Corporate body

Canadian Bible Institute (Regina, Sask.)

October 1941-September 1945

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.

Regina, Sakatchewan

Canadian Bible Institute (Regina, Sask.) was the official ministerial training school of The Christian and Missionary Alliance-Western Canadian District from 1941-1945. It gained official recognition by The Christian and Missionary Alliance in 1945, and in 1956 became the official ministerial training school for the Canadian churches of The Christian and Missionary Alliance.

Ambrose Archives