A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

) Camps for conscientious objectors and of Tabor College. The institute at Fresno, which opened its doors for the first time in the fall of 1944, experienced rapid growth, especially after G. W. Peters assumed the presidency in 1947. The new school soon looked for recognition on the General Conference level. Already at the 1945 General Conference sessions in Dinuba the Pacific District Conference presented the following petition: We desire and herewith petition that the Pacific Bible Institute be recognized by the General Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Church of North America. However, the administration and management remains under the jurisdiction of the Pacific District Conference. '"' This petition was made in order to be eligible for a share of the revenue from the educational endowment fund. With the acceptance of this petition the conference delegates implicitly recognized two educational centers in the United States, Hillsboro and Fresno. The question of coordinating the programs of higher theological training came up for discussion on the conference floor in Mountain Lake in 1948 and again in Winkler in 1951. The report of the Seminary Commission presented to the Winkler convention, was referred to the Coordination Committee for further investigation. 51 This was no easy task. In speaking to the Pacific District Conference in the fall of the same year, G. W. Peters, president of Pacific Bible Institute, analyzed the problem correctly by pointing out that the difficulties of coordination were "not due to any one individual, but rather to the complexity of the situation which arises out of the geographical distribution of our churches, the ideals of our conferences, and the needs of our young people."'' 2 In his further elaboration of the question, 210 HISTORY OF THE MENNON1TE BRETHREN CHURCH Peters expressed the view that coordination would not be achieved as long as one school was a General Conference project, and the other schools were administered by district conferences. The question of unification and coordination of the educational institutions of the conference came to a head at the General Conference held in Hillsboro in October, 1954. With the Canadian delegation abstaining from discussion and voting, the conference accepted a recommendation of the Board of Education of Tabor College to "establish a unified educational program by which one board shall operate the schools of the General Conference (in the U.S. area) from one treasury. . . ."" The implementation of this decision finally resulted in the establishment of a Seminary and a Junior College in connection with Pacific Bible Institute at Fresno, and the continuation of the four-year liberal arts program with a strong Bible department at Hillsboro. The Krimmer Mennonite Brethren fully participated in the deliberations and decisions with regard to the unified educational program. The General Conference of 1954