[The following material is from O Timothy magazine, Volume 12, Issue 4, 1995. David W. Cloud, Editor. This material cannot be stored on BBS or Internet sites without permission from the author. Any articles which are redistributed by e-mail or print must be left intact and nothing must be removed or changed, including these informational headers. All rights are reserved. O Timothy is a monthly magazine. Annual subscription is US$20 FOR THE UNITED STATES. Send to Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org. FOR CANADA the subscription is $20 Canadian.The Way of Life web site is located at http://www.wayoflife.org/]

FELLOWSHIP BAPTISTS IN CANADA ARE NEW EVANGELICAL

By David W. Cloud

The Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Canada was comprised of 503 churches in 1993, with a total membership of 66,612. This Fellowship is New Evangelical through and through.

One of the chief hallmarks of New Evangelicalism is its rejection of biblical separation and its participation in the mainstream of the ecumenical world. This characterizes the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches precisely.

Fellowship Baptists participate in ecumenical clergy associations. An example of this is Fellowship Baptist chaplain Phil Philips. He is chaplain of Toronto's Pearson International Airport. The February 1995 Evangelical Baptist announced that Philips was elected chairman of the Ontario Multifaith Council for Spiritual and Religious Care and that he is a member of the Interfaith Committee on Chaplaining in the Correctional Service of Canada.

Fellowship Baptists participate in ecumenical evangelistic crusades. The upcoming Billy Graham crusade in Toronto, Ontario, for example, is sponsored by many of the Fellowship Baptists churches, including Bramalea Baptist Church and Bayfair Baptist Church.

Fellowship Baptists participate in Week of Prayer for Christian Unity activities. For example, at least four Fellowship Baptist pastors joined in Week of Prayer for Unity services January 23, 1994, at The Meadowvale First Baptist Church of Mississauga, Ontario. Other participants included Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Lutheran, and United Church. Fellow participants Angelos Saad of the Church of the Virgin Mary (Coptic Orthodox) and Marcel Dube of St. John of the Cross Carmelite Church (Roman Catholic) represent "churches" which believe Mary is a perpetual virgin and that she is to be worshipped as the Queen of Heaven.

Fellowship Baptists participate in ecumenical distribution of Campus Crusade for Christ's Jesus Film. For example, Peter Graham, from Forward Baptist Church, was the chairman of a committee which oversaw distribution of the film in Cambridge, Ontario. Participants came from 13 denominations.

Fellowship pastor Gordon Abraham is the new Canada Executive Director of Operation Mobilization, an organization committed to interdenominational ecumenism.

We conclude with the words of an Independent Baptist pastor who notes the difference between Fellowship Baptists and Fundamental Baptists in Canada:

"The Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches of Canada is not what we would call "fundamental," but [is] clearly neo-evangelical.

"The facts are overwhelming. One needs only to look at their Bible colleges and seminaries (we live within two miles of one) to see what is being taught and what standards are imposed. There are churches who have pulled out of this Fellowship because of the Fellowship's stand on social drinking and association with charismatics and other neo-evangelicals. There was not one Fellowship Baptist Church of this area that did not cooperate fully and completely with the Billy Graham crusade recently held here in Vancouver (October 14-21, 1984). (One pastor was said to be hesitant in supporting it, but he was the only one.)

"Billy Graham has not changed his positions. He still speaks highly of the pope; he still will not try to convert Catholics; he still has not just neo-evangelicals, but outright liberals on his platform committee, i.e. Anglicans, which ordain homosexuals; and he still is weak on Communism. Yet here is a group of churches, claiming to be fundamental, supporting this crusade with money, counselors, and transportation!

"I disagree sharply with the connotation that the Fellowship Baptists in Canada are fundamental when their track record says otherwise. There are truly fundamental Baptists in Canada. We are independent and we are few. Our number is some 100-150 churches across the whole nation, most have been started within the last 20 years, and none that I know of fellowship with churches in the FEBC" (Pastor Gordon Conner, Tabernacle Baptist Church, 4440 Victoria Drive, Vancouver, British Columbia, V5N 4N6, Canada, October 27, 1984; figures were updated for this article).

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