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.

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