113-year-old Edmonton church being demolished
Posted August 27, 2025 6:50 pm.
For years, the Mustard Seed has used a church located east of downtown Edmonton to help people in need. But soon, the over 100-year-old building will be demolished. A bittersweet moment for the non-profit.
The Mustard Seed has been using the church since the 1980s, including recently handing out food hampers.
The CEO says they needed to move operations to their downtown site in October because of structural issues.
“And the repair costs are well into the millions of dollars, and even then, if we repaired it, we’d still have an old building. And so you know, for us, we’re a not-for-profit and in making investments in the community, we want to make investments where we get the maximum life change impact as possible,” said James Gardiner, the CEO of the Mustard Seed.
Originally built in 1912 for the Central Baptist Church and turned into a business when the church moved to South Edmonton, before it was taken over by the charity.
“Beautiful hardwood floors, a wonderful balcony, and stained glass windows. It was such a beautiful facility,” said Terry Fossen, the regional minister of the Alberta Baptist Association.
Pastor Fossen says his congregation has always been proud to see the old church converted to help the community.
“I would visit here and there were often lineups of people waiting to come and find food and clothing, and there were events that were planned that were very popular for young and old,” Fossen explained.
Gardiner says, “Is it a bit sad to see the end of an era 100 per cent, but it’s a birthing process.”
The Mustard Seed is still working on what is next for the land after the church is decommissioned, but says they have been in discussion with the city.
“When I look at you know, the three apartment buildings that we have here. The three impact centres we have here, our health and wellness building, our thrift store, and all of the other operations that we have here in the city, all came out of what started at this particular site, and so that’s something to celebrate,” said Gardiner.
