A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

much to the spiritual atmosphere of the school. The average age of students during the first two decades was around twenty-four years. Moreover, many had an educational or professional background which added another dimension to the image of the college. Of those enrolled in 1964-65, for instance, 63 had Bible school training, 62 had attended universtiy, 33 had been engaged in teaching, 11 in nursing, and 10 had served as ministers and mission workers. i< That the college received increasing moral and financial support throughout the Canadian M.B. constituency must in part, at least, be attributed to the calibre of its faculty. A number of the teachers were well-known in the conference as Bible school teachers, ministers, and conference leaders even before their appointment to the college faculty. John Doerksen comments: "A major reason for the success of the college experiment has been the calibre of its staff members." 5 ' 5 Besides those already mentioned, D. Ewert (1953-1972) and J. H. Quiring (1945-1955, 1962-1966) have given many years of valuable service to the college. Equally valuable, although for a shorter period of time have been the contributions of I. W. Redekop, G. D. Huebert, C. Wall, P. Klassen, TRAINING FOR I.IKE AND SERVICE 279 V. Martens, H. Giesbrecht, H. R. Baerg, H. H. Voth, J. J. Toews, and others. From 1963 to 1966 J. H. Quiring served as president. In 1967 V. Adrian assumed the responsibility of leadership. In recent years there has been a decrease in enrollment, partly due, it would appear, to the resignation of several teachers who had been with the college for a long time. The decline in attendance may also be the result of a reorientation in both school and conference with regard to the role of the college in the total educational program of the brotherhood. The spiritual impact of the Mennonite Brethren Bible College on the growth and development of the M.B. Church can be seen, at least in part, from the following statistics with regard to the ministry of graduates and former students of the college as given in a report to the 1962 Mennonite World Conference: "in missionary service 106; in the preaching ministry 102; in the teaching ministry 241; in the ministry of music 51. In addition, hundreds of former students are active in church and Sunday school work." 56 Practically all missionaries who have been commissioned by Canadian M.B. churches for service in foreign fields during the last twenty-five years have received a part or all of their training in the Bible College. Many teachers in M.B. Bible schools are also graduates of the college. In addition, the college has been a unifying factor in the scattered and far-flung Canadian M.B. constituency. III. The Need for Pastoral Training: The Story of the Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary With the change from the multiple lay ministry to the "pastoral system" in the thirties and forties, the brotherhood,