Welcome to the Canadian Association for Baptist Freedoms!
We seek to be a safe and welcoming environment in which Baptists can share all concerns and points of view without fear of being marginalised.
The CABF is a Canada-wide fellowship composed of both individuals and Churches. Currently, we have 17 member Churches located in Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. We have individual members from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. We are open to receiving new members from any province or territory - click here for details.
Our Vision: Baptists freely seeking, living, sharing and celebrating justice, peace and love under the lordship of Christ.
Our Mission: We encourage and support churches, pastors, and other individuals to understand and affirm Baptist freedoms as they express their faith.
CABF's 2025 Cross Canada Conference
October 26-29, Vancouver, BC
This year, the lectionary is based on the gospel of Luke, a gospel that articulates God’s compassion and care for those on the fringes of power—women, the poor, the stranger, religious and ethnic minorities. In an age of rising hostility towards the “other” and disregard for the poor, how important it is to remember the way Christ drew near to all people!
As we, friends and members of the CABF, draw near to each other, may we reorient ourselves to Divine Love, strengthening our love and commitment to soul liberty, to one another, to all God’s children, and to God’s good earth.
For more information click here CABF EVENTS.
Progress Report on Special Project to Update CABF Governance Structure
The Special Project Team of the Constitution and Governance Committee has completed the first phase of its work with proposals for a series of amendments to the CABF By-Law#2. At its meeting on March 12, 2024, CABF Council approved of circulating the draft amendments to the Membership in preparation for a vote as a Special Resolution at the time of the upcoming Rushton Lecture.
On-line Town Hall Information/Discussion sessions are being planned.
For information on this project, including a summary of the proposed changes and copies of draft documents, please follow this link and scroll down. Canadian Association for Baptist Freedoms - Constitution and Policies .
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
Two LGBTQ British Baptist Ministers Ordained in Canada
(Originally published in Baptist News Global October 28, 2024)
A Canadian Baptist church and association ordained two ministers from the United Kingdom Oct. 27 because they could not be ordained in the Baptist Union of Great Britain.
First Baptist Church of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the Canadian Association for Baptist Freedoms ordained Andrea King and Luke Dowding as ministers. The ordination was witnessed by family and friends and faith leaders from across North America and Europe.
King, a graduate of Regents College, Oxford, serves as director of safeguarding and strategy for OneBodyOneFaith. Dowding, a graduate of Spurgeon’s College, London, and King’s College London, serves as CEO of OneBodyOneFaith.
Luke Dowding and Andrea King
“Andrea and Luke, due to their sexuality and public position on LGBTQ relationships and LGBTQ safeguarding in the church, are unable to be ordained and accredited in the Baptist Union of Great Britain. This landmark expression of God’s expansive love and inclusive call is the result of years of partnership and building relationships between the Canadian Association for Baptist Freedoms, OneBodyOneFaith, and a global partnership for progressive Baptists,” said a news release from the church.
Rusty Edwards is chair of the ordination credentialing committee and senior minister at First Baptist Church of Halifax.
“In 1830, First Baptist Church Halifax sent two qualified clergy to Providence, R.I., in the United States for ordination by the First Baptist Church in America,” he said. “One hundred ninety-four years later, we are living into our story to receive Andrea and Luke, celebrate and affirm the Spirit’s work in their lives, and send them forward to keep living out the justice-love of Jesus. This ordination is part of a larger movement within the global Baptist family to live more fully into our heritage of liberty under the guidance of Jesus Christ.”
Canadian Association for Baptist Freedoms is a Canada-wide fellowship composed of both individuals and churches. They describe themselves as “Baptists freely seeking, living, sharing and celebrating justice, peace and love under the lordship of Christ.”
OneBodyOneFaith is an ecumenical Christian charity based in the UK working to enable LGBTQ Christians to thrive, not just survive.
Clara Rushbrook, co-principal of Northern Baptist College in Manchester, England, participated in both ordination councils and delivered the address during the ordination service.
“I am deeply honored to have been able to share in this historic ordination service today,” she said. “Andrea and Luke are clearly and graciously living out their God-given calling as ministers of the gospel, despite the numerous barriers that have been put in their way. Their integrity, their commitment to justice and their heart for all who are marginalized, are testimony to their deep love of God and faith in Christ and a rich blessing to our global Baptist family and the wider kin-dom of God.”