It was founded in 2011 by the clergy and almost all of the laity of St. John's Shaughnessy after the group left the Anglican Church of Canada over theological and moral issues and the congregation lost a legal battle to keep its building during the Anglican realignment.

Harry Robinson, a prominent low-church evangelical within the Anglican Church of Canada, as rector in 1978.

During his theological studies in England, he had befriended notable evangelicals like John R. W. Stott, J. I. Packer, and Dick Lucas and he had experience developing a strong student ministry.

Considered one of the preeminent evangelical theologians,[5] Packer also received an appointment as honorary assistant priest at St. John's, which he held until his death in 2020.

Future Saskatchewan Bishop Tony Burton said that Robinson took over "a moribund, complacent small congregation, and at considerable personal cost set it on the path to becoming Canada's largest Anglican community, and one of its liveliest and most creative.

"[4] By the time Robinson retired in 1992, St. John's had grown to an average weekly attendance of 800 and was widely reported to be the largest Anglican church in Canada.

[3][7] The Southern Cone agreed to provide primatial oversight for traditionalist Anglican churches in Canada as an interim step to creating an eventual parallel province in North America.

[23] St. John's Vancouver partners with Helping Point in India,[24] Ratanak International in Cambodia,[25] and the Anglican Diocese of the Upper Shire in Malawi.