The inception of the Christian Science work in Berlin, Canada, was in the fall of 1892. A few of those who had become interested met on Sunday in private residences for the study of the Bible lessons, and a Sunday school was started. Through the healing work done the interest in Science grew, and First Church of Christ, Scientist, Berlin, Ontario, was organized Dec. 25, 1894, with twelve members. The first public meeting was held in a small office on Queen street, and the foundation was laid in thought for this church on that Christmas night.
The assembling of that little company was the outcome of the healing "word" which had been quietly at work during the two previous years. The average attendance at this time was about twenty, but at the end of ten months larger quarters were needed. Then a commodious room in the court house was placed at the disposal of the church, and it was occupied for a little less than a year, when a move was made to a new house on Roy street, which a member had built, leaving the upper story without partitions. This provided a large room for the services, while the reading-room was below.
Meanwhile the healing work had extended, largely among the German people in Berlin and the adjoining town of Waterloo, and the attendance had increased to an average of eighty, indicative of a steady and healthy growth from the time of the organization of the church. A building fund was started in May, 1896, and in April, 1899, after the first public lecture, when many were turned away from the opera house because there were no more seats, a vital interest was manifested in the proposition to build a church edifice, as it was apparent that the temporary quarters would soon be inadequate. At this time a lot at the corner of Water and Francis streets was donated by one of the members, and through the kindly spirit of the Town Council, the triangular lot adjoining was given to the church by the town.
