CANADIAN MENNONITE UNIVERSITY

Three Mennonite colleges have emerged and flourished in Winnipeg: Mennonite Brethren Bible College (now Concord College), Canadian Mennonite Bible College, and Menno Simons College. Each college has its own story. Yet, from the beginning, the individual stories have often intersected. They are now becoming part of a common story of how God has led the colleges together to assume a common educational mission. Early in the 1940s two Mennonite conferences, the Conference of Mennonites in Canada (CMC) and the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches (the MBs), began envisioning "higher Bible Schools." Till that time, Canadian Mennonites who desired a theological education at a level beyond that offered by the Mennonite Bible institutes in Canada went either to Mennonite colleges in the U.S.A. or to colleges of other denominations. The two Canadian Mennonite conferences wished to build institutions to offer their people advanced theological education and practical training for service in their churches and in missions. After initial attempts to achieve their purposes by adding advanced instruction to the curricula of existing Bible institutes (CMC at Rosthern Bible School, the MBs at Winkler Bible Institute), both conferences chose to build new colleges in Winnipeg. The first intersection between college stories occurred in 1945 when two members of the CMC approached the president of Mennonite Brethren Bible College (MBBC), proposing a co-operative venture in higher education between the two conferences. They received a discouraging response—MBBC would welcome their students but the Mennonite Brethren wished to retain control of the college. Consequently, CMC continued its own project and, two years later, established the Canadian Mennonite Bible College (CMBC). Nonetheless, the two colleges quickly established co-operative relationships. Beginning in the 1950s, the colleges would join twice a year in chapel services, each college hosting one of the services. The two faculties would meet twice a year on a similar reciprocal hosting arrangement for dinner, presentation of a paper, and discussion. The most publicly visible co-operation between the colleges occurred in joint Oratorio choir performances, beginning in 1965, and then in jointly sponsored music seminars, beginning in 1975. The colleges also jointly sponsored an Anabaptist study tour to Europe in 1978 and a tour to Israel in 1981. A few faculty exchanges and joint course offerings occurred in the 1980s and early 1990s. In July, 1980, a small group of Mennonite businessmen and academics, calling itself the Friends of Higher Learning, began meeting to develop and promote a vision for a Mennonite university in Manitoba. According to their vision, the new university would be internationally focused and would expand the work of the existing Mennonite colleges in Manitoba. Though the colleges participated in discussing the vision, it was not yet the time for extensive co-operation or integration. However, out of these discussions a new Mennonite institution did emerge on the University of Winnipeg campus, namely, Menno Simons College. In the early 1990s, a group including persons from the business community and from the four Mennonite colleges in Manitoba (CMBC, Concord College, Steinbach Bible College, and Menno Simons College) had several meetings on inter-Mennonite co-operation in higher education. This led to formal discussions among the colleges, beginning in 1995, though Steinbach Bible College withdrew from the process in 1996. The availability of a large, majestic building on 23 acres located across the street from the CMBC campus inspired the envisioning of a large complex that would permit collocation of the remaining three colleges and facilitate close co-operation among them. After years of negotiation and planning, a succession of significant agreements brought the Mennonite College Federation into being. In August of 1998, the government of Manitoba proclaimed the charter for the creation of a university-level, degree-granting federation of Mennonite colleges. On November 18, 1998, the three colleges signed a Memorandum of Agreement, signifying final approval for the creation of the federation. On May 4th, 1999, the agreement to purchase 500 Shaftesbury was concluded. The Mennonite College Federation began offering its new, jointly sponsored academic programs in September 1999, and by September 2000, the colleges located together on a common campus at 500/600 Shaftesbury Boulevard. Canadian Mennonite University 500 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3P 2N2 Phone (204) 487-3300 Fax (204) 487-3858 Toll Free (877) 231-4570