagon works and cooperage, a saw mill, grist mill, and woolen factory.  Employment opportunities abounded, and in 1861 into this growing community the first bishop of Huron, the Rt. Rev. Benjamin Cronyn appointed the Revd J. S. Baker, a Church of England priest from Ireland, as incumbent of Wyoming and Oil Springs.  His first services were held in the waiting room of the train station, and later moved to the school house until a church was erected on this site in 1863.  The original church was rebuilt practically from its foundations in 1890, and was consecrated as St. John’s Church in 1892; in 1893 a Sunday School room was added at the rear of the church, and shortly afterwards, a Rectory was built.  During WWII, the Sunday School room was moved and attached to the church.  The Rectory was sold in the mid 1980’s, and in the mid-1990’s, the interior of the church was refurbished. 

A small and unassuming jewel of a church, the bell in its graceful steeple continues to announce worship every Sunday, inviting people from far and wide to rest with God awhile in its peaceful historic surroundings.  It’s not uncommon during the Sunday service to hear the whistle of a train as it rumbles down the nearby tracks, an appropriate reminder of the economic origins of this community, which led to the establishment of an enduring Anglican presence and witness in this place.