The History of the Fellowship

In the Fall of 1971, in response to motions made at the Convention Assembly that year (to effectively withdraw from the Canadian Council of Churches and to adopt delegate definitions normally reserved for determination by a church), churches and individuals were invited to join the ABF on the basis of the following resolution:

Being led as we believe by the Holy Spirit, who in our day is moving with renewing power among Christians of all denominational traditions;

And, as Baptists subject to increasing pressure to control and limit our Christian liberty;

We therefore would associate ourselves in an Atlantic Baptist Fellowship which would seek to experience and express, both personally and in the corporate life of our churches, that freedom with which Christ makes us free.

It is our intention to remain within the United Baptist Convention of the Atlantic Provinces; and, maintaining our distinctively historic tradition, promote co-operation with other Christian bodies at all levels.

The ABF has carried out these resolutions in a variety of ways.

Various issues are discussed at the Spring and Fall Conferences, at which devotional addresses and the Lord’s Supper hold a prominent place. Conference themes have included:

• Baptist Practice Regarding Baptism
• Open Membership - Open Communion: A Personal Position Paper
• Freedom and Authority in Religion
• Education at Acadia Divinity College: Toward a Philosophy of Theological Education
• Baptist Contributions to Christian Unity
• Our Christian Witness and Cultural Identity
• The Canadian Council of Churches
• The Church and the Disabled: A Time to Listen
• Contemporary Medical Ethics
• The Role of Women in the Church
• The Broken Family and the Healing of the Church
• The Use and Abuse of the Bible
• The Theory and Practice of Worship
• The Challenge of Feminism for Faith and Worship
• The Stone has been Rolled Away: A Woman Who is a Minister Looks at Mark 16:1-8
• The Question of Missions
• Music and Hymnody
• Baptist Theological Education: Is There A Crisis in Canada?
• Modern Youth and the Church; The Face of Violence in Our Society
• Family Values

The Newsletter, and its successor, the Bulletin, under the editorship of Roger Prentice, I. Judson Levy, M. R. B. Lovesey, Terry Tingley and Rodger Forsman have served as a mouthpiece for the ABF and as a disseminator of information.

Other Publications have aided in achieving the ABF’s goals: Discovery from Discussion, a collection of papers, Scriptures Then and Now, by J. R. C. Perkin, and the Theological Commission study paper “The Nature of Theology”.

The ABF has sought to maintain cordial relations with the Convention leadership. Convention projects, such as the work in East Wolfville, are promoted. In the early years of conflict, face to face meetings were held with the Evangelical Baptist Fellowship, the organization of those who sponsored the 1971 resolutions, to try and reach an understanding.

The ABF joined the Atlantic Ecumenical Council and maintains correspondence with the CCC. We have financially supported the Canadian Girls in Training and the Ecumenical Ministry for the Deaf. Ecumenism has been a repeated Conference topic.

The pilgrimage of the ABF can be summarized in the two words freedom and ecumenical obedience; the freedom to seek what it means to be part of a Baptized Church of Jesus Christ and obedience to Christ’s ecumenical directive. The early years of the ABF were ones of lobbying for the authority of the local church. In the mid-1970s the major emphasis of the ABF focused on ecumenism, particularly during the discussions concerning the creation of a Wider Ecumenical Fellowship. During his period as President, Vin Rushton identified the ABF as an instrument for discussion. In the late 1970s and through the 1980s this discussion has focused increasingly on areas of social justice. In the late 1990s association with like minded Baptist groups has occurred as communication was established with the Alliance of Baptists.

Presidents of the ABF