Baptists in Canada

In 1763 members of a Baptist Church in Swansea, Massachusetts (and some other nearby churches, consisting in a total of thirteen Baptists), constituted a Baptist church. They chose Nathan Mason as their pastor, and emigrated as a body to Sackville, Nova Scotia, Canada (which area is now in the province of New Brunswick). After about eight years, the original members returned to Massachusetts. Though the church had grown, this apparently caused the remaining church to become cut-off and scattered, and eventually to disband.

The oldest continuing Baptist church in Canada is the Wolfville Baptist Church (originally Horton Baptist Church) in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. It was constituted on October 29, 1778 with ten members. Nicholson Pearson was its first pastor.

Baptists got a late start in Canada – compare 1763 in Nova Scotia versus 1638 in Rhode Island. This is probably due to the strong French and Catholic influence to the north. The French made the first permanent European settlement in what would become Canada.

According to The Canadian Encyclopedia and other sources, in 2021 Baptists make up about 1.2 percent of the population of Canada. In contrast, 100 years earlier in 1921, 4.8 percent of the population of Canada was Baptist.

A list of some of the Baptist groups in Canada:

• Association of Regular Baptist Churches of Canada
• Canadian Baptist Ministries[i]

o   Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec

o   Baptist Union of Western Canada

o   Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches

o   Union of French Baptist Churches (L’Union d’Églises Baptistes Françaises au Canada)

• Covenanted Baptist Church of Canada (possibly extinct)
• Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Canada
• Landmark Missionary Baptist Association of Quebec (L’Association des Églises Missionnaire Baptiste Landmark du Québec)
• Primitive Baptist Conference of New Brunswick, Maine, and Nova Scotia[ii]
• Sovereign Grace Fellowship of Canada
• Ukrainian Evangelical Baptist Convention of Canada
• Union of Slavic Churches of Evangelical Christians and Slavic Baptists of Canada
• U. S. A.-based denominations (such as Southern Baptist Convention, American Baptist Association, Baptist Bible Fellowship, Converge, North American Baptist Conference, Seventh-day Baptists)

Sources: A Short History of the Baptists, by Henry Clay Vedder (ABPS, 1907, pp. 276ff.); Baptists Around the World: A Comprehensive Handbook, by Albert William Wardin Jr. (Broadman & Holman, 1995); Repent and Believe: the Baptist Experience in Maritime Canada, by Barry M. Moody, Editor (Lancelot Press, 1980); The Canadian Encyclopedia.

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[i] Two gender equality Baptist groups, Gathering of Baptists (org. 1993) and Canadian Association for Baptist Freedoms (org. 1971), seem to operate inside existing bodies rather than as independent entities.
[ii] Free or General Baptists, not the same as the Primitive Baptists in the U.S.; some formed the Atlantic Canada Association of Free Will Baptists (and united with the U.S. National Association of Free Will Baptists) and some remain under the name Primitive Baptist.

Bible Bill, King James, Western Canada, and the World

Why Bill? Which Bible? (As promised back on April 4th, I am getting around to a biographical effort on William Aberhart.)

Bible Bill’s biography

William Aberhart was a school teacher, principal, Bible teacher, radio evangelist, and the premier of Alberta (from 1935 till his death in 1943). Aberhart was often called “Bible Bill” in the press, probably in an effort to diminish or ridicule his political status.[i]

William Aberhart was born December 31, 1878 in Perth County, Ontario, Canada, the son of William Aberhart and Louisa Pepper. Aberhart married Janet Maria “Jessie” Flatt (1878-1966) in 1902. They had two daughters, Khona Louise (1903-1998) and Ola Janette (1905-2000).

Aberhart trained at Queen’s University and became a teacher. In 1915 he became the principal of Crescent Heights High School in Calgary. The same year he became the “unofficial minister” at Westbourne Baptist Church (he was not ordained). He continued to serve as principal of Crescent Heights High School until 1935.

Aberhart was a passionate preacher, Bible teacher, and radio evangelist. He started the Calgary Prophetic Bible Conference at Westbourne Baptist Church in 1918. He began broadcasting Bible teaching over CFCN in 1925. At the time CFCN was the most powerful radio station west of Montreal. Aberhart opened the Calgary Prophetic Bible Institute in October 1927. A popular and well-known American fundamental Baptist preacher, William Bell Riley, preached at the grand opening of the building. In the midst of controversy yet by mutual agreement, in 1929 Aberhart separated from Westbourne Baptist Church (then still at least nominally affiliated with the Baptist Union of Western Canada)[ii] with authority to form a new church with his supporters. He organized the Bible Institute Baptist Church (an independent fundamentalist church).

Though Aberhart’s religious views are considered to the right, he adopted a political view (Social Credit) that was on the left, a form of socialism.[iii] Is this political position one reason some King James defenders tend to shy away from William Aberhart? Perhaps for some of his contemporaries, though it may be more likely for modern defenders that they simply have not heard of him. William “Bible Bill” Aberhart died May 23, 1943 in Vancouver, British Columbia, and is buried there in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Burnaby.

Bible Bill’s Bible

William Aberhart stood tall as a proponent of the King James translation and an opponent of the Revised Version. Booklets, Institute course outlines, lectures, memories, and newspaper accounts stand as a reminder of that fact. Perhaps Lecture No. 12 in the God’s Great Prophecies series – “The Latest of Modern Movements,” or “What about the Revised Version of the Bible?” – is the most complete surviving statement of Aberhart’s views. Here are a few excerpts.

“Can we estimate the effect upon the rising generations to have nothing settled? Are the Holy Scriptures a mere nose of wax to be turned and twisted to suit the caprice of the reader? or Are the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, the WORD OF GOD, and the only infallible guide of faith and manners? Every earnest person must answer these questions.”

“Contemporaneous with this splendid movement back to the scriptures there has arisen the latest modern religious movement, which is settling down upon the human race like a dense fog. I refer to the popular, apparently insatiable craze to undertake the seemingly insignificant task of correcting the Bible by revision.”

“The Authorized version is reliable. I believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the Word of God and the only infallible rule of faith and practice.”[iv] 

In this lecture, Aberhart follows lines of argument in common with many modern King James Bible defenders. He:

• Gives biblical warnings and assurances
• Speaks of the fog of higher criticism
• Addresses the modern craze of correcting the Bible by revision
• Warns against multiple translations and following modern scholarship
• Allows for changing archaic words that no longer mean the same
• Calls attention to Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, and Alexandrinus
• Talks about Westcott, Hort, and the revisers
• Examines the revision itself, comparing verses with the King James Version

In “The Present Eastern Question in the Light of Prophecy” (p. 7) Aberhart says the Presbyterians and Baptists arose “from the faithful ones who had preserved God’s Word in the caves and hiding places of the Alps.” (emphasis mine)[v] 

In Bible Bill (p. 36), David Elliott reminds us that William Aberhart’s rallying cry was “‘The Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible!’ He held that the King James Bible of 1611 embodied the literal, unabridged, and undiluted Word of God” and that he “deplored the confusion and disagreement among those making new translations, his bête noire being the Revised Version of 1884.”

Bible Bill’s Bearing

William Aberhart had connections with leading fundamentalists in Canada and the United States. In 1925, the Prophetic Conference, Westbourne Baptist Church, and other sponsors brought T. T. Shields (pastor of Jarvis Street Baptist Church in Toronto) and P. W. Philpott (pastor of Moody Memorial Church in Chicago) for a series of meetings against modernism. Harry Rimmer lectured at the Calgary Prophetic Bible Institute in 1930. Aberhart visited the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (BIOLA) at least two summers while preaching in Los Angeles.[vi] 

“William ‘Bible Bill’ Aberhart was very much a home-grown Canadian…Mr. Aberhart also believed in the inerrancy of the King James Version of the Bible, claiming that the text on which the KJV is based had been preserved by God in the Swiss Alps, beyond contamination of the Roman Catholic Church.

“In the 1920s, Mr. Aberhart began broadcasting Sunday School lessons over the radio in Calgary. By 1935, he was broadcasting five hours every Sunday over several stations, reaching hundreds of thousands of people.”[vii]

Barrie Oviatt also hints at the scope of Aberhart’s influence by 1935:

“The vast audience to which Aberhart was able to speak is evident from the fact that during a broadcast in April 1935, he read several letters from ‘as far distant as Quebec, the maritimes, and Pennsylvania.’ At its peak in 1935 Aberhart’s radio audience was computed at three hundred thousand (it is likely that not more than 65 per cent of the three hundred thousand were Albertans), while the Bible Institute listed one thousand two hundred and seventy-five supporters and the radio Sunday school with its printed lesson material reached eight thousand families. Such was the influence Aberhart wielded through his radio broadcasts and Institute in 1935.”[viii]

What bearing does William Aberhart have on the development of the King James Only position. He was a contemporary of Philip Mauro and Benjamin Wilkinson. His reach was probably distinct from Mauro’s and wider than Wilkinson’s. Anti-KJVO authors (such as Kutilek and Hudson) have arbitrarily appointed Benjamin Wilkinson the originator of KJVO. KJV defender David Cloud briefly mentions Aberhart in connection with Mark Buch, as well as printing excerpts from “What about the Revised Version of the Bible” on his Way to Life site. David Otis Fuller reprinted works by Mauro and Wilkinson, thereby securing their names in the modern King James Only movement.

It is equitable to place the Bible view of William Aberhart in the realm of “King James Onlyism” – that is, within what may be generally regarded as that viewpoint. He started a radio program in 1925 that within 10 years could be described as “reaching hundreds of thousands of people.” He organized a Bible Institute in Calgary, Alberta in 1927 (which taught his views on the King James Bible). Notably, both the radio program and Bible Institute preceded Benjamin Wilkinson, who on the other side of North America published Our Authorized Bible Vindicated in 1930.

More research needs to be done on Bible Bill Aberhart’s influence in the realm of the Bible versions debate.[ix] He influenced men such as Ernest Manning, Cyril Hutchinson, and Mark Buch, who carried the banner after him. His expansive outreach in print and on the radio make it likely that his influence was greater than has been remembered or credited.

My sense is that William “Bible Bill” Aberhart was more influential than has been previously supposed, and that he should take his place with Mauro and Wilkinson as important opponents of the Revised Version in the first half of the 20th century. Aberhart – as well as Mauro and Wilkinson – drank deeply from Dean Burgon’s well,[x] provided early 20th century opposition the use of the English and American Revised Versions, and provided ammunition for the rise of the mid-century opposition to the Revised Standard Version.[xi]

Through a Bible Institute, radio, travel, and interaction with other fundamentalists, “Bible Bill” Aberhart left an imprint, sometimes no longer acknowledged, not only in Western Canada, but also in other parts of the world.

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[i] My limited newspaper research suggests journalists began using this terminology after William Aberhart became premier of Alberta. Searching the U.S. and Canadian papers available at Newspapers.com, I did not find the term used in reference to Aberhart before 1936. 

[ii] Westbourne church later connected itself to the Regular Baptists associated with T. T. Shields. Bible Bill: a Biography of William Aberhart, David R. Elliott, page 30 and page 90. 

[iii] I am not familiar with “Social Credit” and have not tried to understand it. George Palmer, a Calgary resident writing to the newspaper against “Social Credit,” called it a pseudo-economic-politico-religious conglomeration. For general reference, though somewhat biased against him, see the entry “William Aberhart” in the Canadian Encyclopedia.

[iv] William Aberhart, “The Latest of Modern Movements,” circa 1925. The online booklet from which I quote is undated and may represent a “final product” on the subject. However, a listing on the Aberhart Foundation site shows a lecture from the 1920s titled “The Latest Modern Movements or the Growing Craze for Bible Revision,” indicating he had already developed this lecture in the 1920s. The foundation states that there “appears to be at least 3 different publications of God’s Great Prophecies which have some differences in Lecture Numbers and Titles.” 

[v] With knowledge of Aberhart’s views on the Bible, we certainly may understand this in reference to the survival of a pure text. However, it also seems that Aberhart may also have in mind the faith delivered to the saints and pure worship – as opposed to that of the Roman Catholics. 

[vi] Bible Bill, pages 62, 71, and 72. See The Los Angeles Daily Times, Saturday, July 14, 1923, p. 16, showing he lectured at Biola in the summer of 1923; and Saturday July, 17, 1924, p. 3, part II, showing he held a Bible Conference at the YMCA building in 1924. Calgary Herald, Saturday, September 20, 1930, p. 18.

[vii] “God: Americans Spread Gospel northward,” The Ottawa Citizen (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), Saturday, June 20, 1998, page B3.

[viii] The Papers of William Aberhart as Minister of Education, 1935-1943, Barrie Connolly Oviatt, Master of Education Thesis, University of Alberta, 1971, p. 18.

[ix] One important factor is to confirm more definitely just exactly when Aberhart publicly rejected the Revised Version and espoused a stance for only the King James translation. It seems likely at least by the mid-1920s, making it possible to be influenced by Philip Mauro, but unlikely by Benjamin Wilkinson. The Aberhart Foundation site has a photocopy of a Bulletin of the Calgary Bible Institute which they date 1925. It shows Aberhart was already teaching on the Bible versions, and specifically against the Revised Version (Systematic Theology, Course A, pp. 4-7). The reference “What about the Revised Version” seems to be to Aberhart’s lecture by that title (p. 4). It also shows that the Institute required students to have the Authorized Version of the Bible among its necessary books (p. 1).

[x] David Cloud wrote, “Mark Buch testified to me that Aberhard (sic) used Burgon’s material in his Bible institute classes.” 

[xi] Aberhart associates and students such as Mark Buch, Cyril Hutchinson, and Ernest C. Manning were among active opponents of the RSV. See, for example, “Says New Bible ‘Fraud’ But Sales Are Booming,” The Calgary Albertan, Wednesday, December 17, 1952, page 1, section 2; “Vancouver Minister Scores New Bible,” The Calgary Herald, Wednesday, December 17, 1952, page 27; “Manning Hits Out At ‘Revised’ Bible,” The Calgary Albertan, Monday, April 23, 1962, page 3. Ernest Manning became premier of Alberta after the death of Aberhart. “The Revised Standard, Manning said, results in modernization of God’s Word to the point where the original intent is lost…The premier said the King James Version of The Bible contained God’s True Word and should not be defiled (or defied)…The original Word, as it appears in the King James Bible, was blessed by God Himself and should remain untouched.” Perry F. Rockwood (1917-2008) was another Canadian fundamentalist who staunchly supported the King James Version, but it is not clear that he was influenced by Aberhart.

Mark Buch and the KJV

The Vancouver Sun, Thursday, November 27,1952, p. 23

For his fierce opposition to the new Revised Standard Version as “a fraud and a deception slipped over on the common people,” fundamentalist pastor Markvor Buch won the title “The Burning Buch.”[i] Many have not heard of him.

In 1995, in his book For Love of the Bible, David W. Cloud mentioned Canadian pastor Mark Buch as a defender of the King James Version Bible.[ii] Cloud has noted various defenders of the KJV outside the purported trilogy of “Wilkinson, Wray, and Wruckman.” The anti-KJVO crowd sells stock in this trilogy line. It makes a great strawman argument. They hold up an Adventist, Plagiarist, and Extremist as the originators of the “King James Only” view of the Bible. The anonymous Ruckmanism.org website downplays the contributions of Buch, since persons such as he do not help sell any of their stock. The article “First Influence” questions the actual beliefs of Buch about the Bible. Further, it claims that no KJV defender “has written mentioning Buch as having influenced him” and that no one has listed “Buch in the bibliographies of their writings before David Cloud mentioned him.” Buch’s own pronouncements clarifies the first question. The latter ignores the influence a preacher has through his preaching ministry.[iii] It is not necessary for Buch to have written a book to be influential. Further, if he did not write a book, he would be listed in no one’s bibliography.[iv]

Mark Buch was saved in 1931. Shortly thereafter he felt called into the ministry.[v] He studied under William Aberhart at the Calgary Prophetic Bible Institute. He was ordained Friday May 13, 1938.[vi] He pastored Emmanuel Baptist Church in Vancouver, British Columbia, before organizing the People’s Fellowship in 1939.[vii] Buch preached at churches and Bible conferences in the United States, including Bob Jones University. He shared platforms with other notable fundamentalists such as Ernest Pickering, J. Frank Norris, John R. Rice, G. B. Vick, and Charles Woodbridge. Bob Jones, Sr., Ian Paisley, P.W. Philpott, Ernest Weller (China Inland Mission), and many others spoke at People’s Fellowship Tabernacle in Vancouver. In the late 1960s, he served on the BJU cooperating board of trustees.[viii] In 1977, Charles Woodridge and the Community Bible Church made Mark Buch an associate minister. Whatever this involved, Buch continued to pastor the People’s Fellowship Tabernacle.[ix] The announcement stated that Buch “is widely known, both in Canada and the U.S.A, as a radio preacher of great power. His cassette tape ministry is a blessing to multitudes.” Woodbridge also said, “Mr. Buch and I are of one mind in proclaiming the inerrant inspiration of the Bible and the purity of the church—and all this against the fearful odds of modern ecumenical compromise.”[x]

Markvor Buch was born in Denmark, November 30, 1910. He came with his family to Canada in 1924. He learned his ABCs from an Irish schoolteacher, and later mastered the English language “by repeated reading of the Authorized (1611) version of the Bible.”[xi] He spoke Danish as well as English, and was able to preach in both languages. Early sermon titles suggest an interest in the “Bible versions debate.”[xii] His opposition to the Revised Standard Version brought his Bible views to the fore. Unlike some other fundamentalists, Buch’s message was not just negative toward the RSV, but positive toward the King James Version. He traveled widely and spoke at rallies opposing the RSV. Announcing a rally at People’s Fellowship Tabernacle, the newspaper reported “Mark Buch will cite objections to key texts, and deal with original sources, ‘to prove why the King James’ version is the divinely-preserved Word of God to English-speaking peoples of the world.’”[xiii] Speaking at this rally, “He [Mark Buch, rlv] reiterated an earlier claim the King James version was the only true version of the Bible.” He further pointed out that the RSV’s claim “to change only the wording of the scriptures ‘is a fraud’.”[xiv] On November 28, 1952, Mark Buch debated Vernon Fawcett, professor of Union College at the University of British Columbia, “Is the New Translation of the Bible an Improvement Over the Old?”[xv] In December, he traveled to Calgary for a rally at the Bethel Baptist Church, telling the crowd “the battle for these two books will go down in history as the greatest battle of the 20th century.”[xvi]

In June of 1953, Pastor Buch wrote a series of four articles for The Vancouver Province newspaper – apparently initially intended to be three:

“Rev. Mark Buch, pastor of the People’s Fellowship Tabernacle, Vancouver, has forwarded a series of three articles on his opinions as to the true Bible and its origin. The Province prints these articles in the hope that they, along with the recent series on ‘The Revised Standard Version,’ by Dr. Ernest Marshall Howse of the United Church, will help its readers to draw their own conclusions.”

In the first article, he discusses three theories of inspiration; the fact we do not possess the originals, but that God has preserved his word; and the pure and impure streams of the Scriptures. He sets the Revised Standard Version in the impure stream, but does not yet discuss the AV/KJV per se. He does write, however, “To say then that one believes in the verbal inspiration of the original only, holds little encouragement today for those who grope for the truth, for what good are inspired originals which are lost? Have we then lost the faultless Word of God? No!”[xvii]

In the second, Buch delineates two lines of Bibles. “The big question to us then is not, ‘Did God inspire the original manuscripts?’ We know that He did, but has God preserved that perfect revelation through time in copying and translation? Again and again the Word itself emphatically states He has...I have now brought you along the path of pure Scriptures to the era of the translation commonly known as the Authorized Version of the Bible. Thus you see the basis of the Authorized Version is the oldest and purest in the world. It springs from a line and history altogether different from the spurious line, such as the Revised Standard Version.”[xviii]

In the third, Buch defends the King James Bible as best. “Has God preserved His Word intact for this generation? If it were lost in the passing of the original manuscripts, then with it has also passed the doctrine of individual responsibility to God. Then at best we shall drift on and on until we become shipwrecked upon the dark reefs of eternity’s unknown night…Let me sum up this article by saying that the Authorized Version is a correct translation of a perfect copy of an infallible original.”[xix]

In the fourth and final article, Buch compares of texts of the two Bibles, KJV and RSV. He writes of the King James Version, “This Book is God’s peculiar gift to the English-speaking world. Read it! Heed it! Believe it!”[xx]

Buch had a local ally in W. M. Robertson, pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle. “A number of Fundamentalist and other ministers are also opposed to the new version. Rev. W. M. Robertson in Metropolitan Tabernacle [bold original] on Sunday evening, entitling his sermon “The Unholy Bible,” will assert that ‘the extravagant claims made for the new version are not warranted by the facts, and any minor gains of languages are more than offset by grave errors that undermine some of the vital truths of the Gospel.”[xxi] In another issue of The Sun reported,

“Because of the controversy over the new version of Scripture, Rev. W. M. Robertson in Metropolitan Tabernacle [bold original] on Sunday evening will speak on ‘What Bible?’ with special reference to the claim that the King James version is the only true one. He will assert that from earliest days the Church has been in possession of a truly authentic Scripture.”[xxii]

David Cloud relates from Buch’s scrapbook: “In the Fall [probably circa 1933, rlv] I went back to the Prophetic Bible Institute in Calgary [William Aberhart’s school]. I came to the second year of Apologetics. It opened the subject of Divine Inspiration and preservation in particular, of the original manuscripts.” In the scope of the Institute’s “Apologetics B” course, Buch would have learned:

1. It establishes the infallibility of the Bible and proves its claim to divine inspiration.

2. It traces the sources of the various versions and establishes the divine inspiration of the Authorized Version.

3. It examines the difficult passages and apparent contradictions and demonstrates the perfection and harmony of the Bible as a whole.[xxiii]

Mark Buch maintained a pro-KJV position over the course of some 60 years, and defended it against various comers. Pastor Markvor “Mark” Buch died at his home September 22, 1995, leaving behind family members, wife, Sylvia; daughter, Ingrid; son, Wesley; and many other family members. He is buried at Ocean View Burial Park in Burnaby, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Those who refuse to acknowledge “The Burning Buch” as a “King James Only” advocate have their proverbial heads buried in the sand.[xxiv]

1991

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[i] “Wins Title of ‘Burning Buch’,” The Vancouver Sun, Saturday, December 17, 1952, p. 28.
[ii] See also, https://www.wayoflife.org/database/buch.html
[iii] Buch’s preaching went out over radio and by cassette tape, meaning his influence reached beyond the physical walls of the sanctuaries and auditoriums where he preached. “Rev. Mark Buch Preaches Again,” Santa Ynez Valley News, Thursday, February 2, 1978, p. 13A. His radio ministry was not limited to Vancouver. For example, he was on KWSO in the Santa Ynez Valley of California, and 50,000-watt KERI in Bakersfield. Santa Ynez Valley News, Thursday, May 22, 1980, p. C3; Thursday, October 17, 1991, p. 12A.
[iv] In 1977, Buch published a ”fifty-eight page scrapbook,” In Defence of the Authorized Version: One Pastor’s Battle. Free distribution of the scrapbook occurred at the 25th anniversary of Buch’s debate with Vernon Fawcett about the RSV vs. KJV. At the anniversary service, Buch preached a message of the same title as the book. See The Vancouver Sun, Saturday, November 26, 1977, p. F13.
[v] “Rev. Mark Buch Preaches Again,” Santa Ynez Valley News, Thursday, February 2, 1978, p. 13A.
[vi] The Daily Province, Saturday, May 14, 1938, p. 5.
[vii] Apparently in late summer. He was still pastor of Emmanuel at least as late as June 1939, according to newspaper accounts, and is mentioned at People’s Fellowship in August. People’s Fellowship Tabernacle was at the least baptistic, but usually advertised as independent, fundamental, and non-denominational. According to David Cloud, circa 1990 “People’s Fellowship Tabernacle merged with the Bethel Baptist Church to become the Tabernacle Baptist Church of Vancouver. Its pastor is Gordon Conner, who continues to hold a standard for the King James Bible and biblical Fundamentalism in western Canada.”
[viii] “Bob Jones To Confer About 400 Degrees,” The Greenville News, Wednesday, May 31, 1967, p. 11.
[ix] In this arrangement, apparently the Community Bible Church in Solvang “rendered honor to whom honor is due,” received visits from time to time from Buch, and recognized his Danish heritage. Danes founded Solvang (Sunny Field, aka “The Danish Capital of America”) in 1911 on the Rancho San Carlos de Jonata Mexican land grant. "His presence in our area will be a blessing to Danish speaking residents of our Valley," Woodbridge said. “Community Bible Church appoints associate minister,” Santa Ynez Valley News, Thursday, December 1, 1977, p. 18A.
[x] “Community Bible Church appoints associate minister,” Santa Ynez Valley News, Thursday, December 1, 1977, p. 18A.
[xi] “Rev. Mark Buch Preaches Again,” Santa Ynez Valley News, Thursday, February 2, 1978, p. 13A.
[xii] For example, “Have We Today an Infallible Copy of the Bible?” on Sunday, March 19, 1939, 7:30 p.m. The Vancouver Sun, Saturday, March 18, 1939, p. 35. See also, “Is The Bible Trustworthy and Reliable,” in The Vancouver Sun, Saturday, June 30, 1951, p. 12; “Bible Versions Under Study,” The Daily Province, Saturday, June 30, 1951, p. 41; and “True Bible Man’s Need,” in The Daily Province, Saturday, July 14, 1951, p. 21 (all before the full RSV was published).
[xiii] “Protest Rally Called Against New Version,” The Vancouver Sun, Saturday, November 1, 1952, p. 13.
[xiv] “Sponsors of New Bible Dubbed ‘False Prophets’,” The Vancouver Province, Saturday, November 8, 1952 p. 9.
[xv] “Bible Revision Will Be Debated,” The Vancouver Sun, Thursday, November 27, 2952, p. 23.
[xvi] “Vancouver Minister Scores New Bible,” The Calgary Herald, Wednesday, December 17, 1952, p. 27.
[xvii] “Tabernacle Pastor Discusses Theories,” by Mark Buch, The Vancouver Province, Saturday, June 6, 1953, p. 21.
[xviii] “Christians Took Scrolls Into Alps,” by Mark Buch, The Vancouver Province, Saturday, June 13, 1953, p. 21.
[xix] “King James Version Defended As Best,” by Mark Buch, The Vancouver Province, Saturday, June 20, 1953, p. 22.
[xx] “Comparisons Made Between Two Books,” The Vancouver Province, Saturday, June 27, 1953, p. 47.
[xxi] “Protest Rally Called Against New Version,” The Vancouver Sun, Saturday, November 1, 1952, p. 13.
[xxii] “Says Church Has Authentic Bible Since Early Era,” The Vancouver Sun, Saturday, November 15, 1952, p. 10. Robertson was born Scotland in 1883. A Regular Baptist Church, Metropolitan Tabernacle joined the Independent Fundamental Churches of America in 1931. See Pilgrims in Lotus Land: Conservative Protestantism in British Columbia, 1917-1981, Robert K. Burkinshaw, Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1995.
[xxiii] Calgary Prophetic Bible Institute, Apologetics B, The Scope of the Subject. http://www.aberhartfoundation.ca/PDF%20Documents/Prophetic-%20Berean%20Cirriculum/Prophetic/Apologetics%20B%20-CPBI.pdf
[xxiv] Even James R. White in The King James Only Controversy allows for “I Like the KJV Best” and “The Textual Argument” to be part of the “King James Only” camp (pp. 23-24). Surely Mark Buch, whose position was so much more, earns a place among the contemporary defenders of the King James Bible. The Anti-KJVO folks need to find their own “just weights and measures” if they can’t figure that out.

Baptists in Britain, Australia, and Canada

A list of Baptist associations that exist in the British Isles (I would appreciate more information about Baptists in these Isles).

Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland (was the Baptist Union of Ireland)
Baptist Union of Great Britain
Baptist Union of Scotland
Baptist Union of Wales
Grace Baptist Assembly
Gospel Standard Strict Baptists
Jesus Fellowship Church
Old Baptist Union

The Jesus Fellowship Church grew out of the Bugbrooke Baptist Church in Northamptonshire after division from the Baptist Union of Great Britain. They may no longer consider themselves Baptists. There also used to be a Christian Pathway Strict Baptist group, but I think they may no longer exist. I'm sure there are independent churches that exist apart from any of these groups.

A list of Baptist associations that exist in Australia (I would appreciate more information about Baptists in Australia).

Australian Baptist Independent Fellowship
Baptist Union of Australia
Faith Baptist Churches Fellowship
Seventh Day Baptists
Strict and Particular Baptists

There are independent churches that exist apart from these groups, including some created by American missionary work; but it seems that the vast majority of Baptists in Australia participate in the Baptist Union.

A list of some of the Baptist groups in Canada (I hope some of our Canadian friends will tell us more; hint, hint, Jim!)

Association of Regular Baptist Churches of Canada
Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec
Baptist Union of Western Canada
Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches
Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Canada
Landmark Missionary Baptist Association of Quebec (L'Association des Églises Missionnaire Baptiste Landmark du Québec)
Sovereign Grace Fellowship of Canada
Ukrainian Evangelical Baptist Convention of Canada
Union of French Baptist Churches (L'Union d'Églises Baptistes Françaises au Canada)
Union of Slavic Churches of Evangelical Christians and Slavic Baptists of Canada

The Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec, Baptist Union of Western Canada, Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches, and the Union of French Baptist Churches work together through Canadian Baptist Ministries. Two other native Baptist groups in Canada are the Covenanted Baptist Church of Canada and the Primitive Baptist Conference of New Brunswick, Maine, and Nova Scotia (briefly mentioned on the linked page). Besides these, there are several churches that participate in associations & conventions that are United States based.

Of the status of the Covenanted Baptist Church of Canada, Elder J. F. Poole wrote that it "today exists only in skeleton form. A few years ago there were about 5 meetinghouses with one membership attending them all. A sad division took place and the flock was generally scattered. There may be one small group meeting there now with a minister going up from the States to speak to them." That was the status in July 2000. This group is/was a predestinarian group similar to and in fellowship with the Absolute Predestinarian Primitive Baptists.

The Primitive Baptist Conference of New Brunswick, Maine, and Nova Scotia still exists, but under a different name. They are NOT related to the Primitive Baptists of the United States, but are part of the Free Baptist movement in the northeast (U.S. & Canada). They separated from the Free Christian Baptists on questions of practice and order. In 1981, sixteen churches of the Primitive Baptist Conference (in New Brunswick) united with the National Association of Free Will Baptists and are known as the Atlantic Canada Association of Free Will Baptists. I have heard rumor that a few churches may not have participated in this union and still exist as "Primitive Baptists".