Return to the M.B.Herald Vol. 36, No. 5 Home Page
The Canadian Conference gave up its ownership of the Winnipeg-based Mennonite Brethren Bible College in 1991. The school was replaced by Concord College, which was to be responsible to a constituency drawn from four provincial MB conferences (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario). A later agreement in 1992 said that the land and buildings owned by MBBC would be transferred to Concord on June 1, 1997.
However, since then, disagreement has arisen over interpretation of the agreements, with the Canadian Conference Executive Board insisting that it is prepared to hand over the assets to the provincial conferences which own Concord but not to an institution which is not directly tied to a conference.
As a result of the impasse, last fall the Canadian Conference asked the four provincial conferences to take full ownership of the College. About the same time, Concord College asked the Manitoba MB Conference to take ownership of Concord, with the other provincial conferences still giving some support. Accepting ownership of Concord will mean the provincial conference(s) will not only own the College and the MBBC land and buildings but also take responsibility for Concord's debt--a floating line of credit of up to $400,000, borrowed from the Canadian Conference.
The four provincial conferences will consider the matter this spring. Meeting throughout the day January 31, the Canadian Conference Executive Board hammered out a proposal which specifies various ways of transferring the assets, depending on what the provincial conferences decide.
The proposal calls for the transfer to go ahead as scheduled if all four provincial conferences take ownership but to be delayed until the next Canadian Conference convention if at least one but not all four provincial conferences take ownership. Because Concord would not have assets it could borrow against and because the Canadian Conference line of credit is due to expire June 1, 1997, the proposal also extends the line of credit for another year until the assets are transferred. The underlying assumption of the proposal is that if none of the provincial conferences is willing to take ownership of Concord, the land and buildings will not be transferred at all.
This was the proposal the Executive Board took to the Council of Boards that evening. The Council of Boards is a gathering of all the members of all the Canadian Conference Boards (about 60 members in all). It has the authority to act as the "conference in interim"; that is, the Council of Boards has the ability to make decisions normally made at a convention; it makes such decisions only on items that cannot wait until the next convention, and its decisions can be overturned by the next convention.
The proposal stimulated considerable debate at the Council of Boards session. Harold Jantz of the Board of Faith and Life and Jean Theoret of the Board of Communications argued that the Canadian Conference would not be acting in good faith if it did not transfer the land and buildings as scheduled. They also suggested that delaying the transfer could create difficulties for the College and prevent it from acting quickly to take advantage of opportunities that might arise. However, others argued that if several of the provinces decide to opt out of ownership of Concord, that would amount to a significant change from the situation when the agreements were made in 1991-92 and the Canadian Conference delegates should have an opportunity to ratify the transfer. In the end, the proposal was passed by a wide margin.
* Executive Minister Reuben Pauls is being evaluated as required by Conference policy at the end of his first two-year appointment.
* The Executive Board has scheduled a retreat for Aug. 27-28, 1997 in British Columbia, where it will discuss vision and strategy.
* The Executive Board clarified that the controversial resolution passed at the Canadian Conference convention last summer was intended as a pastoral word regarding not giving offense rather than as a resolution outlawing dancing per se.
* The leadership of the Canadian Conference will be in ongoing consultation with the leaders of the North American MB Conference and the US MB Conference regarding the proposed dismantling of the North American Conference.
* Two other pamphlets are nearing completion, on "A Christian Approach to AIDS" and "Visual Entertainment", and others are in process.
* The Board affirmed that the best way to plant churches is for healthy churches to plant churches.
* The Board is exploring the possibility of beginning ministries in Fredericton, N.B., Sydney, N.S. and Charlottetown, P.E.I.
* The three-way sponsorship of Youth Mission International (by the Board of Evangelism, Mission USA and MB Missions/Services) has been extended to Aug. 31, 1999.
* Although fundraising is going well, the Board still needs to raise $195,000 in donations by May 31.
* J.B. and Lorie Robertson began as church planters in Halifax on Feb. 1. This is church number 5 in the Board's efforts to have 10 MB churches in the Atlantic Provinces by the year 2000.
* A dozen youth pastors have committed to participate in the Youth Ministry Support Network. At the first annual Support Clinic in Calgary at the end of May, they will be encouraged and trained to serve the other youth workers in their networks.
* Christian Education Ministries is continuing to help finance the new curriculum for children. It is being developed in Quebec by Martha Wall. The curriculum has attracted a lot of interest in French-speaking countries in Europe and Africa.
* The Canadian Conference employees pension fund yielded 14.82% in 1996. The yield (the interest earned from investing the funds, which is credited to the employees' accounts) has averaged 11.94% a year over the last five years.
* Treasurer Jake Neufeld has returned from a study leave. The Board expressed gratitude for Neufeld's return, for the things he learned on the leave, and for the good service Fred Epp provided while replacing Neufeld in the interim.
JC
However, should this not be the case, we recommend that:
1. The Canadian Conference transfer the assets of the former Mennonite Brethren Bible College to the Concord College Conference (i.e., the Provincial Conference(s) which own Concord College), provided that at least one provincial conference decides to accept ownership of the College.
2. Because the Concord College Conference is in flux, the actual transfer take place only after this decision (point #1) is ratified by the next Canadian Conference Convention.
3. In the meantime, the Canadian Conference continue the current $400,000 line of credit to Concord College until the transfer of assets is complete.
Return to the M.B.Herald Vol. 36, No. 5 Home Page