The first Baptist church in what is now Canada was founded by an American pastor in Sackville, New Brunswick in 1763.[1] More churches were founded throughout Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Lower Canada, and Upper Canada by American pastors and itinerant preachers.
Mission Boards
The first Baptist born in Canada sent out as a missionary was Samuel S. Day, who was born in Upper Canada, and sent to India by the American Baptist Missionary Union (ABMU) in 1835.[2] In 1866, A.V. Timpany was also appoint by the ABMU to go to India, and that prompted the creation of a Canadian auxiliary to the ABMU in 1866.[3] In 1869, the Canadian auxiliary was reorganised as the Regular Baptist Foreign Missionary Society of Canada, and in 1889, the name was changed to The Board of Foreign Missions of the regular Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec.[4]
Meanwhile, Baptist Churches in the Maritime colonies had been supporting the work of Adoniram Judson in Burma since 1814. In 1845, the Churches sent out Rev. R.E. Burpee and his wife Laleah to Burma, also under the auspices of the ABMU. The Maritime Baptist Convention formed a Foreign Mission Board in 1865.[5]
In 1874, the Canadian Baptist Foreign Missionary Society was founded in Ontario.[6]
The Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission Board (CBFMB) was founded in 1912.[7] The Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission Board was renamed to Canadian Baptist Overseas Missions Board (CBOMB) on May 1, 1970.[8] The Canadian Baptist Overseas Missions Board was renamed again to Canadian Baptist International Ministries (CBIM) in 1990.
It was renamed Canadian Baptist Federation (CBF) in 1982.[12]
Merger
In 1995, the "Canadian Baptist Federation" merged with the "Canadian Baptist International Ministries" to form the Canadian Baptist Ministries.[13]
Statistics
According to a census published by the association in 2023, it claimed 971 churches and 81,685 members.[14]
Humanitarian aid
CBM support humanitarian projects in Canada and worldwide.[15]
It engages in international mission on behalf of Canadian Baptist churches and brokers national cooperation among the four regional denominations and Women's groups.
^Daniel, Orville E. (1973). Moving with the times: The story of a century of mission/ 1874-1974. Toronto: Canadian Baptist Overseas Mission Board. p. 13.
^Daniel, Orville E. (1973). Moving with the times: The story of a century of mission/ 1874-1974. Toronto: Canadian Baptist Overseas Mission Board. p. 14.
^Daniel, Orville E. (1973). Moving with the times: The story of a century of mission/ 1874-1974. Toronto: Canadian Baptist Overseas Mission Board. p. 16.
^Daniel, Orville E. (1973). Moving with the times: The story of a century of mission/ 1874-1974. Toronto: Canadian Baptist Overseas Mission Board. p. 17.
^Gordon L. Heath, Dallas Friesen, Taylor Murray, Baptists in Canada: Their History and Polity, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2020, p. 42
^Robert E. Johnson, A Global Introduction to Baptist Churches, Cambridge University Press, UK, 2010, p. 338
^Daniel, Orville E. (1973). Moving with the times: The story of a century of mission/ 1874-1974. Toronto: Canadian Baptist Overseas Mission Board. p. 71.
^William H. Brackney, Historical Dictionary of the Baptists, Scarecrow Press, USA, 2009, p. 121
^Harry A. Renfree, Heritage and Horizon: The Baptist Story in Canada, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2007, p. 275
^ Gordon L. Heath, Dallas Friesen, Taylor Murray, Baptists in Canada: Their History and Polity, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2020, p. 73
^Gordon L. Heath, Dallas Friesen, Taylor Murray, Baptists in Canada: Their History and Polity, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2020, p. 61
^Robert E. Johnson, A Global Introduction to Baptist Churches, Cambridge University Press, UK, 2010, p. 338
^Baptist World Alliance, Members, baptistworld.org, USA, retrieved May 5, 2023
^CBM, HOW WE WORK, cbmin.org, Canada, retrieved May 5, 2023
^J. Gordon Melton, Martin Baumann, Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, ABC-CLIO, USA, 2010, p. 496
^ George A. Rawlyk, Canadian Baptists and Christian Higher Education, McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, Canada, 1988, p. 6
^ 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
^ William H. Brackney, Congregation and Campus: Baptists in Higher Education, Mercer University Press, USA, 2008, p. 137
^Gordon L. Heath, Dallas Friesen, Taylor Murray, Baptists in Canada: Their History and Polity, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2020, p. 78
^Randall Herbert Balmer, Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism: Revised and expanded edition, Baylor University Press, USA, 2004, p. 42
^CBM,
WHAT WE VALUE, cbmin.org, Canada, retrieved May 9, 2020
^Baptist World Alliance, Members, baptistworld.org, USA, retrieved December 5, 2020
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
Sunanda, G.Beaulah Pearl (1990). An Insight into the History of the Canadian Baptist Mission in Andhra Pradesh (1874-1924). Unpublished M.Phil.(History) Thesis, Madras Christian College, Madras.
