The Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada (CBAC), formerly known as Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches (CABC), is an association of Baptist Churches in the eastern provinces of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The offices of the CBAC are located in

Moncton, New Brunswick Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the Maritime Provinces. The city has earned the nickname "Hub City" because of ...

. The union is one of four components of Canadian Baptist Ministries.

History

The Baptist Convention of the Maritime Provinces was founded in 1846. The Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada was formed in 1905-1906 as the United Baptist Convention of the Maritimes by a union of Free, or

Free Will Baptists Free Will Baptists are a group of General Baptist denominations of Christianity that teach free grace, free salvation and free will. The movement can be traced back to the 1600s with the development of General Baptism in England. Its formal est ...

and Calvinistic or

Regular Baptist Regular Baptists are "a moderately Calvinistic Baptist sect that is found chiefly in the southern U.S., represents the original English Baptists before the division into Particular and General Baptists, and observes closed communion and foot washi ...

s. The Regular Baptist and Free Will Baptist congregations wrote a statement of faith and polity called the "Basis of Union" with which both groups could agree. With the addition of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, the name was changed to the United Baptist Convention of the Atlantic Provinces in 1963. Many of these churches still carry "United Baptist" in their official name. In 2001, the name was changed to the Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches. In 2016, the name was changed to the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada. Since 1944 CBAC has been one of the partners in the Canadian Baptist Federation (now known as Canadian Baptist Ministries).

Organization

In 2020, it had 450 churches and 21 associations across the

Atlantic provinces Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundlan ...

(

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...

). The CBAC is subdivided into nine regions for local cooperation.

Beliefs

The denomination has a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

confession of faith A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets. The ea ...

. The Union is a member of Canadian Baptist Ministries and

Evangelical Fellowship of Canada The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC; french: Alliance évangélique du Canada) is a national evangelical alliance, member of the World Evangelical Alliance. Its affiliates comprise 43 evangelical Christian denominations, 66 Christian org ...

Education

Crandall University Crandall University is a Baptist Christian liberal arts university located in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. It is affiliated with the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada ( Canadian Baptist Ministries). History The school was founded in 1949 ...

is a partner of the Union. It houses the Baptist Heritage Center whose 300 artifacts preserve the material history of Atlantic Baptists, the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada, and its predecessor organizations. The collection and archives includes objects used in worship services, furniture, musical instruments, church building architecture pictures and printed material.Baptist Heritage Center

Sources

*''Baptists Around the World'', by Albert W. Wardin, Jr. *''The Baptist Heritage: Four Centuries of Baptist Witness'', by H. Leon McBeth

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada 1905 establishments in Canada Christian organizations established in 1905 Baptist denominations established in the 20th century Baptist Christianity in Canada Baptist denominations in North America Evangelical denominations in North America Organizations based in Moncton