Canadian Mennonite Bible College (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada)
Canadian Mennonite Bible College (CMBC), 600 Shaftesbury Blvd, Winnipeg, Manitoba, offered a Bible education to young people seeking to prepare themselves for Christian service, operating under the Conference of Mennonites in Canada.
Consideration of the establishment of such a school was begun by the Conference in 1941. Twice (1942, 1945) the conference decided that a course in theology should be added to the four-year Bible program of the Rosthern (Saskatchewan) Academy, but lack of staff prevented this. Finally a separate school was established in Winnipeg in the basement rooms of the Bethel Mission Church at 103 Furby Street with a three-year curriculum patterned after the Bible Department of Bethel College at North Newton, Kansas.
On 5 October 1947 the Bible College was opened and dedicated. Arnold J. Regier, an American Mennonite from Kansas, was hired as head of the newly formed college. Four Canadians were hired to complete the faculty - Isaac I. Friesen, P. A. Rempel, Henry Wall and John Konrad. The enrollment numbered 33 students. In the following year the staff increased to 7, and the student body to 49.
A building at 515 Wellington Crescent, the former Smith mansion, located in a desirable residential district on the banks of the Assiniboine River, was purchased on 17 May 1949, and the college began the 1949-50 season with a staff of 9 instructors and a student enrollment of 74. In 1956 the College moved to the Shaftesbury Blvd. location.
In 1964 CMBC became designated as an approved teaching centre of the University of Manitoba which allowed Mennonite students to be simultaneously enrolled at CMBC and the University where they could later complete their university education.
Presidents of the college were Arnold J. Regier (1947-1952), Isaac I. Friesen (1952-1959), Henry Poettcker (1959-1978), George K. Epp (1978-1983), John H. Neufeld (1984-1997) and Gerald Gerbrandt (1997-2000); David Schroeder and Helmut Harder served as interim presidents for a period each.
Discussions with other Mennonite educational institutions regarding the possibilities of closer ties or a joint educational venture also took place over the course of CMBC's history, especially in the 1980s and 1990s which led to the founding of Canadian Mennonite University (a federation of three colleges -- CMBC, Menno Simons College and Concord College) in September 2000. Gerald Gerbrandt was appointed as university president.
Bibliography
The Canadian Mennonite Bible College Yearbook (1949-1950): 32-33.
Twenty-Five Years: A Time to Grow. Winnipeg, MB: Canadian Mennonite Bible College, 1972.
Additional Information
Full-time Faculty and Administrative Staff (1947-1972)
| Faculty Member | Years of Service |
|---|---|
| Arnold J. Regier | 1947-1951 |
| Isaac I. Friesen | 1947-1967 |
| Henry Wall | 1947-1959 |
| P. A. Rempel | 1947-1949 |
| John Conrad | 1947-1954 |
| David Janzen | 1948-1958 |
| Benno Toews | 1949-1954 |
| John D. Adrian | 1951-1962 |
| Gerhard Lohrenz | 1952-1966 |
| Henry Poettcker | 1954- |
| Esther Wiebe | 1954- |
| George Wiebe | 1954- |
| Waldemar Janzen | 1956- |
| David Schroeder | 1959- |
| Peter Harder | 1959- |
| Margaret Sawatsky Ewert | 1960-1965 |
| Margaret Wiens Franz | 1961- |
| Helmut Harder | 1962- |
| Rudy A. Regehr | 1962- |
| Leo Driedger | 1964-1968 |
| Lawrence Klippenstein | 1964-1967 |
| Peter Fast | 1966- |
| Rodney Sawatsky | 1967-1970 |
| John Esau | 1968-1969 |
| Gerald Gerbrandt | 1969-1971 |
| Arthur Janzen | 1970- |
| Adolf Ens | 1970-1971 |
| Henry Engbrecht | 1971- |
| Harry Huebner | 1972- |
| Author(s) | Henry H Funk |
|---|---|
| Date Published | February 2012 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Funk, Henry H. "Canadian Mennonite Bible College (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. February 2012. Web. 16 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Canadian_Mennonite_Bible_College_(Winnipeg,_Manitoba,_Canada)&oldid=55399.
APA style
Funk, Henry H. (February 2012). Canadian Mennonite Bible College (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Canadian_Mennonite_Bible_College_(Winnipeg,_Manitoba,_Canada)&oldid=55399.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, pp. 506-507. All rights reserved.
©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.