Council Approves Plan for Membership to Vote on Amendments to CABF By-Law #2
At its meeting on March 12, 2024, CABF Council approved a plan to inform the CABF Membership of progress on the Special Project to Update the CABF Governance Structure and the proposed amendments to CABF By-Law #2 in preparation for a vote on the amendments as a Special Resolution at the time of the upcoming Rushton Lecture on Saturday, June 7, 2025.
To see more detail on the Special Project and to view the proposed amendments to the CABF By-Law #2, please follow this link and scroll down. Canadian Association for Baptist Freedoms - Constitution and Policies.
The April 9, 2025 Letter to Members with a progress report on the Special Project to Update the CABF Governance Structure is available here.
On-line (Zoom) Town Hall Information/Discussion sessions on the proposed amendments are being planned, with sessions scheduled for 8:00 pm Atlantic time on:
- Thursday evening, May 1, 2025
- Wednesday evening, May 7, 2025 and
- Tuesday evening, May 13, 2025
If you are interested in attending one of these sessions, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for login information.
Notice
Some unscrupulous person has searched our website and found records of the Nominating Committee reports from former Annual General Meetings. These contained personal information such as phone numbers and email addresses that were intended for Council use only. This information has been used to send spam messages to Council and Committee members appearing to ask for the purchase of gift cards or similar scams or requesting urgent communication.
Please do NOT respond to these requests as they are NOT from CABF, its Council or Committees. These postings containing personal information have been taken down and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience that may have been caused.
Letter to Members and Friends of the CABF
The January, 2025 Letter to Members and Friends is available here.
We encouraged you to share this with those who you feel might be interested and to post it on your Church bulletin board.
If you have not received a copy of this letter in your personal email account and would like to receive future communications as soon as they are posted, just notify us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
--CABF Executive and Council
Welcome
Join CABF in welcoming our newest member church, First Baptist Church, Saskatoon, SK.
Learn more about this congregation on their website: firstbaptistchurchsaskatoon.ca.
Historic Ordinations
October 27, 2024: Congratulations to Luke Dowding and Andrea King who were ordained at First Baptist Church Halifax this afternoon.
On September 15, 2024 the First Baptist Church Halifax congregation voted unanimously to ordain Luke Dowding and Andrea King--two Baptist Ministers from the United Kingdom who can not be ordained under the British Baptist Union.
They both have theological education from respected Baptist theological schools and have completed the baptist ministry formation process of the British Baptist Union of Great Britain but cannot be ordained because they are gay (an openly gay person can be ordained by the British Baptist Union only if they commit to celibacy). This was an existing regulation that was reaffirmed in April by the majority of churches and accredited ministers within the British Baptist Union of Great Britain.
Both Luke and Andrea have been serving the larger church in phenomenal ways, within their churches and through their leadership of OneBodyOneFaith.
Recent discussions identified the possibility of First Baptist Church Halifax ordaining Luke and Andrea and FBCH asked the CABF to establish an Ordination Examination Council to discern their sense of ministerial calling and readiness for ordination. The Ordination Council recommended both candidates to FBCH, with the resulting congregational decision on September 15th. The opening and closing statements to the Ordination Council by the Rev. Dr. Rusty Edwards, Senior Minister at FBCH are available at https://fbchalifax.ca/blog/statement-from-rusty/.
A copy of the Ordination Service Program (with photos) is available at https://fbchalifax.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Andrea-and-Luke-Ordination.pdf.
A video of the Ordination Service is available at Ordination of Andrea King and Luke Dowding.
A copy of an article, with a photo from the Ordination Service, as published in Baptist News Global, is available at Two LGBTQ British Baptist ministers ordained in Canada – Baptist News Global.
New Catgegory of Pastoral Accreditation
At the AGM held on September 24, 2024, the members ratified changes to the Policy on Credentials Committee which had been recommended by the Credentials Committee and approved by the CABF Council.
These changes have established a new category of accreditation to allow a local church to request recognition of a Local Church Minister. In some cases, a local church may not have a minister who meets the requirements for licensing or ordination. However, they have been called to ministry by the congregation and the congregation may wish to have this person recognized as a Local Church Minister. This would be particularly the case for part-time and multi-vocational ministers whether in a solitary ministry in a small church or those taking a specific ministry roll in a larger church.
Unlike applications for Licensing and Ordination, which are initiated by the candidate, applications for recognition of Local Church Ministers are made by the congregation and remain valid only while the minister is exercising that role with that particular congregation.
The Policy on Credentials Committee, which includes this revised text is found on pages 31 to 46 of the updated Policy and & Procedures Manual, is available here.
Surrey, B.C., Church Switches Affiliation to be More Inclusive
A Surrey, B.C., Baptist church has switched its affiliation to a more inclusive religious group, more than a decade after a gay couple who were members forced a reckoning over how they were being treated.
Full News Story Available Here
Video Available Here (starts at 18:51)
First Baptist Church Edmonton Seeks Senior Minister
Reviewing applications will commence on March 29, 2025.
First Baptist Church Edmonton is a robustly Christian and radically welcoming congregation in search of a Senior Minister. Located in Edmonton, Alberta, we are a destination church in a downtown urban setting.
We value a liturgical approach to worship, traditional music and thoughtful Scripture-based preaching. We seek the peace and well-being of the city, stand against oppression, and welcome and make space for those who have had difficult or traumatic histories with institutional religion. We welcome and affirm all of God’s children as God created them. Indigenous reconciliation is an important part of what we are and seek to advance. The same is true of LGBTQ+ inclusion. We are a member of the Canadian Association for Baptist Freedoms.
If you want to find out more about the qualifications we seek and the opportunity that this position offers, please see this link and consider applying if you believe that this might be the right call for you. https://fbcedmonton.ca/fbc-edmonton-seeks-senior-minister/