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Published Article on Christian Week
Another reason why CW exists
Doug Koop
CW Editorial Director
dkoop@christianweek.org
This newspaper exists to tell the stories of God and His people in Canada. It would be nice to believe this translates into good news all the time. Oh, that it were so. Unfortunately, lumped in with our broad mandate to provide “vigorous religious journalism committed to historic Christianity” comes the difficult calling of being bad news bearers. This is not a task we relish, but one we accept.
Stories in this edition of ChristianWeek, and the one to follow, offer a prime example of how we play our role. Troubling reports about changes in Pentecostal higher education have been circulating below the radar for some time. But the voices began getting louder as key elements of the new plan moved toward implementation. Then, when it came time to move operations away from a residential campus in Peterborough to a couple of floors in an office complex in Toronto, the clamor got quite a bit louder.
In and of itself, the bold changes in Pentecostal education constitute a major news story in the life of one of Canada’s largest evangelical church bodies, the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC). That alone is enough to make it a CW story. The fact that these changes are proving to be controversial within the denomination makes them even more noteworthy. Are we witnessing the bold action of an inspired group of leaders, or is a serious miscalculation being played out?
We won’t be answering those questions in these pages; that’s entirely a matter for PAOC members to work out for themselves. But we will provide a fairly comprehensive overview of the situation from various perspectives. Journalist Wendy Nelles has been researching the story for three months, interviewing many of those involved and discovering a variety of voices not included in the official press releases.
CW begins its coverage this week with a front-page news story on the firing of a popular professor. As well, articles in our center section provide a lot of background information so readers can gain a good sense of the context. Another cluster of articles in our next issue (June 24) goes deeper, probing some of the tensions that inevitably occur during times of significant transition.
There is another reason why this story is appearing in CW. Although it was originally commissioned for the testimony, a PAOC magazine, pressure from school and denominational officials prohibited its publication. As an independent news organ, we are in the enviable but sensitive position of being one of the few outlets where stories of this nature can be told without being beholden to anyone’s agenda.
In the end, readers will judge whether we report this big story fairly and accurately. We’d love to hear from you
Controversy surrounds major changes at PAOC college
Pentecostal college moves campus; fires longtime faculty
Wendy Elaine Nelles
Special to CW
TORONTO, ON-Controversy continues to surround radical changes taking place at Master's College and Seminary, formerly Eastern Pentecostal Bible College. Located until recently in Peterborough, Ontario, the school is the Pentecostal Assembly of Canada's PAOC principal institution for post-secondary education in eastern Canada.
The latest incident involves the dismissal of Bible and theology division head Scott Bullerwell, a leading faculty member who trained hundreds of Pentecostal pastors during his 22-year tenure.
Bullerwell was fired on April 28, two days after the academic year ended with student graduation ceremonies. He was informed of the termination-which took effect immediately-by the college's president, Evon Horton, and the vice-chair of the board, David Shepherd, representing the executive committee of the college's board of governors.
When asked for comment, Horton told ChristianWeek he could not speak about individual employment issues.
It is widely believed Bullerwell's severance package is conditional on a confidentiality clause that prohibits him from making any statement about Master's College and Seminary (MCS).
Bullerwell's wife Brenda, who previously received notice that her part-time job at the college library was finished, said she could not discuss any conditions of the severance. However, she confirmed her husband was fired without cause and had asked for a reason for his termination but was not given one.
Bullerwell's departure is the latest of more than 25 faculty and key staff members to leave in the last five years.
Meanwhile, virtually simultaneous with Bullerwell's firing in Peterborough, delegates of the PAOC's Eastern Ontario district met in session on April 28 to vote on returning Rick Hilsden of Cobourg, Ontario as district superintendent. The ballot took place in Muskoka at the biennial conference for the district that encompasses Ontario congregations east of Toronto's Yonge Street.
Hilsden, who as chair of the board of governors of Master's College and Seminary is the person to whom the college president reports, is widely seen as a moving force behind many of the changes at the institution.
A majority of 54 per cent voted Hilsden in, while the other candidate, Craig Burton of Toronto, received 46 per cent of the vote.
Another close vote took place in Fredericton at the Maritime district conference on May 14. David Slauenwhite of Nova Scotia, district superintendent of the Maritime conference and executive committee member of the MCS board, received a 57 per cent vote.
However, Slauenwhite stepped down and was replaced by the assistant district superintendent, R. Douglas Moore from New Brunswick, who also sits on the college's board.
Some sources speculate the votes were impacted by delegates' opinions about large-scale changes at the college. But Horton told ChristianWeek, "I'm not sure that connection is fair and appropriate."
At the Maritime meeting, an attempt was made to add a resolution calling for an independent inquiry to obtain "a satisfactory explanation for the radical changes taking place in Master's structure including all financial cost…"
However, the resolution committee said the resolution could not be processed because it addressed a matter beyond the jurisdiction of the conference.
Motion to reinstate
Meanwhile, during the Western Ontario meeting in early May, district superintendent David Shepherd of Burlington, Ontario, received 73 per cent of delegates' votes. During the meeting, debate followed Horton's report on Master's College when Graham Gibson, an MCS faculty member since 1994, asked for a motion to reinstate Bullerwell.
Gibson's request was ruled out of order, as was a request that an independent appeals body be established.
Two days after Bullerwell's dismissal, MCS students set up an unofficial Internet discussion site. Hundreds of postings were made to the site, including a number of statements critical of Bullerwell's firing and of other changes in process at the college.
Pitfalls and possibilities
Master's College and Seminary moves to the big city
Wendy Elaine Nelles
Special to CW
TORONTO, ON-Master's College and Seminary (MCS), the leading theological institution for Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) districts east of the Manitoba border, closed its seven-acre campus in Peterborough, Ontario, in May.
Formerly known as Eastern Pentecostal Bible College (EPBC), the college will now be headquartered in leased space in an office building at 3080 Yonge Street, at the corner of Lawrence Avenue, in mid-town Toronto.
The move is one of the latest in a series of controversial changes for the school during the past five years, including its name, location, leadership and direction.
Master's current president, Evon Horton, was appointed in 2001. Horton, who holds a D.Min. from United Theological Seminary, has 23 years experience as a Methodist and Pentecostal pastor. Before coming to MCS, he was senior minister of Mississauga Gospel Temple.
Those in leadership at MCS say the school moved to Toronto to facilitate its new focus on immersing students in local churches while they study for ministry and are mentored by experienced pastors.
The school's board of governors intends to create a local church-based model for post-secondary education that departs from the more traditional academic classroom teaching.
The move was not financially feasible until MCS reached an agreement in February for Trent University in Peterborough to lease its campus. (See "Peterborough campus leased" sidebar.)
The college's new Toronto location offers many potential opportunities. Toronto is a microcosm of the globe, where virtually every race, culture, language, religion and belief system is represented. Dozens of social agencies, missions and outreach ministries that work with street youth, the homeless, AIDS patients and more provide potential field placement opportunities where students can experience front-line Christian service in action.
Potential mentors
Most notably, there are 85 Pentecostal congregations of all sizes and styles in the greater Toronto area where students could potentially be mentored. This number jumps to more than 125 congregations if the larger area within an hour's drive is included.
However, the school's relocation, loss of a residential campus and radical shift in educational style are not universally supported.
Cal Morgan of Port Hope, Ontario says he tried "to alert people to call a halt, to reconsider the decision, to focus on the positives of what they already had in Peterborough."
Morgan, a 1958 EPBC graduate, maintains that "giving up the Peterborough campus, which is in good shape and has good buildings, is almost a sell-out to the people of the past who gave sacrificially to the school. They are doing away with a 60-year-old institution."
Arguing that college property is important to potential donors who are considering endowments, Morgan says, "now MCS will have no real physical presence."
Students switch schools
Some students-and their parents-are reticent about the move to Canada's largest city. Recently resigned MCS youth ministry coordinator Ron Powell says a number of students told him they were planning to apply to other colleges to complete their degrees.
With no dormitory and high rents, it will be difficult to find affordable housing within a reasonable commuting distance, although the college plans to operate a housing office to help students find accommodations. Students will spend considerable time navigating around the GTA to get from housing to classes, churches and field placements.
But some undergraduates are enthused about the move. Ryan Harnum, a 19-year-old third-year student from Bishop's Falls, Newfoundland, thinks his fellow students need to learn to "live in the real world" and "see outside the box."
Harnum most looks forward to getting involved with a Toronto church and learning from its staff, since "we need all the positive mentoring we can get."
Some argue a residential campus provides community life, where nurturing, discipling and mentoring happen naturally. Former student Patrick McManus contends that dormitory life plays an important role in an undergraduate's educational and spiritual development.
Others question the usefulness of training that emphasizes hands-on experience in a multi-cultural, big city setting when many graduates will end up pastoring in small-town or rural congregations, including the PAOC's nearly 200 churches in Newfoundland and the Maritimes.
When questioned by ChristianWeek, Horton said Toronto offers phenomenal opportunities with "every kind of local church imaginable" within an hour's drive. He added that Brampton has a population of 60,000 Newfoundlanders where students can be in mentoring programs with other Newfoundlanders
Clarence Buckle, general secretary-treasurer of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland, recently resigned from the college's board of governors and declined to comment.
According to a 2002 survey of PAOC's ministerial credential holders, 30 per cent of respondents indicated they ministered in communities with a population of less than 10,000, while more than 60 per cent of respondents said they worked in communities with populations of less than 100,000.
Next issue: In part two, ChristianWeek examines other issues surrounding the far-reaching changes at Master's College, including the repercussions in Peterborough and the reactions of former staff and faculty members.
Wendy Elaine Nelles is a writer and editor in Toronto.
The evolution of Master's College and Seminary
Wendy Elaine Nelles
Special to CW
Eastern Pentecostal Bible School, now Master's College and Seminary, has served Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) churches east of the Manitoba border plus the affiliated Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland for nearly 65 years. It has been located in Peterborough since 1951.
The college's primary purpose is preparation of credentialed ministers to work within the PAOC movement.
Attendance peaked around 500 students in the 1990s, buoyed by a large number of students from Newfoundland who were aided by government retraining programs when the fishing industry collapsed.
However, by the late 1990s EPBC faced the same problems as many Bible colleges-changes in society, churches and student needs were necessitating updates in strategic direction. Among the district superintendents in eastern Canada, opinion grew that the education EPBC was providing was neither practical nor Pentecostal enough.
Meanwhile, the general conference (national body) of the PAOC passed a motion in 1998 giving its districts oversight of theological education. The national office retains the authority to determine ministerial credentials, but is not involved in the operations of its five theological institutions across Canada. This significantly increased the power of the district superintendents and the board of governors at each school.
A 22-member board of governors directs Master's College and Seminary. The board is comprised of the PAOC's general superintendent, the college president, the five Eastern Canada district superintendents, and one executive member, one pastor and one layperson from each of the five supporting constituencies.
In 1999, the five superintendents representing the districts of Eastern and Western Ontario, Quebec, the Maritimes and The Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland met to discuss EPBC's future. During the meeting known as "the Newfoundland accord," the superintendents determined five core values for the school (see "A Pentecostal catechism?" sidebar).
They decided to divide theological education into four streams to fulfill the core values: Bible college, seminary, a discipleship training program and intercultural Bible college offering training in languages other than English and in sign language.
Creating further far-reaching repercussions, it was determined the school needed to relocate to an urban setting where more churches for student internships would be accessible.
In 2000, the five districts (which in total represent about 760 local congregations) agreed to create a new institution, Master's College and Seminary (MCS). It combined Eastern Pentecostal Bible College with Canadian Pentecostal Seminary East, which was formed in 1996 in cooperation with Tyndale Seminary.
Existing EPBC faculty members, from the president on down, were told they had to reapply for positions at the new institution. However, a significant number of faculty left and student enrollment slumped.
In the fall of 1998, 357 full-time equivalent (FTE) students were studying in Peterborough while 79 FTE students took part via distance education. By the fall of 2000, the number declined to 207 FTE students, a 42 per cent drop, while distance education increased to 130 FTE students.
Some saw the decreased enrollment as evidence that a major transformation of the college was overdue, while others believed students chose to enroll elsewhere because of the loss of faculty and uncertainty about the college's direction.
Evon G. Horton was selected to be the new president of MCS in 2001, and given the mandate of creating a campus in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). An office building at 2476 Argentia Road in Mississauga was leased in 2002 and funds spent on renovations for offices and classrooms.
Some employees were asked to move from Peterborough; others were newly hired by Horton to work there. Last February, MCS announced it was moving operations to a new Toronto location.
A Pentecostal catechism?
The five core values of Master's College and Seminary state that ministerial training must:
1) be thoroughly Pentecostal (emphasizing that every Christian ought to experience baptism in the Holy Spirit);
2) provide biblical knowledge in a context that affirms Pentecostal beliefs and practices, rather than challenges or merely tolerates them;
3) emphasize practical leadership skills, teaching students "how to actually do it" by interacting with skilled pastors at the front-lines of ministry;
4) result in graduates with disciplined, Christ-like character living out the Pentecostal experience; and
5) prepare graduates for culturally-relevant ministry.
"The goal is effective communication of the gospel, not a monastic retreat," states the MCS catalogue, presumably referring to the school's rationale for departing from its residential campus model.
Commenting on the core values, former MCS faculty member and expert in Pentecostal historical theology Randall Holm says,
"There was a time when being Pentecostal meant you were distinct in both practice and, to a certain extent, doctrine. However, the 'evangelicalizing' of Pentecostalism and the 'charismaticalizing' of traditional evangelical churches have blurred the traditional distinctions."
Holm points out that in Canada, many charismatic churches are neither affiliated with the Pentecostal denomination nor hold classical Pentecostal doctrine, yet are experiencing gifts of the Spirit. "This has led to a strange impasse where many Pentecostal churches are downplaying some of the traditional doctrinal emphasis, and students attending institutions such as Eastern/Master's reflect this ambiguity," he says.
Holm, who retains PAOC credentials but now teaches at the non-denominational Providence College and Seminary in Otterburne, Manitoba, contends that Bible colleges used to be in the business of equipping students with "the right knowledge for the right questions," but dogmatism "no longer holds the sway it used to."
"I would argue that in part the recent changes imposed at Master's are a response to the doctrinal insecurity of some denominational leaders," says Holm. "There is a wish to push back the clock and...reintroduce some sort of Pentecostal catechism, while at the practical level remain on the cutting edge."
Holm has continued to teach part-time at MCS, administering Internet courses he wrote while on staff. He is preparing a paper, along with MCS graduate Patrick McManus, that will analyze theological and philosophical issues arising out of changes implemented at Master's, to be presented at next year's annual meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies in Wisconsin.
-Wendy Elaine Nelles
Former faculty and students speak out
Master's College and Seminary faces backlash following controversial move
Wendy Elaine Nelles
Special to CW
Although the relocation of Master's College and Seminary (MCS) from Peterborough to Toronto is a highly-visible sign of change, more sweeping transformations are shaking the institution formerly known as Eastern Pentecostal Bible College (EPBC).
Underlying it all is a revolution in its philosophy of theological education. According to the college's president, Evon Horton, the old EPBC model was based on classroom education, while the new MCS paradigm is "a local church-equipping model" based on mentoring and instilling the institution's core values (CW/June 10).
There are strong proponents both for and against the changes at MCS. One person who has misgivings about the underlying premise is Randall Holm, who graduated from EPBC and taught at the college until he resigned in 2000. He regrets the dismantling of a 60-year-old institution that he maintains served its constituency well.
"Master's represents a significant paradigm shift in educational philosophy that occurred in a very short time. What studies were done to demonstrate this was workable?" he asks. "Will students be better served by this model?"
Holm, who now teaches at Providence College and Theological Seminary in Otterburne, Manitoba, also questions if veteran senior pastors will have time to mentor students, and if the college's expected emphasis on faculty members taking part-time positions on the ministerial staff of churches will necessarily make them more effective teachers.
In Holm's view, an implication that full-time academic faculty are out of touch with practical ministry is part of an increasingly anti-intellectual sentiment in segments of the charismatic renewal movement, which is devaluing the need for biblical and theological scholarship.
At this point, it is unclear precisely how some of the college programs will operate in September. As of press time, no faculty or detailed course descriptions were listed in the online catalogue for the upcoming academic year. It is also unknown how many returning students will enroll at the new premises, because on-campus pre-registration in Peterborough was cancelled.
Current MCS faculty members cannot comment on any college-related issues because of a letter dated November 28, 2002 from Rick Hilsden on behalf of the board of governors. In it, they were told the proper process for expressing any concerns about the operations of the college and the changes being made was to speak to the college dean or council.
The letter continued, "As a minister and an employee, it is your spiritual obligation to contribute to the health and environment of the college. Therefore, it is inappropriate to express concerns outside of the prescribed process such as the classroom, individual students or members of the supporting constituencies."
Faculty considered
When asked by ChristianWeek how the administration has helped faculty with the transitions at the college, Horton replied, "We worked hard to make it easy for the faculty to work closely with [the dean] to listen, help and enable them to work through the issues."
The administration wants faculty to take a year to think about relocating, he adds, so they were given a "significant" travel allowance and schedules that will allow them be at the Toronto campus one or two days per week to teach two courses, while the remaining two courses can be taught online or in another location.
Ron Powell, a faculty member who resigned effective May 31, disagrees with the underlying educational philosophy. He argues the new schedule will result in the infrequent presence of professors at the Toronto premises while the college makes the case that a major reason for moving is increased prospects for mentoring relationships.
Underscoring that point, recent graduate Bonita Abrams stresses "the accessibility of the faculty outside of class for instruction, counsel and prayer, the fellowship with other students and the whole sense of community" was a key component in her education at the Peterborough campus.
Powell had served as the youth ministry program supervisor at EPBC/MCS since 1994, with the exception of a two-year pastorate. He spoke with ChristianWeek before he assumed his new position as director of youth ministries at Northwest Pentecostal Bible College in Edmonton.
Powell also contends that the ,000 one-time payment offered to remaining faculty to subsidize moving to the GTA or make the 250 kilometre round-trip commute from Peterborough is inadequate to cover the significantly increased costs.
Process and accountability
However, Powell says he and other faculty members are more concerned about issues of process and accountability than the relocation.
He emphasizes that his resignation was not a reaction against the move, but because "in good conscience I could not continue to serve under the present administration because of my lack of confidence in its leadership."
He cites as his key concerns "a lack of process in appointments to the college faculty and staff, a top-down labour-management structure, a tight control on information and no assurance of job security."
Another previous faculty member, Tim Foster, says he has strong opinions about the way changes in the college were implemented, but was prohibited from commenting on the advice of his lawyer.
Foster, who is unable to move away from Peterborough due to the needs of his handicapped daughter, received notice of his termination in April 2002. Any severance was conditional on his signing a clause that stated he must keep confidential any and all information about Master's College.
Foster spent eight years at the college, most recently as director of distance education. Although he was previously a PAOC minister for 14 years, he terminated his credentials with the PAOC and no longer attends a PAOC church.
Until now, the former dean of the college, Nil Lavallée, had not publicly spoken about why he suddenly left his position in February 2002. Lavallée spent nine years at EPBC/MCS and agreed to speak with ChristianWeek to outline his concerns. Because he resigned and received no severance, he was not required to sign a confidentiality clause.
Glorified Sunday school
In Lavallée's view, MCS has gone "from one of the finest in North America to nothing more than a glorified Sunday school. Academic standards are de-emphasized, people are mistreated and the end justifies the means.
"In my opinion, you have individuals in leadership at the district levels who have not done their research, who have not consulted with the right people, who have little if any academic experience making decisions," he says. "They rushed through changes that had a major impact on an institution that had built a reputation for being of high quality."
Lavallée retains his PAOC credentials and his membership in a PAOC church, but now teaches in the French department at St. Peter's Secondary School in Peterborough.
For Lavallée, the critical issue has never been the college's relocation to Toronto, but rather "the lack of proper planning, mistreating of people and the ‘dumbing down' of the education."
He contends that "there seems to be a leadership style that does not tolerate any questions or divergent opinions. Frankly, it is very scary that these types of things can take place with such ease and lack of outcry from the constituency."
Checks and balances
Whatever opposing voices may charge, the administration of the college asserts it has been empowered by its constituency to make whatever changes it deems necessary to achieve its vision. Horton insists there has been "accountability, checks and balances at every level. The president and executive can't do whatever they want…There is lots of accountability.
"We are in the process of implementing a vision. Whenever vision is implemented, there's never 100 per cent approval," Horton says. "But I believe this is the Lord's vision for the school at this time, and for the PAOC in the future."
Newly-graduated Bonita Abrams says she still cannot understand how "what was supposed to be a vision from God became a source of so much stress and uncertainty in the lives of His people." She continues to have many unanswered questions about the changes transforming her alma mater, but says that she is praying fervently for the college's transition.
"I hope that everything will come together well and that God blesses it, because I want to come back for my 10-year reunion and be wowed by what's happening," she says.
Wendy Elaine Nelles is a writer and editor in Toronto.
Peterborough repercussions
CW Staff
In Peterborough, the ramifications of the changes in the operations of Master’s College and Seminary (MCS), formerly Eastern Pentecostal Bible College (EPBC), and closing of its campus continue to echo.
Murray R. Lincoln, pastor of Northview Pentecostal Church in Peterborough, says his congregation has lost a number of faculty members in the past five years. He says it has been hard to watch "the way the faculty were treated and how it deeply affected their lives...yet they are our best resource.
"I am a pastor and I pastor people. I listen to people and I care for people," says Lincoln, who has spent 30 years in the pastorate. "I am tired of the heavy load as I have carried the weight of broken students crying in my office and in the coffee shops with me. I ache with the profs as they describe their rejection and dislocation from their school. I cry with their spouses as they call to tell me how deeply this has hurt their husbands."
As for the college staff, most of the office, housekeeping and maintenance workers are unemployed as of press time, according to Ed Szusz. Szusz, 57, was building and grounds superintendent for 15 years at EPBC/MCS. He claims the 14 people affected have faced "no end of stress."
Although the college administration says it asked Trent University, who will lease the Peterborough campus in the fall, to give preferential treatment to MCS staff when filling positions as part of its lease arrangement, Szusz contends former MCS employees have no advantage due to the university’s union regulations.
MCS president Evon Horton told ChristianWeek MCS consulted "two human resource firms and an employment lawyer to determine what would be appropriate and fair," plus hired a firm to give counselling and job training to staff. "I particularly understand the pain of the support staff. Many worked faithfully for 10 or 20 years...and now lost their jobs. Still, it’s not an issue for the majority even in spite of their struggle," says Horton.
However, Szusz describes the employment counselling as "useless" and the conditions of his working notice as "unfair" and "disappointing." He says he, and a number of other former staff, have retained lawyers. "I have nothing positive to say," says Szusz.
Dorothy Snyder, who has worked in the school’s library for 16 years, is distressed that she was given notice, but no severance despite being one and a half years away from retirement. She also has retained legal counsel.
Snyder says she contacted ChristianWeek to describe her situation because she was one of the few employees not asked to sign a confidentiality clause. "The injustices that have happened here are things I never thought I would see in this organization," she says.
Elsewhere in Peterborough, the college’s departure is leaving vacancies in churches, missions and social service agencies where students did field placements and volunteer work.
Brock Mission operates two homeless shelters providing 10,000 nights-worth of shelter each year. Executive director Bill McNabb says his mission is already feeling the loss, because students ran programs and chapel services, did property maintenance and provided a reliable pool of part-time paid staff.
McNabb says he was not contacted by the college, and learned it was leaving through newspaper articles.
Stephen Seaboyer, pastor of Causeway Christian Assembly, a church planted by an Eastern Pentecostal Bible College (now MCS) evangelism professor, says his 80-person congregation may be unable to continue some ministries because of the loss of MCS staff and 20 to 45 students in his weekly services.
Although he was invited to an information meeting outlining the benefits of the school’s move out of Peterborough Seaboyer says "at no point was the issue of student volunteers in local ministries addressed."
—Wendy Elaine Nelles
Is debate healthy?
Wendy Elaine Nelles
Special to CW
One of the issues repeatedly raised by sources interviewed for this series of articles is their contention that debate has been discouraged. As one former faculty member argues, the perception seems to be that “to ask questions is to question the will of God.”
Three people showed ChristianWeek numerous letters where they have raised issues about Master’s College and Seminary (MCS), but to which they believe they have not received
satisfactory responses. These letters were variously addressed to Evon Horton, president of the college; Rick Hilsden, chair of the board of governors; members of the board of governors; and William D. Morrow, general superintendent of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC).
Cal Morgan, a 1958 EPBC graduate from Port Hope, Ontario, maintains his concerns were not taken seriously by the denomination.
“I want to be recognized as objecting to the process of what happened—that’s what upset me the most,” he says. Morgan is troubled that alumni were not consulted and no town hall meetings were held to hear various constituents’ views on dismantling the former Eastern Pentecostal Bible College (EPBC). “The grassroots and laypeople had no voice,” he says.
Patrick McManus says he was motivated to ask for answers because of the loss of faculty. Between 1998 and 2003, at least 25 faculty and key staff members left the school, either due to resignations or dismissals. McManus graduated with highest honours from EPBC/MCS in 2002, was student council president and valedictorian.
He argues that students—whom he points out fund the school through tuition—were not involved in dialogue about the proposed changes.
“I don’t disagree with the need for change, but it could have been done much more democratically, and during a five or 10 year plan,” McManus says. “This is not like a business corporation instituting change—we are a church. I believe many people have been unnecessarily hurt in the process, and I’m not aware of anyone seeking to make reparation of wrongs or mend any broken relationships.”
McManus is currently studying theology at Wycliffe College in Toronto, but is no longer planning to seek credentials with the PAOC.
Bonita Abrams, a mature student who took a leave of absence from her career to obtain a degree at MCS, graduated in April with highest honours. Abrams praises the faculty and the theological education she received at the college.
“But on the downside, it troubled me that whenever I asked questions of the leadership, I perceived a real sense of disapproval,” she says.
“My problem is with the process, the way people have been treated and the lack of communication,” she adds. “People should be allowed to ask questions and disagree without fear of reprisal.”
In a lengthy open letter posted in January on PAOC Talk, an unofficial computer chat board of about 200 PAOC ministers nationwide, Abrams outlined her concerns and urged credential holders to ask questions.
In April, PAOC Talk was discontinued by its founder and moderator, Donald Rogers. At the Eastern Ontario district meeting held soon afterwards, a resolution was passed which expressed appreciation to Rogers for his wisdom in discontinuing the Internet discussion group.
The resolution states that although PAOC Talk started “as a valid forum for Pentecostal pastors to exchange helpful and edifying information,” it had “apparently departed from its initial purposes and functions.” The district conference added the admonition that “credential holders wishing to initiate or subscribe to similar mail-lists be encouraged to consider the Scriptural admonitions to engage in conversation that is edifying and honourable.”
A new Internet discussion group called Pentecostal Pastors Canada was started shortly afterward by moderators Dale Sanger and Murray Lincoln.
Wendy Elaine Nelles is a writer and editor in Toronto.
Enrollment rebounds
TORONTO, ON-"After a period of decline in donations and student enrolment, [our schools have] seen increases of donations and enrolment for the past two years," reports David Shoubert, director of communications for Master’s College and Seminary (MCS).
According to the latest available figures, 111 Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada credential holders are enrolled in the seminary stream, which includes a graduate program in conjunction with Tyndale Seminary. Most are part-time students.
Another 140 students are enrolled in MCS’s Intercultural stream, which provides ministerial
teaching in seven
languages. Most of these are also study part time.
The school’s one-year local church discpleship has 86 full-time students, reports Shoubert.
The Bible college has almost exactly 400 full time equivalent students. Of these, approximately 225 students (203 full-time) are enrolled on campus, while the college’s distance education program has almost exactly the same number of students enrolled (197 full time equivalent).
"The above numbers are the best numbers we have at this time," says Shoubert.
- CW Staff
POSTED BY MCS STUDENTS ADMINISTRATOR
from www.christianweek.org
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