The Amherstburg Regular Missionary Baptist Association is an association of Black Baptist churches in southwestern Ontario. Founded in 1841 in Amherstburg, Ontario by the union of the Second Baptist Church OF Detroit, the Amherstburg First Baptist Church, and the Sandwich First Baptist Church, the ARMBA (originally the Baptist Association of Colored People) went on to organize extensive anti-slavery activities. By 1861, the association's membership had grown from 47 to over 1,000 congregants.
History
The impetus for the organization's creation was a summons issued by Madison J. Lightfoot, then the clerk of the Second Baptist Church of Detroit, to black Baptist churches in Canada:
Believing that the time is now come that we should form ourselves into an Association because we cannot enjoy the privileges we wish as Christians with the white churches in Canada; centuries having rolled along since our fathers were organized as a church; and believing that many of our fathers have gone down to the grave not enjoying their privileges and rights in the Christian churches among the whites, we invite all the Christian churches of the same faith and order to unite with us in the great Celestial cause...
see also
References
- ^ Shreve, DS (1983). The AfriCanadian church: a stabilizer. Paideia Press. ISBN 9780888150721.
- Thomas, O (1999). Underground Railroad Terminals: Border Churches in Canada (Report). Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
- Lewis, JK (1980). Religious life of fugitive slaves and rise of coloured Baptist churches, 1820–1865, in what is now known as Ontario. Arno Press. ISBN 9780405124426.
other potential sources
- https://www.google.ca/books/edition/A_Fluid_Frontier/vhWCCwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&kptab=overview A Fluid Frontier: Slavery, Resistance, and the Underground Railroad in the Detroit River Borderland
- https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Frustrated_Fellowship/8IomAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Amherstburg%20Regular%20Missionary%20Baptist%20Association&kptab=overview Frustrated Fellowship: The Black Baptist Quest for Social Power
- https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM376308&R=376308 possible to find this somewhere???
- https://baptist.ca/2020/02/a-pathfinder-to-our-past/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-pathfinder-to-our-past not a great source but probably fine to source current membership per ABOUTSELF