Originally, the church began at the home of Reverend Charles and Mrs. Missouri Ambrose on Pennsylvania Avenue in the town's predominantly African American Westside.

The church presented the community with a safe place to form close friendships, and offered a number of wholesome activities for children and adults.

Clyde W. Hall, a member of the church, recalls that “the church also provided a place where African-Americans could dress in their best attire on Sundays and enjoy equality without encountering the racial deprivations of everyday living in the South at that time.”[1] The first minister to lead the congregation was Reverend Charles Johnson Smith, who came to Mount Moriah in 1887.

Reverend Smith's position as a moderator of the First Florida Missionary Baptist Association helped allow the developing church to be granted membership in the organization in 1910.

Moriah Baptist Church also purchased for $165.00 from Charles and Helen Morse of Chicago, Illinois Lot Thirteen in Block Sixty-nine to locate a parsonage on West Comstock Avenue".

Since many local citizens were employed by this company, the assembly of the building helped bring the community together and stir up enthusiasm for the new chapel.

In Coursen's will he wished to have his estate auctioned off and the funds divided equally among several beneficiaries, including the Salvation Army, the Red Cross of Orlando, and the Public Library of Winter Park.

In 2015, God blessed Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church with its 12th pastor, Reverend Weaver Blondin.