400TH ANNIVERSARY BRINGS BAPTISTS TOGETHER

Hundreds of Convention, Fellowship,and other Toronto area Baptists came together at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church on Sunday afternoon, January 31, to worship, pray, and celebrate their shared roots, 400 years after the first identified Baptists underwent believers' baptism in Holland in 1609. Sunday afternoon as Convention, Fellowship, and other Baptists celebrated our 400-year-old Baptist roots. The Toronto Children's Concert Choir (TC3) and Yorkminster Park choirs sang. Howard Herbert of Westminister Chapel (formerly Temple) and Ayser Mansoor of Saviour Baptist Church shared how their partnerships with Fellowship Baptists had answered prayer and made their new churches possible.

Dr. Michael Haykin, currently professor of church history and biblical spirituality at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, reminded us that knowing our roots helps us understand our identity and witness today. He identified five marks of early Baptist witness:

1. They were a Bible people, committed to scriptures, eager to understand the truth of God's word, and called to heed the word and live it out.
2. They believed that that membership in the local church should be a community of those who had committed themselves to Jesus Christ and followed him in baptism--not of persons who were born into the local church's parish, or under the rule of a state church. Churches now, as then, must be places of truth, but also of love and rich fellowship.
3. They believed in religious liberty, in the separation of church and state. The state has no right to dictate to men and women what their religious convictions or practices should be. Today, in the face of pressure upon givernments to curtail religious freedom. Baptists need to be stalwart in defending not only our freedom as Baptists and Christians, but the freedom of all men and women to worship God as they see fit.
4. They had a passion to share the Gospel among "the thousands of ignorant souls perishing for lack of instruction". May we, Dr. Haykin said, be as passionate about sharing the Gospel winsomely.
5. They were willing to suffer for the sake of the Gospel. Our forebears treasured Christ so much they were willing to part with their lives. May we be filled with such a passion for Christ.

Watch a webcast of the service or hear Dr. Hakin's message online.

WE LEARN WHY BUYING SEX IS NOT A SPORT

Pimps and escort agencies plan to make a lot of money during the Vancouver Winter Olympics--and they've been bragging to the press. But there's a darker side to the story--the victimization and exploitation of vulnerable women. Toronto Baptist women were among those who heard it on January 30 at Walmer Road Baptist Church.

In a forum arranged by Lorna Dueck of Listen UpTV, Michelle Miller and Trisha Baptie, Christian leaders in the Vancouver-based Buying Sex Is Not a Sport movement, pointed out that one in eight men buy sex (according to a Swedish study), that 92 percent of women involved in prostitution want to get out, and that the main difference between street prostitution and brothels is that brothels are "rape in a clean environment."

Trisha and Michelle are not just fighting to stigmatize the sex trade during the Olympics, they're fighting to prevent the decriminalization of brothels in Canada. "As long as one woman is bought and sold none of us is free," Trisha said. They invited concerned Christians to:

1. Learn more about the issue. Michelle's website is a good place to start.
2. Urge their MPs not to legitimize prostitution in Canada, but to support better employment strategies for marginalized women. A postcard campaign is under way.
3. Ask the men in your life, "Do you pay for sex?"

CAROLFEST 2009: A MULTICULTURAL CELEBRATION

Carolfest 2009 to be "a taste of heaven".More than 500 people made their way to Scarborough Chinese Baptist Church on Sunday afternoon, December 6. It was a truly multicultural occasion, highlighted by presentations from three of the newest members of our Toronto Baptist family of churches. "Julie", the Congolese refugee and long-lost Lwamba sister who turned up on the Matthew House doorstep in 2008, jubilantly led an African choir from Citywide Praise and Worship Church. The 35-voice choir from Greenhills Community Church-Toronto (top) delighted us with their sparkling national dress and enthusiastic singing in Tagalog. Two young women from Saviour Baptist Church sang an Arabic Christmas hymn as part of their church's introduction to the Toronto Baptist family. (Proceeds from the Carolfest offering went to Saviour).

To this multicultual blend we added The Hilltop Ringers (a bell choir from Newmarket Christian Baptist Church), the Scarborough Chinese Baptist Church Choir, liturgical dancer Karen Robinson, a folk duo from Woodbine Heights Baptist, a girls' quintette from St. Clair, a massed choir of adults and children, organist Rebecca Loo and pianist Shelley Faulkner, congregational carols sung in English and Cantonese, and a reading of the angels' message in eleven of the languages spoken by Toronto Baptists.

At least 24 Toronto Baptist churches were represented in the program.

THREE NEW CHURCHES IN 2009!

A new church in a historic building: The North Toronto Chinese Baptist Church Melville Mission has moved from its temporary home in Richmond Hill to its renovated new home, a historic former United church at 11248 Kennedy Road, Markham (north of Elgin Mills Rd.). The inauguration service will be held November 15 at 2:30 p.m.

A new Arabic-speaking church: The Middle East Baptist Church (MEBC) celebrated the opening of its first daughter church, Saviour Baptist Church, on September 13. This new Arabic-speaking congregation meets at Thistletown Baptist Church, a Fellowship Baptist church strategically located at the centre of a growing neighbourhood of newcomers from the Arab world. Rob Patterson of Toronto Baptist Ministries (second from left) joined MEBC pastors Frank Talat, Sila Haddad, and Ashoor Yousif in a prayer of commissioning pastor Sahir Hanna and his wife, Pauline Danielle (kneeling).

A new church in a new community: Bridle Trail Baptist Church celebrated the opening of its Wismer Church plant on Mother's Day afternoon, (May 10). Wismer Baptist Church is strategically located at 180 Mingay Ave., Markham, on a hill overlooking a large Chinese community. Rev. Timothy Ngo is senior pastor of this missional congregation, which offers worship and other activities in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. The building was completed on budget, on time.

CHALLENGE YOUR CONGREGATION TO MISSIONAL LIVING

MissionExpoTo10 is coming! MissionExpoTo8 was such a positive stimulus to global and local mission that we're doing it again, February 26-28, 2010. David Coffey, the president of the Baptist World Alliance, will speak on the theme i4mission. TBM is excited to be joining Canadian Baptist Ministries, Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec, and Yorkminster Park Baptist Church (the host church) in sponsoring this event.