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."