CABF EVENTS

CABF Annual General Meeting 
1:00 pm October 4, 2025 First Baptist Church Amherst, NS

This was a hybrid meeting with some members meeting in person and others joining via Zoom.  Where a document was provided for an item on the Agenda, a hot link to that item is listed next to the item (see below).

Although the official minutes of the meeting are not yet available, it should be noted that all reports listed on the Agenda, including the Consolidated Financial Statement, the Nominating Committee Report and the FY 2025-26 Budget were approved by vote of those present.

Agenda

  1. Welcome and Prayer

  2. Approval of Agenda (available here)

  3. Approval of CABF Minutes

    1. Annual General Meeting of September 24, 2024 (available here)

    2. Members Meeting of June 7, 2025 (avaialable here)

  4. Business Arising from Minutes

  5. Treasurer’s Report: Consolidated Financial Statement (available here)

  6. Reports from Council

    1. President (available here)

    2. Publications Committee (available here)

    3. Constitution and Governance Committee (available here)

    4. Credentials Committee (available here)

    5. Finance Committee (available here)

    6. Membership Committee (available here)

    7. Program Committee (available here)

    8. Cross Canada Conference Committee

    9. Website Committee (available here)

    10. Alliance of Baptists (available here)

    11. Canadian Council of Churches (CCC) (available here)

  7. New Business

    1. Nominating Committee Report (availble here)

    2. 2025-26 Budget (available here)

  8. Adjournment

  9. Closing Prayer

CABF's Assembly 
October 3-4, 2025 First Baptist Church Amherst, NS

Friday, Oct. 3: 

6:30pm:   Registration

7:00pm:   Welcome and Announcements

7:15pm:   Guest Speaker: "The Shelter of Freedom"                  Robert Seymour Wright

          To view a video of this Lecture, follow this link, https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/lBEmxKNTredT1BMZ0XYOfzBBEe4jh_Dt9iSNMoW3hI8DNxjmGT9204le7gzR_7yZ.b3UoDaG2cPlekhDV Passcode: %m41IPmX

8:45pm:   Communion Service

9:10pm:   Refreshments

9:30pm:   Goodnight

 Saturday, Oct. 4: 

9:30am:   Registration

9:45am:   Devotion

10:00am: Refreshments

10:15am: Guest Speaker: "The Command of Freedom"              Robert Seymour Wright

           To view a video of this Lecture, follow this link, https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/DzZ_CZQgFOyIZh761ZH-8kSfUiRpkmAfeeFff4b8cwOMXZMx9isNcJ7OY_-Up90f.i61aD5RmACPZmQEz Passcode: J0qW+?+R

11:45am:  Lunch

1:00pm:   CABF Annual General Meeting --See full Agenda at the top of this page.

 2:30pm   Adjournment

 

Guest Speaker,
Robert Seymour Wright

Robert Seymour Wright is a queer, African Nova Scotian Social Worker and Sociologist whose 35 year career has spanned the fields of education, child welfare, forensic mental health, trauma, sexual violence, and cultural competence.  He recently completed terms of service as the founding Executive Director of both the Peoples’ Counselling Clinic (Nov. 2017 - March 2024) and the African Nova Scotian Justice Institute (Fall 2021 - March 2024) and currently continues at the Peoples’ Counselling Clinic as Director Emeritus, Consultant and Therapist. 

Robert’s identity and work are grounded in his integrated and activist spirituality. He was an early practitioner of what has come to be known as Equity, Diversity and Inclusion work and developed a model for understanding and practicing Cultural Competence that continues to be a useful framework.  He pioneered the introduction of Impact of Race and Culture Assessments (IRCAs):  a specialized, forensic, clinical presentence report for people of African descent.  This latter work has received national attention.  In August of 2021 the Government of Canada funded to expand the implementation of IRCAs nationally.  

As a lecturer, Robert has taught in social work, sociology, criminology, child and youth studies, education and counselling.  He taught in all four of the Africentric MEd cohorts sponsored and organized by the Council on African Canadian Education.  As part of that programme he taught at Acadia in the summer of 2017 a course he developed with the title, Trauma Informed Approaches to Mental Health: Africentric Perspectives.  In the Spring of 2023 he taught Counselling for Social Justice and Culturally Responsive Practices at Acadia.

Robert's work was recognized by his profession with the Canadian Association of Social Workers Distinguished Service Award in 2012 and on January 1, 2022 it was highlighted in the Toronto Globe and Mail’s Difference Makers feature which highlighted some of the "people working to make Canada a better place".  In June of 2022 Robert was presented with the Leighann Wichman Lifetime Achievement Award from the Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project "in honour of a long-term commitment to activism and leadership that has significantly impacted the lives of 2SLGBTQIA+ people across Nova Scotia.” 

In August of 2024 he was awarded the King Charles III’s Coronation Medal for having made a significant contribution to Canada.

Robert is the father of two grown children and the uncle of so many.  He was orphaned in January 2023 when the last of his parent-like caregivers passed.  Robert cared for his mother and godparents and facilitated them each passing peacefully at home in their own beds from 2020 through 2023.  

CABF's 2025 Cross Canada Conference 
October 26-29, Vancouver, BC

 

Hosts:

Southpoint Church and Grandview Church

Date:

Sun Oct 26 - Wed Oct 29, 2025

Why We Gather:

The CABF is inviting spacious, inclusive Christians to gather, learn, encourage, and bless each other. As we draw near to each other during this gathering, we will reorient ourselves around Divine Love, strengthening the kinship we have with one another, as well as reaffirming our commitment to soul liberty, to all God’s children, and to God’s good earth. This return to “kinship” is a prophetic invitation in an age of rising hostility towards the “other” and disregard for those on the margins of power. 

 

Going Deeper, Together:

Venue:  Grandview Church, 1803 E. 1st Ave, Vancouver, V5N 1B2 

Meet at Grandview for the Sunday evening opening event, as well as for mornings and lunches from Monday to Wednesday.

 

Opening Night

Sun Oct 26 at Grandview Church

4:00 pm  Service of worship and celebration followed by supper.

 

Mornings, Mon through Wed

8:30 am   Gather and Chat

9:00 am   Morning prayers, Worship

9:30 am   Speaker Presentation

10:30 am  Snacks + Discussion groups

11:30 am  Ministry highlights:

  Mon  The Listening Post (link)

  Tues   A Rocha BC Centre (link)

  Wed   CABF updates + Communion 

12:00 pm  Lunch 

 

Morning Prayers

Led by Rev Joy Banks, Rev Monica McKinley, morning prayer will be contemplative in nature, giving us time to “draw near to the Love that is perpetually drawing near to us. 

Speaker Presentations

This year’s lectionary is based on the gospel of Luke, which articulates God’s compassion and care for those on the fringes of power—women, the poor, the stranger, and religious and ethnic minorities. Our speakers have each chosen a passage from Luke which expands their prophetic imagination around kinship.  

 

Monday Oct 27

Rev. Lee Kosa (Bio)

More Gardening and Less Scapegoating

Luke 13:1-9

 

Tuesday Oct 28

Leah Potts Kostamo (Bio)

Jesus the Outdoorsman: Keeping Kinship with Creation

Luke 12:22-31

 

Wednesday Oct 29

Rev. Beth Carlson-Malena (Bio) 

Mary & Elizabeth: Prophetic Vulnerability in Queer & Female Kinship

Luke 1:26-56

 

Optional Offerings:

Monday

Visit The Listening Post (link), 4:15 pm 

Listen Jazz Concert with Mark Glanville (Bio) and Noah Collins at Grandview, 8:00 pm

 

Tuesday

Tour KinBrace Refugee Housing and Support (link), 1:15 pm 

 

Suggested Outings

VanDusen Botanical Garden (link), 

Lynn Canyon Park and Suspension Bridge (link), Museum of Anthropology at UBC (link), Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Art (link), Granville Island (link), 

Dr Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden (link), Stanley Park (link)

 

Logistics:

The conference fee has been kept low, knowing that participants will incur costs for accommodations, meals, transport, and ‘touristy’ outings. The CABF will subsidize much of the program costs: speakers, snacks, and meeting venue.

Bursary

Thanks to the generosity of the Janet Christie Foundation of First Baptist, Amherst, Nova Scotia, we have funds to offer a travel bursary for those coming from outside of BC. Please contact Ryan (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) for more information if you need financial assistance.

Costs

$60   Entire Conference

$25   Daily fee

Free, Online sessions (if available)

For those travelling to Vancouver we estimate travel, accommodations and meals around $2,000-$2,500 per person. 

 

Links for More Information:

Review the 2025 Program (here)

Speakers’ Bios (here)

Suggestions for Transportation and Accommodation (updated Sept. 2025) (Here)

If you have questions about other aspects, please contact Ryan Sato (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) 

 

Registration:

Three options for registering:

 

1. Prefer an online form? Go (here)

2. Prefer to email it? Download the form (here). Complete and send it to David Allen (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), the CABF Treasurer.

3. Prefer to print out and post the form with your cheque? Print this form, found (here).

 

Payment

Choices as above, you can either

E-transfer the registration fee to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or post a

cheque (information on form).

 

If you have questions about registering, please contact David Allen (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), the CABF Treasurer.

 

A message from the conference planning committee: Reverends Anne Baxter Smith,
Ryan Sato, Arla Johnson, and John Perkin