at
La Chapelle in
Montreal The Convention had its origins in a partnership project between the
Association of Regular Baptist Churches of British Columbia and the
Baptist General Convention of Oregon-Washington (
Southern Baptist Convention) after the latter's executive secretary gave a talk on evangelism at Northwest Baptist College in
Port Coquitlam in 1951. In 1955, five Regular Baptist churches in
Western Canada became members of the
Baptist General Convention of Oregon-Washington, an affiliate of the
Southern Baptist Convention, while also maintaining membership in the Regular Baptist Convention of British Columbia. The Oregon-Washington Convention determined it would assist affiliated churches, but would not initiate any new work in Canada. At the British Columbia Regular Baptist Convention in 1955, several resolutions were directed against the Emmanuel Church (now called Kingcrest Southern Baptist Church) and the Southern Baptists. This caused Kingcrest and four other churches to withdraw from the B. C. Convention and affiliate with only the Southern Baptists in the northwest. Though these Canadian churches were members of the Oregon-Washington Convention, they were unable to affiliate directly with the SBC, because of questions relating to the wording of the SBC Constitution. In 1957, these churches founded the
Canadian Southern Baptist Conference. In 1985, it was renamed the Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists and had 58 churches. In 1987, it opened the
Canadian Baptist Theological Seminary and College in
Cochrane, Alberta. In 2001, the attendance was 10,189 members. In July 2008, the convention voted to change its name to the Canadian National Baptist Convention (In French: ). According to a census published by the association in 2023, it claimed 429 churches and 17,116 members. ==Ministries==