Canadian National Baptist Convention

The Canadian National Baptist Convention (formerly Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists) is an organization of Baptist churches in Canada in partnership with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in the United States.

History

Dissatisfaction among some Regular Baptists in British Columbia would eventually lead to the establishment of the Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists (CCSB). Some churches participated in the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, but this affiliation proved unsatisfactory. Contact with the Southern Baptists, especially through the Northwest Baptist Bible College, increased the interest of Canadian churches in the Southern Baptist educational and evangelistic programs. In the fall of 1952, Northwest began using the Teacher Training Course of the SBC. Early in 1953, a pastor's conference recommended the Sunday School program of the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board.

Regular Baptists in British Columbia were divided over the "Southern Baptist issue". In October 1953, the Emmanuel Baptist Church of Vancouver, British Columbia joined the Baptist General Convention of Oregon-Washington, an affiliate of the Southern Baptist Convention, while also maintaining membership in the Regular Baptist Convention of British Columbia. The Oregon-Washington Convention determined it would assist affiliated churches, but would not initiate any new work in Canada. At the British Columbia Regular Baptist Convention in 1955, several resolutions were directed against the Emmanuel Church (now called Kingcrest Southern Baptist Church) and the Southern Baptists. This caused Kingcrest and four other churches to withdraw from the B. C. Convention and affiliate with only the Southern Baptists in the northwest. Though these Canadian churches were members of the Oregon-Washington Convention, they were unable to affiliate directly with the SBC, because of questions relating to the wording of the SBC Constitution.

The organizational forerunner of the current group, the Canadian Southern Baptist Pastor's Conference was formed in February 1959. This became the Canadian Southern Baptist Conference in 1963. In 1985 the Canadian Southern Baptist Conference adopted a new constitution and became the Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists. In July 2008, the convention voted to change its name to the Canadian National Baptist Convention' (In French: Convention Nationale Baptiste Canadienne).

Ministries

The CNBC headquarters and its seminary, the Canadian Southern Baptist Seminary & College, are located in Cochrane, Alberta. Its official publication, Baptist Horizon is published 4 times per year and is also available online at the CNBC web site. The Convention engages in specific men's, women's, youth and university ministries. The CNBC maintains a Foundation for receiving financial contributions, labors in Canadian church planting, and partners in global missions with the International Mission Board of the SBC. The National Leadership Board, elected by Convention messengers, is the highest operating board within the organization.

Current status

Local churches are autonomous, but must vote to apply for membership in the CNBC. Applications must be approved in annual session by voting messengers of the Convention body. The official statement of faith of this Convention is the CNBC Statement of Faith.

Southern Baptists in Canada have expanded from one church in British Columbia in 1953 to 234 churches and congregation seeds in 10 provinces and 2 territories as of September 2006. The geographic breakdown of CNBC congregations is as follows: British Columbia (70), Alberta (45), Quebec (41), Ontario (40), Saskatchewan (21), New Brunswick (5), Prince Edward Island (5), Nova Scotia (2), Manitoba (2), Newfoundland (1), Yukon (1), Northwest Terrorities (1). By 2012, the number of churches across the country had grown to over 300.

There were 11,578 members in the CNBC churches in 2005. The largest concentration of churches remains in western Canada. The vision of the CNBC is "1,000 healthy, reproducing, cooperating churches by 2020."

Associations

The first SBC association in Canada, the Capilano Association of Vancouver (now the WestCoast Baptist Association), was organized October 9, 1955 when thirty delegates representing four Greater Vancouver area churches met at Grace Baptist Church. The new association took over responsibility for the Baptist Student Union and the Baptist Horizon, a publication begun by the Kingcrest church.[1] The Midwest Baptist Association of Alberta and Saskatchewan was formed in 1957. In 1960 churches in British Columbia established the Plateau Association.

Current association of the CNBC include

See also

References

  1. ↑ Capilano Southern Baptist Association (1955-2008)
  2. ↑ Take a Tour of the WBA pp.8-11
  3. ↑ ACTS Association Churches
  4. ↑ Churches by Regions
  5. ↑ Northern Lights Baptist Association
  6. ↑ Churches & Seeds

Sources

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