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.
