President's Blog

I completed my Regional conference tour across the country in June and heard good news about much, including our three partner seminaries:

• Northwest Baptist College and Seminary in Langley, BC continues to actively service our churches through their Immerse program, a competency-based theological education model that immerses the students in church ministry while they are being trained and educated.

• Heritage College & Seminary in Cambridge, ON just opened their impressive new seminary facility and are developing a new vision for ministry preparation and partnership with our local churches while continuing to run a robust internship program for senior students.

• The Baptist Evangelical Seminary of Québec (SEMBEQ, Séminaire Baptiste Évangelique du Québec) in Montréal, QC recently launched a refreshed commitment to partner with our churches and Regions in the equipping and developing of leaders in our churches. SEMBEQ’s storied history has always been closely tied to the training of our pastors, missionaries, and chaplains.

Christian Education in Canada?

How important is Christian education in building faith-persistent young people? I attended an Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) gathering and I heard some interesting information on the subject.

In 1901 there were only 18 institutions of higher education in Canada. Today, there are many, with 96 universities and 1.8 million students.

By the 1930s only 15% of Canadians graduated from high school. This increased to 50% by the 1950s. Since 2001, Canada has ranked #1 among OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) nations with 63% of adults obtaining a university education in 2023 (the last year of available data). 

In the midst of an increased emphasis on education in Canada, the Bible School movement took flight starting in 1885, battled through the Modernist Movement (early 1900s), plummeted in the 1960s, and is presently being deprived of oxygen in the early 21st century. Some 340 Bible colleges have been established since 1894 with 75% of them located in Western Canada. Today, many have closed or have merged to survive in a climate where Christian parents question the relevancy and economics of enrolling their children. About 70 post-secondary religious training institutions currently exist in Canada which includes seminaries as well as Bible colleges.

Today, Christian institutions need to be funded by higher tuition rates than their secular counterparts, and no public funding is available. Christian schools on average depend 2.5 times more on tuition fees than secular schools do. As a result, fewer Christian schools and colleges existed at the start of the 21st century.

Today, less than 20,000 students attend faith-based Canadian post-secondary schools, representing only 7% of all post-secondary students. An interesting and possibly comparable note is that evangelicals represent approximately 7.7% of the Canadian population.

This is all noteworthy in light of two major Canadian studies conducted in 2010 and 2018 by the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and several other youth ministries.

In 2010, the Hemorrhaging Faith study discovered that two in three high school students left the church or their faith during their years in post-secondary education. The numbers are staggering. (Read the Hemorrhaging Faith study here.)

A few Western University professors admitted that a liberal arts education is likely only necessary for about 15% of the jobs available in the marketplace. I’m not against university education; all my kids have at least one degree. I’m also not against education being a means for growth and shaping minds. But, if a university education’s main purpose is not to prepare young adults (or young-at-heart adults) for the workplace, what is its main objective?

Some argue campuses have become places to pass along a new orthodoxy, new values, and a secular public confession, rather than gain the training for a vocation. University education develops a worldview.

So, should evangelicals run for the hills? Do evangelicals vacate the “public square” like we did in the early 1920s and for much of the 20th century? We retrace this course of action at our own peril. My hope is that the opposite happens. Evangelicals enter political office, remain teachers in the public system, write their local newspaper editor, join a political party, volunteer, and advocate passionately for issues like poverty, homelessness, protection of the unborn, end-of-life care, creation stewardship, addiction, and other important causes. Evangelicals must engage and remain a cause for good and blessing in our nation.

One last comment. In 2018, the Renegotiating Faith study discovered that students from evangelical backgrounds who attended at least one year of Bible college (or equivalent), enjoyed going to summer Christian camps as a teen, had a mentor in their life as a young person, or joined a Christian ministry within 30 days of starting university vastly increased their chances of faith-persistence. (Read the Renegotiating Faith study here.)

Christian parents need to either rethink where they send their kids for post-secondary education, or seek to ensure their kids’ faith journey is strengthened by helpful tools and practices so they will think Christianly amid the intentional indoctrination occurring on secular campuses across Canada. Something to ponder?