Bridlewood Presbyterian Church was erected on April 11, 1968.

In the summer of 1967, the original concept of a Presbyterian church in the Bridlewood area was hatched by William Fitch, the Senior Minister of Knox Spadina, and Robert McClintock, a local developer. Robert McClintock was giving development building sites for evangelical churches in the area. The Presbytery of East Toronto was approached to see if it was interested in the proposal and if it was able ensure that a new Presbyterian church in the area be guaranteed to be evangelical.

On October 3, 1967, Presbytery agreed to McClintock's terms and appointed A. Donald MacLeod as organizing pastor. Under the agreement, the property reverts to Knox Spadina if the new congregation ever departs from "the faith once for all delivered."

The first service took place on November 12, 1967, in Sir John A. Macdonald Collegiate Institutes on Pharmacy Avenue in Scarborough. From the start there was a Sunday morning and evening service, and on Wednesday evenings a prayer meeting at the minister's home across Pharmacy Avenue from the school.

In April 1968 the congregation was constituted with 32 charter members. A session was constituted on December 5, 1968, with Jim Kennedy the first clerk.

The fledgling congregation developed its first statement of direction: "The goal of the church is to bring together and strengthen a group of Christians for the glory and worship of God. In order to assist in the attainment of this goal, the program of the Church will include opportunities for: (a) Worship; (b) Fellowship: (c) Training and (d) Service."

Within 18 months, the congregation became self supporting, and an active missions program was developed with Presbyterian causes, inter denominational causes, and parachurch causes. By the end of 1969 there were 49 members, 16 Sunday school staff, and 146 in the Sunday school.

In 1971 the decision was taken and a building program was begun. There was a possible danger in losing the building site if it remained undeveloped. With financial support from Knox Spadina, the new Bridlewood Church building was constructed with its occupation in August 1973. The design was multipurpose and functional. Neighbourhood schoolrooms at Timothy Eaton school were available inexpensively for Sunday school classes.

In 1973, the Board of Deacons was formed. It was felt that such a group could meet the needs of our growing congregation by helping to maintain the same level of fellowship enjoyed by members during the church's first five years, and by being available and equipped to lend assistance in the event of sickness or other emergency in the church. The role of the Deacons Board was defined as:

• Report to minister if a family was absent for more than two consecutive Sundays.
• Advise and encourage congregation on various activities available at the church.
• Greet members and visitors Sunday mornings. Care for newcomers.
• Arrange and publicize three summer evenings of fellowship.

In 1975, Donald and Judy MacLeod left for the General Directorship of Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship. Our initial Interim Moderator was Wayne Smith. He was followed by Hector MacRury. The communion roll had grown by the end of 1975 to 125 members.

By April 1976 our new minister, Dr. Ed McKinlay, had been called and arrived to fill the vacancy. Previously, Dr. McKinlay had been the minister at St. Enoch's in Hamilton, Ontario. The church purchased a manse in May for our new minister and his family. The congregation continued to flourish and by the end of 1977 the communion roll had reached 170 with 187 children and adults attending Sunday school. A new building committee was started to plan for the expansion of the original building.

In 1978 the Missions Committee was formed with the mandate to extend missions beyond those of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. A strong commitment to missions has been one of the hallmarks of the Bridlewood congregation, a commitment that continues to this day.

In 1979 the new Refugee Committee adopted a Vietnamese family. This was the era of the Vietnamese Boat People. The Nguyens were the first of many families and individuals sponsored over the next decade. The total number of individuals sponsored went into the hundreds. Our first family, the Nguyens, joined Bridlewood Presbyterian, and one or two other Vietnamese families and individuals were regular attendees.

By 1980, the communion roll had grown to 250, and the Sunday school to 209 children and adults. The Building Committee was directed by the congregation to work with an architect to develop plans to redevelop the church space.

In October 1982 the congregation approved the first building expansion. The sanctuary was to be enlarged and a row of offices and other rooms added along the east sanctuary wall. Improvements were to be made to the basement with a new kitchen and nursery. This new space was occupied the following year.

1982 also marked the start of the Renewal Fellowship Within the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Our first minister, Donald MacLeod, was instrumental in its beginnings, and several members of the Bridlewood congregation were appointed to its board. Bridlewood continues to be closely involve with this group within our national church.

The congregation continued to expand in the mid 1980s and a series of student assistants from Knox College passed through. They helped in the worship service, and in supporting the Sunday Schools and youth programs.

Under several different organizational and funding arrangements, an English as a Second Language program has run, and continues to run, at the church for the local community. The original version was begun by Ed McKinlay's wife, Flora.

In 1987, the McKinlays move to their own home, and the church manse temporarily rented out. With the expanding congregation (the members roll now at what would be its peak of 325) Dr. McKinlay had requested more permanent assistance, and a call committee was struck to look for an associate minister. The manse was to be provided for the new associate. A call for the associate minister post was extended but not accepted.

In August 1989, Ed McKinlay retired. With this change in leadership, the call committee turned to seeking a replacement minister rather than an associate. The Presbytery appointed George Vais of Leaside Church, the Interim Moderator. John Vissers accepted the position of Interim Minister to fill the pulpit on a regular basis.

The call committee recommended to the session and congregation that Daniel MacKinnon, of Knox Church in Bobcaygeon, be called as the next minister. The congregation approved the recommendation, and Dan MacKinnon arrived in May 1990. The church manse was redecorated and turned over to the MacKinnon family.

In 1990, Bridlewood ran a two week day camp in conjunction with three other local congregations, each successively taking a two week stint. The total 8 week summer day camp was successful from the campers point of view, and encouraging for the inter denominational co-operation that made it work. This inter denominational spirit has been a feature of the Bridlewood Christian neighbourhood.

The ministerial staff was expanded in 1993 with the calling of a ministry assistant, Jacob Birch, whose main focus would be working with the young people of the church. That same year the MacKinnon's purchased their own home, and the church manse was subsequently sold.

The following year, 1994, our new youth pastor took the young people on short term ministry to Mendenhall Mission in Mississippi. This would be the first of several short term missions the young people would be invited to go on.

It was around this time the session redefined the congregation's mission: "Know Christ and Make Him Known both Here and Around the World." This mission statement has remained with us ever since.

The new youth pastor started the Just For Kids Daycamp, an 8 week program run by Bridlewood Presbyterian alone and staffed by young people in the church and from the community. The JFK Daycamp still runs today, but in an abridged 2 week version.

Also in 1994, the session experimented in implementing an early Sonrise Sunday morning service to be held before the regular 11 o'clock service. It was done in the contemporary style and attended by 30 to 50 members of the congregation.

That summer, on Sunday evenings, Bridlewood and the local Wesleyan Methodist congregation began running joint evening services, July at one building, August at the other. This arrangement has also lasted up to the present. The Methodist Church, Bridlewood PC, and one or two other congregations also hold a joint annual Good Friday Morning service at the Methodist building. The service has always been very well attended, and Bridlewood church precedes the service with its own congregational breakfast.

In 1995, the congregation supported 'Mission Ontario with Billy Graham.' Bridlewood members were involved in the overall organization, and it was estimated half the congregation was involved at lower levels in this major event.

The next year, 1996, Jacob Birch left Bridlewood for a calling in Chatham.

Also in 1996, the church began providing space on Sunday afternoons for Agape Church, a Chinese congregation to worship. A similar arrangement had been made previously with another congregation but it was terminated when the session realized their Christian message was not at all compatible with our own. The Agape arrangement has proven much happier, and continues today with additional time given to Agape on the weekends and during the week.

Bridlewood's experimental Sonrise service was discontinued in the fall of 1996 in favour of a blended service, a combination of the contemporary and the traditional. The single morning service was rescheduled to 10:30 a.m. from 11:00 a.m. The Sunday school remained scheduled before the morning service.

With Jacob Birch's resignation, a search committee was struck to find a new Director of Ministry for Youth and Outreach. The following year Geoff Quayle was hired. His position evolved to being primarily a youth pastor role with outreach to be handled by a separate committee of the congregation.

In 1997, the JFK Daycamp was booming with 223 camper sessions booked (a camper session being one camper attending one 2 week period out of the total 8 weeks provided).

That fall, the first Spirit Alive conference was held at the church. A second one followed the next year. In both cases, guest facilitators were brought to the church to provide the Spirit Alive program.

In 1999, Dan MacKinnon spearheaded a short term mission to Nicaragua with several adults from the congregation. Their project was to do house construction following a devastating hurricane that caused floods and general destruction.

Also that year, worship service planning teams were instituted to take on the job of planning the details of the Sunday morning blended services. This practice has continued at Bridlewood.

The next year, the Young People under the new youth pastor, Geoff Quayle, did a short term mission to a Mexican Orphanage. Several adults attended, and this was the beginning of three such missions to the orphanage over the next years.

Bridlewood held it very first Alpha Course in 2000. Many Alpha courses followed, the early ones at the home of the leaders, later moving to the church building itself.

In 2001 new elders were added to our session. For the first time several of the new elders were women. Prior to this the session had been an all male group. Also in 2001, the church staff was expanded with a new Director of Worship, Ken Michell, and a new Choir Director, Nicole Castle. The Director of Worship's function was to head up the worship planning teams, and the worship team that would be a component of the blended Sunday service. The Choir Director would take over the reins from a series of choir leaders going back to the early days of the congregation. Rounding out our current musical staff is our organist, Maureen McCullough, who has played for our choir and at our worship services for many years.

This same year, Bridlewood gained observer status at the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, carrying on our evangelical roots. The next year we became an affiliate of this organization.

By 2003, the membership roll was at 180. The Youth Director accepted a call to a church in Markham, and he was replaced by a young couple, David and Lynnette DaltonJames, called from the congregation. That same year the church sanctuary was upgraded with a much larger stage, a high quality audio/video system, and new carpeting. The new sanctuary facilities fostered the start the next year of the Bridlewood Café, a monthly Saturday evening program for the community of live music (both secular and religious), video clips, a brief contemporary message, and lots of coffee and dessert. The cafe was jointly produced by Dan MacKinnon and Ken Michell.

In 2004, Dan MacKinnon was called to Grace Church, in Orleans, Ontario. The Presbytery of Pickering appointed Graeme Illman (Burns Church, Ashburn, Ontario) as our Interim Moderator. Dan left his ministry at Bridlewood at the end of April 2005.

On December 17, 2006 Rev. Kevin Lee was inducted as minister at Bridlewood.