The earliest services of the Christianity in what is now Bedford were those of the Anglican Church (Episcopal Church) held by the chaplains of the British troops occupying the fort at Raystown (now Fort Bedford). Any evidence of Anglican chaplains prior to 1758 is probably, but undocumented. Bedford originally was called Raystown and was the center of Indian warfare up to 1765 when peace was attained. The name of Fort Bedford seems to have been first given July 13, 1759 in a letter to General Stanwix dated at Fort Bedford, August 13, 1758.

According to his own diary, on July 7, 1758, The Rev. Thomas Barton, missioner for the Church of England's Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, was appointed chaplain to the 3rd Battalion of the Pennsylvania Regiment. This regiment was part of Col. Henry Bouquet's force that built the Forbes Road to Fort Duquesne.

July 24, 1758: The Rev. Barton arrives in Raystown (now Bedford).

July 30, 1758: Barton preaches to the officers and troops at Raystown. In attendance were Col. Henry Bouquet, Governor Glenn of South Carolina, and Col. George Washington. This is the first documented Anglican service in Bedford

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Auguest 13, 1758: Barton baptizes the 10-year old daughter of one of the soldiers. This is the first documented baptism in Bedford by an Anglican clergyman.

As early as 1851-1853 a group of men met at the Bedford Springs in order to start a congregation in Bedford, but the effort failed probably due to the lack of money. There was no organized parish here until 1861 when the courts granted a charter under the legal title of "The Rector, Church Wardens, and Vestrymen of the Church of St. James."

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Lots Nos. 130 and 131 on East Penn Street on the borough plan were devised to "The Church" by Governor John Penn of the Province of Pennsylvania when the town of Bedford was laid out by his surveyor-general, John Lukens, Esq. in June 1766, on his private estate, "Penn's Manor." The lots were never occupied by the church save as a burial place. The earliest English settlers and the officers at the fort used the burial plots. Judges Dougherty and Scott as well as Col. Terrence Campbell of His Majesty's Highlanders with their families were interred there. Later, the property fell into private possession and a brick school house was erected on the site. For a time thereafter, the school was used as a private dwelling.

By due process of law, the Vestry of St. James Church, being as the Courts decided "the successor of the Church of England" obtained possession of the property. Finding the lots unsuitable for church purposes, St. James Church, under the Act of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania passed in 1866, removed the deceased to the new cemetery, sold the lots and purchased the present church site on the corner of Richard and John Streets. They immediately proceeded to build the beautiful gothic-revival stone building now standing. Later, the rectory was added to the property. The corner stone of the church was laid in September 1866 by The Rt. Rev. Bishop Lee of the Diocese of Delaware because The Rt. Rev. William Bacon Stevens, Bishop of Pennsylvania, was in Europe at the time. The Masonic Fraternity was present on the occasion and assisted in the ceremony.

The church building was finished in 1873. In the Bedford Inquirer it stated that "St. James Episcopal Church will be open for stated worship on Sabbath next. The services will be at half past ten o'clock in the morning and at four in the afternoon."

The first service in the church was held on Sunday, January 26, 1873.

When the morgage and bond were paid on September 8, 1879, the church could be consecrated. It was consecrated on October 2, 1879 by The Rt. Rev. M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Bishop of the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania which was within the Diocese of Harrisburg whose bishop was The Rt. Rev. James Henry Darlington.