COCHRANE, Alberta, Canada — The Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists (CCSB) has started a record number of new churches this year and continues to advance toward its goal of 1,000 churches across Canada by 2020.
Paul Johnson, CCSB national church planting consultant, said 33 new Southern Baptist churches have been established from Prince Edward Island to British Columbia, eclipsing the previous single-year high of 23. At the same time, a recent report also indicated the CCSB ranked the highest among intermediate-size denominations for beginning new congregations in Canada from 1998 to 2000.
According to a study from Church Planting Canada, an arm of the British Columbia-based evangelical church planting and research organization of Outreach Canada, the number of CCSB churches grew at an annual rate of 10.4 percent from 1998 to 2000.
From 1992 to 1997, the CCSB grew from 100 to 124 congregations, an average yearly increase of 4.4 percent.
In addition, the province of Alberta is being used as a test area for establishing a number of regions where church planting consultants, pastors and other church members help oversee new churches. The predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec, meanwhile, is being targeted as the location of the CCSB’s first center for training leaders to develop new congregations. A similar training center could be started soon in Oakville, Ontario, a Toronto suburb and home of The Sanctuary, a new Southern Baptist church begun two years ago that has already started four other churches.
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