Alberta Bible College is a Canadian Bible college associated especially, but not exclusively, with the Christian churches and churches of Christ.
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Alberta Bible College was founded in 1932 in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. It was initially a project of the Lethbridge Church of Christ and its minister, Charles H. Phillips, who became the College's first principal and instructor. In a special 1932 edition of The Alberta Christian, a newsletter of the Alberta Christian Missionary Society, Phillips noted that "There is no question as to the need of such a college in this Northwestern division of our Dominion. We have the young people in our churches. We know of several who would avail themselves of intensive preparation of the various trained ministries of the churches were it possible."
The College was a child of hope for the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement in the context of its growth concurrent with the settlement of the Canadian West, and the challenge of developing an indigenous Canadian leadership. Phillips had come originally from London, England, "utterly disgruntled," he once wrote, with the brand of Christianity that perpetuated unbearable inequalities between the clergy and the poor.
Within a decade, students came from all over Alberta and the rest of Canada. In 1937, the College moved to Calgary, then a growing city of about 85,000, to its original campus on Centre Street in Calgary's Tuxedo Park neighbourhood. The College was also home for nearly two decades to the Tuxedo Park Church of Christ which later became Cambrian Heights Church of Christ (now, Bow Valley Christian Church). In 1963, the College moved to a purpose-built facility at 599 Northmount Drive, Calgary, and in 1997 to its current campus at 635 Northmount Drive, Calgary. As of 2003, the school enrolled over 160 students from across Canada and several foreign countries. Striving to remain faithful to the Stone-Campbell ecumenical vision, students have represented twenty-seven different Christian traditions.
With the exception of World War II when the entire faculty, in addition to some students, had been called into military service, the College has enjoyed stable leadership. For the most part administration faculty, and staff have been Canadians, even though several received degrees from schools in the United States. Exposure to the broader currents of theological debate of the day ensured that the college did not remain an island. Deep tensions emerged, particularly over "open membership," but the institution and its supporting churches were for the most part spared the bitter division experienced by many of its counterparts in the United States. While the school's ideology was far from uniform, particularly in the 1960s, a magnanimous spirit triumphed, together with a feeling on the part of many that the controversies were foreign to Western Canada, if not the mission of the church. Alumni have pursued further studies at Christian Theological Seminary, Cincinnati Bible Seminary, Emmanuel School of Religion, and Lincoln Christian Seminary, among others. The result has been that congregations both of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the Christian churches and churches of Christ in Canada and the United States have drawn, without interruption, graduates from Alberta Bible College. Graduates have also served in thirty-one foreign countries.
From its inception Alberta Bible College sought to be a catalyst for unity in the Stone-Campbell tradition in Canada. In the 1960s the College hosted an annual, week-long "Minister's Institute" for leadership of all three streams of the Movement, "to promote fellowship and understanding" transcending the Movement's divisions. Conciliatory speakers such as W. Carl Ketcherside were introduced to the Canadian West through this and other special events. A consensus of openness and goodwill has continued to evolve, with the College providing much of the leadership. In 1990, the College initiated the Western Canadian Christian Convention, a convention that includes all three streams of the Stone-Campbell Movement. This, among other factors, has led to a growing interface with the a capella Churches of Christ. A number from the latter churches have graduated from Alberta Bible College and either serve in or minister to Christian churches and churches of Christ or a capella Churches of Christ. The school hired its first instructor from the a capella Churches of Christ in 1997. The College Board now includes people from all three streams of the movement.
Alberta Bible College is accredited with the Association of Biblical Higher Education. The "classical English Bible curriculum" remains the core of the College's ministerial training program, but as resources have allowed, other majors have been added. A unique emphasis of the academic program has been a heavy concentration on "practical experience."
Alberta Bible College currently offers the following:
The College continues to influence churches in Canada by educating indigenous Canadian leadership. Today its alumni and alumnae account for two-thirds of the leadership in congregations of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and Christian churches and churches of Christ in Canada. Many other graduates provide the mainstay of leadership in churches and parachurch ministries both in and beyond the Stone-Campbell tradition. By virtue of this influence, Alberta Bible College serves as a focal point of identity and mission for the Stone-Campbell Movement in Canada.