Canadian Baptist Ministries

Canadian Baptist Ministries (CBM; Template:Langx) is a mainline Protestant and Baptist denomination in Canada. It is a member of the Baptist World Alliance. The headquarters is located in Mississauga, Ontario.

Historical background

The first Baptist church in present-day Canada was founded by an American Baptist minister in Sackville, New Brunswick, in 1763.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> More churches were founded throughout Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Lower Canada, and Upper Canada by Loyalist American ministers and itinerant preachers.

Missionary activity and Canadian auxiliary

The first Canadian-born Baptist missionary was Rev. Samuel S. Day. He was sent to India in 1835 by the Baptist Board for Foreign Missions (BBFM), the foreign missionary organization of the American Triennial Convention (now American Baptist Churches USA).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Canadian Baptist churches in the Maritime provinces had been supporting the work of Adoniram Judson in Burma since 1814. In 1845, these churches, before establishing the Baptist Convention of the Maritime Provinces (MBC), sent out Rev. R.E. Burpee, along with his wife Laleah, to Burma, under the auspices of the BBFM.

In 1866, the Foreign Missions Board, renamed as American Baptist Missionary Union (ABMU) right after the Southern schism, appointed A.V. Timpany to be sent to India. That prompted the establishment of a Canadian auxiliary to the American Missionary Union by the Maritime Provinces Convention in 1866.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1869, the Canadian auxiliary was reorganised as the Regular Baptist Foreign Missionary Society of Canada, and in 1889 was renamed as The Board of Foreign Missions of the Regular Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1874, the Canadian Baptist Foreign Missionary Society was founded in Ontario.<ref>Gordon L. Heath, Dallas Friesen, Taylor Murray, Baptists in Canada: Their History and Polity, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2020, p. 42</ref>

Founding

Precedents

The Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission Board (CBFMB) was founded in 1912.<ref>Robert E. Johnson, A Global Introduction to Baptist Churches, Cambridge University Press, UK, 2010, p. 338</ref> It was renamed as Canadian Baptist Overseas Missions Board (CBOMB) on May 1, 1970,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and later as Canadian Baptist International Ministries (CBIM) in 1990.

Efforts to form a national Baptist ecclesiastical body date back to 1900. Delegates from across Canada met in Winnipeg and established the National Baptist Convention of Canada. Inexplicably, the Convention never met again. As such, no national Baptist organization existed in Canada for a long time until 1944. In that year, the Baptist Federation of Canada (BFC) was established at Saint John, New Brunswick, by the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec (CBOQ), the Canadian Baptists of Western Canada (CBWC), and the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada (CBAC).<ref>William H. Brackney, Historical Dictionary of the Baptists, Scarecrow Press, USA, 2009, p. 121</ref> The Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec, the Canadian Baptists of Western Canada, and the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada. They were joined by the Union of French Baptist Churches of Canada in 1970.<ref>Harry A. Renfree, Heritage and Horizon: The Baptist Story in Canada, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2007, p. 275</ref>

In 1947, the CBOQ authorized the ordination of women ministers and Muriel Spurgeon Carder was the first ordained woman.<ref>Gordon L. Heath, Dallas Friesen, Taylor Murray, Baptists in Canada: Their History and Polity, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2020, p. 73</ref> In the CBAC, Josephine Moore was the first in 1954. In the CBWC, Mae Benedict was the first in 1959.

The Baptist Federation was renamed as Canadian Baptist Federation (CBF) in 1982.<ref>Gordon L. Heath, Dallas Friesen, Taylor Murray, Baptists in Canada: Their History and Polity, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2020, p. 61</ref>

In 1995, the Canadian Baptist International Ministries joined the Canadian Baptist Federation. The merger made the Federation be renamed as Canadian Baptist Ministries, its current name.<ref>Robert E. Johnson, A Global Introduction to Baptist Churches, Cambridge University Press, UK, 2010, p. 338</ref>

Statistics

According to a census published by the association in 2023, it claimed 971 churches and 81,685 members.<ref>Baptist World Alliance, Members, baptistworld.org, USA, retrieved May 5, 2023</ref>

Humanitarian aid

CBM support humanitarian projects in Canada and worldwide.<ref>CBM, HOW WE WORK, cbmin.org, Canada, retrieved May 5, 2023</ref>

It engages in international mission on behalf of Canadian Baptist churches and brokers national cooperation among the four regional denominations and Women's groups.

Regions

It has 4 regional unions of churches : Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec, Canadian Baptists of Western Canada, the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada and Union d'Églises baptistes francophones du Canada.<ref>J. Gordon Melton, Martin Baumann, Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, ABC-CLIO, USA, 2010, p. 496</ref>

Schools

File:Crandall University.jpg

Stultz Hall, Crandall University in Moncton.

The regional conventions of the convention have participated in the founding of various universities which have gone public. There was the founding of Acadia University by the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada in 1838,<ref>George A. Rawlyk, Canadian Baptists and Christian Higher Education, McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, Canada, 1988, p. 6</ref> the founding of McMaster University by the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec in 1881<ref>Aaron W. Hughes, From Seminary to University: An Institutional History of the Study of Religion in Canada, University of Toronto Press, Canada, 2020, p. 33</ref> and Brandon University by the Canadian Baptists of Western Canada in 1890.<ref>William H. Brackney, Congregation and Campus: Baptists in Higher Education, Mercer University Press, USA, 2008, p. 137</ref>

The organization has several theological institutes affiliated and a partner university, Crandall University.<ref>Gordon L. Heath, Dallas Friesen, Taylor Murray, Baptists in Canada: Their History and Polity, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2020, p. 78</ref><ref>Randall Herbert Balmer, Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism: Revised and expanded edition, Baylor University Press, USA, 2004, p. 42</ref>

Beliefs

The Federation has a Baptist confession of faith.<ref>CBM, WHAT WE VALUE, cbmin.org, Canada, retrieved May 9, 2020</ref> It is affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance.<ref>Baptist World Alliance, Members, baptistworld.org, USA, retrieved December 5, 2020</ref>

See also

• Canadian Baptist Mission
• McMaster Divinity College, Hamilton, Ontario
• Carey Theological College, Vancouver
• Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars
• Andhra Christian Theological College, Andhra Pradesh, India
• Baptists in Canada

References

Notes

Sources

• Baptists Around the World, by Albert W. Wardin, Jr.
• Program & Report Book, Canadian Baptist Ministries
• From Sea to Sea: The Canadian Baptist Federation 1944- 1994, by Shirley Bentall
• The Baptist Heritage: Four Centuries of Baptist Witness, by H. Leon McBeth

Further reading

• Template:Cite book

External links

• Canadian Baptist Ministries - official Web Site
• The Canadian Baptist Archives