Christ Almighty Baptist Church (CABC) is a multicultural, Christ-centred congregation in Toronto, ON that adheres to all the doctrines revealed in the Bible.
OUR MISSION
We are a church dedicated to glorify God by faithfully reaching upward to God through worship and prayer, inward to one another through teaching and fellowship and outward to the lost through evangelism and missions.
OUR VISION
Be a spiritually mature and compassionate church that significantly impacts our world for the Lord Jesus Christ to the glory of God.
OUR CORE VALUES
Absolute Authority of God’s Word
Dependence on God
Mutual Ministry
Compassion for the Lost
Unity in Diversity
2022 THEME: 2 TIMOTHY 2:1-2
You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
What We Believe
I. Bible: We believe that the Bible is divinely inspired, without error, and is the final authority in matters of faith and morality.
II. God: We believe in one God who eternally exists in three divine Persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit.
We believe that God is the Creator of all things, limitless in knowledge and power.
We believe God is perfect, sovereign, holy, just, righteous, merciful, loving, faithful and immutable.
III. Jesus Christ: We believe in Jesus Christ, God incarnate, fully human and fully God.
We believe Jesus lived a sinless life and was crucified to pay for the sins of the world.
We believe Jesus was resurrected after the third day of His death, ascending into heaven and taking His place at the right hand of God the Father.
We believe that Jesus will soon come again - first to take His Bride, the Church to heaven and then to reign on the earth as King of kings and Lord of lords.
V. Holy Spirit: We believe in the Holy Spirit, the third person of the trinity, who was sent by Jesus Christ to convict the world of its guilt. The Holy Spirit guides, equips, rebukes, and empowers believers for Christ-like living.
V. Man: We believe that God created Adam and Even in His image and likeness. But when Adam and Eve sinned, the whole human race fell into judgment.
We believe all human beings are born with a sinful nature and can only be saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
VI. Salvation: We believe in salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Whoever believes in Jesus Christ is saved and forgiven of all sin.
VII. Church: We believe that the Church is composed of everyone who believes in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. The Church is the bride of Christ, regenerate by the Holy Spirit and justified by grace through faith.
VIII. Ordinances: We believe the Lord Jesus Christ mandated two ordinances: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We believe in baptism by immersion as instructed in the Holy Scriptures. We believe in celebrating the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of Jesus Christ.
A Short History of CABC
Through the encouragement of Dr. Timothy Starr, the missions director of the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Canada in the early 1980s, Commonwealth Avenue Baptist Church was formed on June 13, 1984. This new congregation was the result of the merger between Kitchener Park Baptist Church and the Scarborough Filipino Baptist Church. The first order of business of this fledgling congregation of about 40 members was to call Rev. Godfrey Catanus to serve as their pastor. The church grew fast so that 3 years later over 100 were already attending the services and participating in their activities. However, growth was temporarily stunted when pastor Catanus resigned to go to the United States to start a Filipino church in the Chicago area. Before he left, he recommended that the church invite pastor Elbern Latorilla to take over the pastoral leadership. In God's own good time, the Latorilla family arrived from the Philippines on May 11, 1989 after two years of waiting for their visas to be issued. At the time of their arrival, attendance was averaging between 60 and 80 people.
Some people left during the transition, but praise God, momentum was regained a few months after the coming of Pastor Latorilla. New people came to lend support and leadership. Bible studies were started in homes and ministries in the church were strengthened. We thank God for pastor Joe Faia who provided a dynamic leadership to our youth ministry which up to this moment has become one of the most vibrant and fruitful programs of our church. Our Sunday school department has been used by God to lead many children to Jesus some of whom have now become very much involved in our church programs as young adults in their own right. The music ministry of our choirs, praise and worship bands and individual musicians has contributed greatly to vibrant worship of our God week in and week out as well as means of reaching out to unbelieving friends and loved ones on nights of special presentations at Christmas time and Easter season. Through the years, Bible study groups have been set up in homes and, today, there are at least 15 which meet weekly or by-weekly for study of God's Word, prayer and fellowship. Also our ministries to the Young at Heart (folks who are 55 years of age and over), married couples as well as singles have been used by the Lord to minister to the needs of the members of these particular groups. Yearly activities like camps, VBS, evangelistic outreaches and other special events have been used by God to save folks, disciple them and transform them into useful members of CABC.
On June 13, 2014, we celebrated our 30th year. Based on our last count, there are now 352 members and a few more will be added soon. However, on a given Sunday, there are over 500 adults, young people and children who make our facilities a-buzzed with excitement. Our expanded facilities are getting cramped again but we praise God that He has given us this place where we can worship Him freely, learn of Him deeply and serve Him gladly.
We look forward to wonderful things that God will do for, through and in us—until Jesus comes again.
We recently changed our name
Please note that effective, January 1st 2018, Commonwealth Avenue Baptist Church will now be using the name Christ Almighty Baptist Church as a result of our incorporation.