Born in Tancook Island, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, the son of Charles Lott Anthony Church and Sarah Hiltz,[1] Church was educated in Chester and Truro, Nova Scotia.

He was a school teacher for over ten years and then he started in business as a merchant.

He was elected in 1882 to the Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia and sat there until 1902 when he was called to the Senate.

Church was Provincial Secretary of Nova Scotia for two years in the William Thomas Pipes administration, and Commissioner of Public Works and Mines for 15 years, in the William Stevens Fielding and George Henry Murray administrations.

He was called to the Senate on February 8, 1902, on the advice of Wilfrid Laurier representing the senatorial division of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.