Students, faculty and constituents are enmeshed in the gears of change as Master's College and Seminary shifts from its campus-based ministry education to a less-centralized, local church-based model. For many, it's an uncomfortable place to be.

Postings to a student Web site reveal continuing distress over the pace of change and distrust of senior administrators. A recent conversation, for example, highlighted a transcript from testimony by Master's president Evon Horton to an Ontario legislative committee in June 2001.

Responding to a question about enrolment, Horton said "the head count is between 600 and 900. With some of these changes, we're anticipating it will be over 1,000 enrolment this fall." Enrolment at Master's in Fall 2002 was 332 (FTE). The discrepancy prompted at least one upset student to send a letter to the government complaining that "my president would commit perjury in your court and that the charter of my school is built on untruths."

As reported in CW last June, there is widespread apprehension about how the new education method is being implemented. Officials of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland, for example, are assessing their options, and the number of students from Newfoundland is down.

Meanwhile, older students and teaching faculty are struggling to remain loyal to their calling and denomination amidst the massive changes. A letter from a third-year student reveals a core of unrest. "I feel like I want to stay and support it through everything, but at the same time I want a quality education... I know the school once prided itself on theological astuteness, but now has digressed into practicality," he writes.

Full-time faculty still walk in the shadow of former Bible and theology division head Scott Bullerwell, who was fired two days after graduation ceremonies last spring. Retained on one-year contracts, the remaining six are hesitant to speak in any way that might be construed as being against leadership for fear of losing their ministry at Master's.

— Doug Koop