Bible college shut down

Money woes force Northwest Baptist Theological College to close.

DOUG KOOP
CW Editor
— Langley, BC —

Larry Perkins finds himself in the unenviable position of shutting down a key part of an institution that he’s spent more than 20 years helping to build.

Since January Perkins has been interim president of Northwest Baptist Theological College and Seminary, charged with the responsibility of phasing out the Bible college portion of the Fellowship Baptist schools located on the campus of Trinity Western University in Langley.

Last November the governing board of NBTC decided that the college’s unwieldy debt load and years of operating deficits made it imprudent to continue. The decision was confirmed by a special convention of the sponsoring churches in February.

“We’ve chosen at this point to refocus on our seminary education,” says Perkins, who has been part of Northwest’s teaching and administrative team since 1978. He steps into the gap left by former president Larry McCullough, who led the school for three years.

According to Perkins, enrolment at the college was good (150 in residential programs; another 40 in degree completions programs), but tuition wasn’t anywhere near enough to cover the bills. The school was slipping behind on an operational level and was unable to address the debt incurred from construction of its main facility about ten years ago.

Top priority

Selling the building has become a top priority and the source of some tension. “Our preference is to sell to Trinity Western,” says Perkins, adding that there is interest from other potential buyers as well. He was anticipating an offer from TWU in late August and hopes to have everything finalized before Christmas.

“Our board has directed us to present an offer to purchase it,” says TWU vice president Guy Saffold, even though buying a building that wasn’t designed for its purposes forces significant adjustments to TWU’s development plans. According to Saffold, an existing agreement allows TWU to approve any external purchaser and he is hopeful that an amicable arrangement will be forthcoming. “They want us to have the building,” he observes. “We all want to reach agreement.”

Meanwhile, most Northwest students have either graduated or transferred to other colleges. But the college is continuing with three of its programs for one more year enabling about 50 students to complete their requirements. The seminary, a key player in the ACTS consortium also at TWU, remains strong.

And a task force is currently preparing recommendations to address the denomination’s continuing needs for leadership development. Slated to report next June, the task force is looking for ways Northwest can develop lay leaders for churches, make seminary education more effective and help with discipleship training.

NBTC is operated on behalf of about 140 Fellowship Baptist churches in B.C., Alberta, Yukon and the Northwest Territories.

“The loss of an undergraduate Bible college in Canada is a serious matter,” says Perkins. “We’ve had a long history of service to our church. It’s sad. However, we still believe God has a future for our institution and we’re working to carry on the trust we’ve been given as well as we can under these circumstances.”