The Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada (CMAC) is an evangelical denomination rooted in the vision of a Canadian Presbyterian minister, A. B. (Albert Benjamin) Simpson (1843-1919). After serving prestigious pastorates in Louisville KY (1874-1879) and New York City (1879-1881) Simpson left the Presbyterian Church to found a ministry in New York City to “the poor and neglected masses.” The fruit of these labors was the Gospel Tabernacle. Out of the Gospel Tabernacle emerged two fraternal organizations for the promotion of evangelism and “the higher Christian life”: The Christian Alliance, for North American initiatives, and the Evangelical Missionary Alliance (later the International Missionary Alliance) for mission work—both of which began in 1887. That same year, John Salmon founded Bethany Chapel, an independent work along the same lines, in Toronto. Shortly thereafter it became affiliated with the Christian Alliance. By 1889 other what became the first Alliance church in Canada, Bethany Tabernacle, in Toronto. By the 1920s the C&MA had taken root in both the United States and Canada. The best-known figure in the C&MA in the post-Simpson era was A. W. (Aiden Wilson) Tozer (1898-1963), whose devotional writings had an influence far beyond the Alliance.
In the 1960’s and 1970’s the Canadian C&MA churches began to advocate for autonomy from the American church. At the same time, The Christian and Missionary Alliance wanted its Canadian churches to have a national identity, so it proposed that they be incorporated as a national body. The Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada was officially incorporated in Canada on 29 May 1972. It became known as the "Canadian Corporation," and its chief role was to serve as a liaison for Canadian affairs with the Division of North American Ministries of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. The movement for self-government continued to gain momentum, and autonomy was finally achieved on 1 January 1981. The CMAC established its own missionary sending agency in 1998. The presidents of the denomination to date have been, Melvin P. Sylvester (1981-1992), Arnold Cook (1992-2000), Franklin Pyles (2000-2012), and David Hearn (2012-present). The American C&MA and the CMAC continue to maintain a close collaborative relationship.
The CMAC is committed to: the glory of the triune God, the authority of the Bible, Christ-centred living, the Church, evangelization (both at home and abroad) leadership, strategic cooperation, social responsibility, stewardship, and prayer.
From the beginning, the organization has been fervent about ministry and mission work, both overseas and at home. In the early years, saddle-bag preachers visited homesteads in Western Canada, while evangelists conducted large-scale campaigns in the East. By 1926, there were 23 churches in Canada, and by 2013 at least 430 (including many multicultural congregations), with more than 106,000 adherents. These local churches are organized by geographic region: the Canadian Pacific District (CPD), covering British Columbia and the Yukon; the Western Canadian District (WCD), encompassing Alberta and the Northwest Territories; the Canadian Midwest District (CMD), serving Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the portion of Ontario west of the 90th meridian, and Nunavut; the Central Canadian District (CCD) for Western Ontario; the St. Lawrence District (SLD) for Quebec; and the Eastern Canadian District (ECD), covering eastern Ontario and the Atlantic Provinces. The District Superintendent for each region works with a team to provide churches with resources and guidance “in the areas of church growth, leadership, Christian education, missions conferences, multicultural ministries, pastoral care, and church planting. The district office also oversees the licensing, ordination and supervision of its workers.” Canadian ministries highlight the needs of men, women, youth, children, and multicultural congregations. The CMAC is involved in justice and compassion work in Canada and in dozens of countries around the world.
The need for trained workers led to the establishment of the Western Canadian Bible Institute in Regina in 1941. Currently, most CMAC leaders are trained at one of two affiliated institutions: Ambrose University College, The Christian and Missionary Alliance Bible College and Seminary, in Calgary; or or ÉTEQ (École de théologie évangélique du Québec) a Montreal-based Bible college (a joint venture with the Mennonite Brethren) for workers going into French-speaking communities. In 2004, the international ministries were organized into the Four “S” Ventures: Asian Spice; Caribbean Sun (Central and South America); Desert Sand (the arid Muslim countries of North Africa); and Silk Road (from Turkey to Iran and Tajikistan to northwest China). Canadian Alliance churches are actively involved in supporting their missionaries and ministries both financially and in prayer, aiming to empower all members as emissaries of Christ. The head office of the CMAC is in Toronto.

“We recommend the encouragement and expansion of regional . . . schools.” So reads a motion adopted by the 1920 Annual Meeting of the C&MA. In response, A. W. Roffe, superintendent of the District of Canada, urged the District to open a national training school in Toronto. By the summer of 1921, the District of Canada Committee had begun to lay plans. Paul Rader, president of the C&MA, got wind of them and informed the Committee that neither he nor the C&MA’s Board of Managers approved of the project, since Toronto already had a good Bible school (the Toronto Bible School, see sidebar). Then, at its Annual Meeting of May 1922, the C&MA unexpectedly approved the project.
Walter M. Turnbull, dean of the C&MA’s flagship school, the Missionary Training Institute (Nyack, N. Y.), advised the Committee to seek the blessing of Principal McNicol of Toronto Bible School. Rev. Oswald J. Smith, pastor of Christie Street Tabernacle, and Lionel Watson, Roffe’s assistant, made the visit to McNicol, who deemed the venture “a very wise and timely move.” Planning then began in earnest, with a September 1922 opening date in view. However, the Committee was unable to find a principal for the school, and so its opening was delayed for another two years.
Finally, in May 1924, a board of governors was formed, with Walter Turnbull as chair. Turnbull’s brother, John, a C&MA missionary on furlough, agreed to serve as principal. That same month the C&MA purchased land next to the Tabernacle on which to build a 50’ x 50’ educational facility (which was to include “appropriate stairs for the sexes”). Canadian Bible Institute (CBI) opened on 15 September 1924 with 29 students. Within weeks, another Canadian C&MA training school, Great West Bible Institute (GWBI), began educating leaders for J. H. Woodward’s Edmonton-based Great West Mission.
The following year the principalship of CBI passed to E. Ralph Hooper, the former dean of the C&MA’s Boston Bible Training School. He ensured that the school’s curriculum followed that of the Missionary Training Institute, which had become all but inaccessible to Canadian students because the U.S. had recently implemented a more restrictive immigration policy. Things went smoothly at the new school, and it turned out a steady stream of leaders (21 in 1928, 11 of whom were women) until July 1929, when the Board of Managers decided to close six of the C&MA’s nine training schools, including CBI and GWBI, to offset a movement-wide decline in revenues.
All attempts to reopen CBI during the 1930’s were quashed by the leadership of the C&MA. Finally, pastors Willis Brooks (a CBI alumnus) and George Blackett (a former board member) took matters into their own hands. In October 1941, with the blessing of Gordon Skitch, superintendent of the Western Canadian District, they “re-established” Canadian Bible Institute in Regina. Convinced that the initiative would be rejected if they went through normal channels, they consulted neither the Eastern and Central Canadian District nor the Board of Managers. As a result, the school had to wait another four years for official recognition. It was also required to change its name to Western Canadian Bible Institute (WCBI).
In 1944, the Eastern and Central District received approval to establish a school in Toronto, but the project foundered for lack of leadership and proper facilities. Two years later, the Glen Rocks estate came up for sale. The District concluded that it needed a Bible camp and conference centre more than it needed a training school, and so it sold off the Institute building to help pay for Glen Rocks. In 1956, WCBI (later, Canadian Bible College) was declared to be the national school for the C&MA in Canada.

Northern Bible College was a ministerial training college of the Canada (educational) Region of the Church of the Nazarene. The first classes of its "progenitor institution", Calgary Bible Institute, were held in 1921 in Calgary, AB. In 1927, under the leadership of its first president Charles E. Thomson, the school relocated to Red Deer, AB and adopted the name Alberta School of Evangelism. By 1929 the school purchased property on Gaetz Avenue in Red Deer, began building a new campus and adopted a new name, Northern Bible College. NBC offered both high school and college programs. In 1940, NBC, following the pattern of its American counterparts, took the name Canadian Nazarene College and granted its first Bachelor of Theology Degree in 1941. With the creation, by the Nazarene Church, of an All-Canada Region, CNC attempted to centralize by moving the campus to Winnipeg in 1961. During its time in Winnipeg, CNC became an affiliate teaching centre for the University of Manitoba, enabling the college to teach university accredited courses. Facing a decline in enrolment, in 1995 CNC relocated back to the city of its birth, Calgary, AB, where it leased office space in the downtown core. In 1999 CNC became an accredited university college with its own degree granting status. With this change CNC was renamed Canadian Nazarene University College (NUC).

In 2003 Nazarene University College began a joint university college venture with Canadian Bible College/Canadian Theological Seminary, two institutions of The Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada (CMAC), on a shared campus in downtown Calgary. The new CMAC university college was officially designated Alliance University College in 2004. The joint university college took the name Alliance University College/Nazarene University College. The two institutions officially merged to form Ambrose University College on 1 May 2007. Ambrose University College became Ambrose University on 1 July 2014.

In 1967, Crusade Evangelism of Canada (founded by Barry Moore in 1959 or 1960) became Crusade Evangelism International (C. E. I.), reflecting the widening geographical scope of its efforts.On 16 October 1981 Crusade Evangelism International became Barry Moore Ministries Inc.

On 16 October 1981 Crusade Evangelism International became Barry Moore Ministries Inc. Although Barry Moore retired in 2011, the organization continued to function as a recognized Canadian charity until 31 December 2017.

In 1959 or 1960 Barry Moore began Crusade Evangelism of Canada, the first inter-denominational Canadian-based evangelistic association. He travelled throughout Canada and the United States conducting “crusades”—multiple-day and sometimes week-long events involving music and preaching. In 1967, the organization became Crusade Evangelism International (C. E. I.), reflecting the widening geographical scope of its efforts.

In July 1929 the Board of Managers of the Christian and Missionary Alliance decided to close six of the C&MA’s nine training schools, including Canadian Bible Institute (Toronto) and Great Western Bible Institute (Edmonton), to offset a movement-wide decline in revenues.
All attempts to reopen CBI during the 1930’s were quashed by the leadership of the C&MA. Finally, pastors Willis Brooks (a CBI alumnus) and George Blackett (a former board member) took matters into their own hands. In October 1941, with the blessing of Gordon Skitch, superintendent of the Western Canadian District, they “re-established” Canadian Bible Institute in Regina, Saskatchewan. Convinced that the initiative would be rejected if they went through normal channels, they consulted neither the Eastern and Central Canadian District of the C&MA nor the Board of Managers. As a result, the school had to wait another four years for official recognition. It was also required to change its name to Western Canadian Bible Institute (WCBI). However, the name was not changed on the Institute's official publications until September 1945.
In 1944, the Eastern and Central District received approval to establish a school in Toronto, but the project foundered for lack of leadership and proper facilities. Two years later, the Glen Rocks estate came up for sale. The District concluded that it needed a Bible camp and conference centre more than it needed a training school, and so it sold off the (Toronto) Institute building to help pay for Glen Rocks. In 1956, WCBI (later, Canadian Bible College) was declared to be the national school for the C&MA in Canada.