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Jesus presents a standard for us: love God with all of our heart, soul and
mind& and love our neighbour as ourselves. Since our mind has such a great
influence on how we live our lives, it is significant how it is
nurtured.
The purpose of a Christian education would not be merely to
make men and women pious Christians& A Christian education must primarily teach
people to be able to think in Christian categories.
T.S. Eliot
Leaders
Leadership influences through character, lifestyle,
empowerment, decisions, skills, and intentional actions. Taylor seeks to develop
persons who positively influence their world.
The central task of
leadership is influencing God s people toward God s purposes.
Robert
Clinton
The Making of a Leader
Make a difference
Psychologists
tell us that one of the most significant human desires is to make a difference
and to know that our life matters. We will seek to reinforce this desire in the
lives of our students.
In the world
The world is our sphere of
influence. Our faith affects those around us: in our families, churches,
vocation, place of work, and our community. We encourage students to be involved
in churches, social agencies, and so on within the greater Edmonton community.
Students are also provided opportunities for cross-cultural experiences.
Vision Statement
Taylor seeks to be a leading evangelical centre
of academic excellence and Christian character.
This vision statement
highlights the dual commitments that guide our institutional development. All
full-time faculty members have completed or almost completed their doctoral
degree and are well-equipped to provide current thought and research in their
classroom teaching. Faith is integrated both into the learning context and into
co-curricular activities which provide our students with opportunities to deepen
their faith perspectives. Taylor offers an environment where students can ask
questions and seek out answers to the deeper questions of life as they work
toward becoming more faithful followers of Jesus Christ.
A History of
Taylor
The early years
Taylor College and Seminary, and the new E P
Wahl Centre, represents over sixty-five years of the community of North American
Baptist churches responding faithfully to the changing educational demands of
the church and society. The establishment of Taylor is rooted in a large number
of local area "Christian training institutes" established in 1923 that were
widely dispersed across the western prairies. These institutes appealed to the
many rural young people who were idle during the long prairie winters and
provided trained lay leadership for the local churches, as well as opportunities
for young people to utilize their time wisely. Sessions held in various local
churches engaged a number of area pastors as teachers and attracted young people
from the surrounding area who attended these sessions for periods of one to six
weeks.
Several earlier attempts were made to establish a more permanent
residential school for North American Baptist churches, but these failed to come
to fruition due to organizational difficulties, problems of transportation, long
distances, lack of financial support, and the lack of qualified teachers and
facilities. Finally, at the annual sessions of the Northern Conference meeting
at Olds, Alberta, in June of 1938, a committee was appointed to plan and direct
building facilities. The Northern Conference churches (Alberta, Saskatchewan,
and Manitoba) of the North American Baptist Conference endorsed this project in
July of 1939.
The school began with the financial support of and
volunteer labour from individuals within the Northern Conference Churches. Dr.
and Mrs. Wahl also contributed $10,000 received from an insurance policy when
their son was killed in a car accident.
Under the leadership of Dr. E.P.
Wahl, the founder of the school, the cornerstone was laid at 10810 - 78 Avenue
in June of 1939. The first building was constructed at a cost of $13,700, plus
volunteer labour. The first classes were held in January of 1940. Due to the
rapid growth of the program, a second building was constructed in 1947, and an
administrative, classroom, and dormitory building was added in
1965.
Christian Training Institute was originally administered by a Board
of Trustees elected by the Northern Conference and functioned under the
supervision of the Northern Conference Missions Committee. This system of
administration was revised in 1949, when the school became one of the affiliated
societies of the North American Baptist Conference (NAB Conference).
The
growth of the NAB Conference, particularly as the result of a large influx of
immigrants during the post-war period, necessitated a number of key changes in
the curriculum of the school. A high school program providing senior
matriculation training began in 1949 and was recognized by the Department of
Education in the province of Alberta in 1952. This provided an opportunity for
individuals sensing the need for further education, but unable or unwilling to
return to local high schools because of inadequate educational backgrounds or
advanced age, to secure this necessary training in an "Adult Privilege High
School." In response to changing demographics and educational needs, along with
declining enrolments, this program was discontinued in 1972.
In 1958,
another key change in program and curriculum took place with the initiation of a
theological division to train pastors. Until this time, the school functioned as
a lay leadership training institution, providing basic courses in Bible,
Christian education, music, youth work, and also providing training in effective
Christian living. The decision to introduce this new course of study resulted
from there being a lack of pastors for Canadian NAB churches, particularly those
who were capable of serving in a bilingual capacity, since at that time a
substantial number of Canadian NAB churches carried on their ministries in the
German language. Since that time, the need for German-English bilingual
ministries has greatly decreased, while the need for trained pastors has
increased. The NAB Conference officially recognized North American Baptist
College (NABC) as the undergraduate training institution for the entire
denomination in 1967.
Emergence of the college
In 1963, the Alumni
Association spearheaded the drive for a new campus when they adopted the project
of raising $100,000 for a relocation program. This was supplemented in 1967 by a
commitment of the Northern Conference to raise $125,000 for the relocation
program. The Alumni Association purchased the land for the new campus and
donated it to the NAB Conference. At the NAB General Conference sessions in
Detroit, Michigan in 1967, the relocation project received denominational
approval. Construction began on February 28, 1968, and the doors to the new
campus opened to students on September 1, 1968. The total cost of the new
facilities consisting of the Administration Building, two dormitories, the
Student Union Building, and the Services and Storage Building was
$1,000,000.
The move to the new campus also signalled the change of the
name from Christian Training Institute to North American Baptist College. In
1969, accreditation was secured with the Accrediting Association of Bible
Colleges. As the enrolment grew, campus development continued with a
Multi-Purpose Building in 1972, the apartment/dormitory in 1974, and the
beautiful and functional library in 1980. The college, and later the seminary,
attracted a growing number of students from approximately twenty
denominations.
A pre-seminary program of studies was introduced in the
fall of 1970 in consultation with the North American Baptist Seminary in Sioux
Falls, South Dakota. This four-year preparatory program of Bible, theology, and
general education was designed to prepare students to go on to seminary studies.
Because the school was prohibited by law from granting a BA degree in Alberta,
this program did not develop great appeal, and students usually transferred to
other schools to complete their BA degree. After a great deal of effort and
correspondence with the provincial education department, the college gained the
privilege of granting the Bachelor of Arts in Religion (BAR) degree in 1976.
This program was expanded and stabilized, and continued to have wide student
appeal. A number of non-accredited schools in Alberta, however, began using this
degree nomenclature, with the result that the provincial Department of Advanced
Education reviewed the use of this nomenclature in light of the Universities
Act. Subsequently, it was necessary to change the name of this degree to
Bachelor of Religion (BR).
Movement toward university
affiliation
Based upon the BR degree, and in response to the needs of many
students who wished to continue their education in a university setting, an
articulation agreement was established with the University of Alberta in 1977,
which provided for twenty-four semester hours of General Arts courses to be
transferred to the university. In 1984, an additional six hours were approved as
a part of this transfer arrangement. In response to the request for additional
transfer credits in 1987, the university suggested that the college seek
affiliation in order to expedite the entire arrangement. Following a site visit
by university representatives in the spring of 1988, an official agreement was
signed on July 29, 1988.
In order to facilitate students who desired to
begin at the college, and then transfer to the university or other Christian
colleges to complete their BA degree, the Associate of Arts in Religion (AAR)
degree program was added to the curriculum in 1985. Students completing this
two-year program could complete their BA degree in another two years in selected
Christian colleges, including Tabor College in Kansas, Judson College in
Illinois, Bethel College in Minnesota, and Sioux Falls College in South Dakota.
Students were also able to transfer a total of two years to the University of
Alberta.
Emergence of the seminary
The concept of a graduate program
leading to a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree was first proposed to the Board
of Trustees in March of 1973. The recommendation was endorsed by the board, and
recommended to the General Council of the denomination, where it also received
approval for introduction in the fall of 1974. Because of concerns expressed by
the seminary in Sioux Falls, the possibility of a joint M.Div. program in
cooperation with the seminary was discussed. This possibility became a reality
in the fall of 1975, with the introduction of the inter-campus M.Div. program.
Students in the inter-campus program were required to take the first two years
of their training at the college, and then the final year at North American
Baptist Seminary in Sioux Falls.
This inter-campus program proved
difficult, primarily due to the problems of transferring in the middle of a
program of study. Due to increased interest in and concern for graduate
theological training in a denominational context in western Canada, in 1978 the
Board of Trustees formed a task force to plan the implementation of the entire
M.Div. program in Edmonton. This program began in the fall of 1980 with the
establishment of North American Baptist Divinity School. In order to avoid
duplication of pastoral training programs, the Bachelor of Theology program was
transferred from the college to the divinity school, and the Master of
Theological Studies was added.
In 1990, the name of the divinity school
was changed to Edmonton Baptist Seminary and a specific section of the library
building was designated as the administrative centre for the seminary. In 1995,
a new building provided the seminary with a home of its own on the same campus
as the college. After fifteen years of preparing persons for vocational
ministry, the seminary began the process of accreditation with the Association
of Theological Schools (ATS). In June 1997, accreditation was granted.
In
1998, the vision for an intercultural studies program was approved by the board,
and communication began with select groups of alumni and friends. The effort
resulted in the establishing of an endowed professorship for intercultural
studies, the first within NAB schools. Additionally, the NAB International
Missions department provided three years of start-up funding to add a second
professor (August 2003). In January 2000, ATS granted the seminary permission to
offer an MA in Intercultural Studies. Alberta Learning did not object to the use
of the MA nomenclature. This degree was patterned after program standards for MA
programs.
In response to the "Leadership Center" development within the
NAB Conference and the need for greater flexibility in curriculum delivery, the
seminary partnered with North American Baptist Seminary and Providence Seminary
in Winnipeg to establish the Education Consortium of Contextual Learning (ecCL).
On-line courses were offered for the first time in January 2005. Taylor Seminary
also developed a Distributed Education Model, providing greater flexibility in
on-campus curriculum offerings.
Movement towards offering university
degrees
The college applied for degree program accreditation with the
Private College Accreditation Board (PCAB) of Alberta (now Campus Alberta
Quality Council), beginning the process in May 2000. After an extensive
three-stage evaluation process, the Accreditation Board approved the application
in May 2001. On July 24, 2001, the Lieutenant Governor of the Province of
Alberta signed an Order in Council granting us the right to offer provincially
accredited three- and four-year Bachelor of Arts programs in the areas of
Religion and Theology, English, and General Studies. With the approval to offer
accredited university degrees, the university affiliation with the University of
Alberta was discontinued in June 2003.
Program development and initiation
continued, with three-year programs in Psychology and Social Science starting in
fall 2002, a four-year BA in Psychology in 2004, and a four-year BA in English
the following year, in 2005. Additionally, a three-year Sociology degree was
approved, and an expansion of university college faculty became an obvious
requirement.
In Canada, the use of words, "college" and "university" have
different meanings. Colleges offer two-year, technical diplomas, while
universities offer degrees. Alberta and some other provinces (e.g. Ontario) use
the nomenclature "university college" to describe not-for-profit private
colleges that offer accredited university degrees. The U.S. context refers to
these as Christian liberal arts colleges.
The Board of Trustees
commissioned a task force to consider changing the name of the schools in the
fall of 2000. It was determined that the use of the word "university" was
important to provide greater clarity to prospective students about the type of
degrees we offered. It was also determined that the college and seminary should
have a common name, and that adding "university" to the existing name would make
the name too long (North American Baptist University College and Edmonton
Baptist Seminary). There was also recognition that to thrive in the future, the
college and seminary would need to increase enrolment from the greater
evangelical population.
For the next fifteen months the name change
committee considered 500-600 names. Constituents were invited to suggest names.
Outside consultants were retained in the process and conducted focus groups on
the short-listed names. After a thorough process, the name "Taylor University
College and Seminary" was adopted on April 27, 2002. The name "Taylor" comes
from J. Hudson Taylor, one of the most recognizable names in evangelical
history. His life and ministry exemplify the strong beliefs and values North
American Baptists have always held out to their students:
. a
commitment to service;
. obedience to God's call;
. unwavering belief in
the transforming power of the gospel;
. a life of faith;
. a priority on
prayer and study;
. sensitivity to culture as part of communicating Christ to
others; and
. a vision for the world.
The new name was a symbolic
demonstration that we are defining ourselves broadly, just as the original name
"Christian Training Institute" suggested.
Partnering with students
Educational institutions always require partners to come alongside students
to assist in both operating and capital costs. Alumni, friends, trustees,
churches, and the NAB Conference have played a significant role in funding the
school throughout its history. These partners have given generously: first, to
establish the original campus, and then, to establish the current campus with
additional buildings in the '70s, '80s, and '90s. The General Council of the NAB
Conference discontinued educational subsidies to its schools at the end of 2002.
Limited undesignated giving was the primary reason for this decision. For the
college and seminary, this loss of revenue amounted to $250,000 annually. In the
2004-2005 fiscal year annual fund giving exceeded $1million. Giving to financial
aid and operating endowments has grown, increasing the endowment to $3.1
million.
In May 2005, the Alberta legislature approved provincial funding
for Taylor University College, to be used for operating expenses, not capital
(capital funding continued to be provided from donors). This decision affirmed
the important educational role that Taylor University College was providing to
the broader society. The distinctive mission of Taylor provides choice to
students. In June 2009, when the university programs were discontinued, this
provincial funding ended.
The end of Taylor's university degree programs
is not the end of Taylor College. Taylor remains committed to the re-emergence
of a post-secondary experience that is strongly rooted in Bible study, spiritual
formation, and ministry preparation. The possibilities are for short-term
intensive courses and possibly one-year or two-year programs, as well as
transferable courses for credit towards a degree at another institution.
Emergence of the E P Wahl Centre
As part of a visioning process
that began in 2007, the Board of Trustees directed the establishment of a centre
that would directly address some of the training needs of our constituent
churches and individual believers. There are many areas of educational need that
don't fit into an academic program, but which could be addressed through
short-term programs (eg., seminars, workshops, certificate programs,
etc.).
To this end, the E P Wahl Centre has been established to address
these needs. The vision for this new educational ministry includes a commitment
to collaboration and partnerships with churches and other organizations, moving
forward with a kingdom mentality while maximizing the people and resources that
are available.
Establishing educational partnerships
Taylor
continues to develop significant partnerships within the evangelical and higher
education communities. These partnerships include North American Baptist
churches, NAB Leadership Centers, North American Baptist Seminary, Carey
Theological College, Education Consortium for Contextual Learning (ecCL),
Network of Evangelical Seminaries (NETS) in Western Canada, Young Life, and the
Baptist Union of Western Canada (BUWC). We are members of a number of
educational groups, including Christian Higher Education Canada (CHEC) and the
Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC).
Taylor is also an affiliate
member of In TRUST. In Trust seeks "to educate and inform those responsible for
the governance of the graduate theological schools of North America." Taylor has
been a member of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce since 2000.
Focusing
the mission and vision
In June 2003, new mission and vision statements were
approved for the institution. These statements focus on ends, bringing both
passion and focus. Our mission is to develop Christ-minded leaders who make a
difference in the world. Likewise, our vision is to be a leading evangelical
centre of academic excellence and Christian character.
These statements
focus the future direction of Taylor on leadership development, influencing the
world, academic excellence, and the development of Christian character. The
vitality of this institution over the past sixty-five years is largely due our
responsiveness to the changing educational needs of the church and society while
remaining faithful to our founding values. The privilege to serve the high
calling of preparing Christ-minded leaders who make a difference in the world is
at the core of all we have done. The world is truly a better place because our
alumni have faithfully served in a host of vocations around the globe. We pay
tribute to all of those who have generously served as staff, administrators,
faculty, and trustees over the past sixty-five years, and we look forward with
excitement to the future. |
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