Alberta Bible College

Alberta Bible College is a Canadian Bible college associated especially, but not exclusively, with the Christian churches and churches of Christ. FoundersHelen McGilvary’s motion at a July, 1932, congregational meeting of Central Church of Christ, Lethbridge, Alberta, created Alberta Bible College . Charles Henry Phillips convened classes October 3, 1932 with Roscoe E. Hollister and, later that school year, eight other students in an unfinished church basement in a classroom sectioned off by a curtain. From the outset, ABC’s founding was a collaborative effort of several Alberta congregations. But E. E. Breakenridge, a Calgary businessman and an elder at Tuxedo Park Church of Christ, Calgary, was full partner in this effort with C. H. Phillips. Phillips came from an Anglo-Caribbean plantation family, born in London, England, according to one account, who immigrated to Saskatchewan as a 24-year-old. As that young man, he came to Canada "utterly disgruntled" with the brand of Christianity that perpetuated unbearable inequalities between the clergy and the poor. “C. H. ” was exposed to the Restoration Movement by the pioneer Disciples of Christ preacher R. J. Westaway, and he went to study at Eugene Bible University in Oregon. From his studies, C. H. brought a vision of church growth by way of educating men and women for the leadership ministry of the church. In a special 1932 edition of The Alberta Christian, a newsletter of the Alberta Christian Missionary Society, Phillips noted that "There is no question as to the need of such a college in this Northwestern division of our Dominion. We have the young people in our churches. We know of several who would avail themselves of intensive preparation of the various trained ministries of the churches were it possible. "

Alberta Bible College is a Canadian Bible college associated especially, but not exclusively, with the Christian churches and churches of Christ. FoundersHelen McGilvary’s motion at a July, 1932, congregational meeting of Central Church of Christ, Lethbridge, Alberta, created Alberta Bible College . Charles Henry Phillips convened classes October 3, 1932 with Roscoe E. Hollister and, later that school year, eight other students in an unfinished church basement in a classroom sectioned off by a curtain. From the outset, ABC’s founding was a collaborative effort of several Alberta congregations. But E. E. Breakenridge, a Calgary businessman and an elder at Tuxedo Park Church of Christ, Calgary, was full partner in this effort with C. H. Phillips. Phillips came from an Anglo-Caribbean plantation family, born in London, England, according to one account, who immigrated to Saskatchewan as a 24-year-old. As that young man, he came to Canada "utterly disgruntled" with the brand of Christianity that perpetuated unbearable inequalities between the clergy and the poor. “C. H. ” was exposed to the Restoration Movement by the pioneer Disciples of Christ preacher R. J. Westaway, and he went to study at Eugene Bible University in Oregon. From his studies, C. H. brought a vision of church growth by way of educating men and women for the leadership ministry of the church. In a special 1932 edition of The Alberta Christian, a newsletter of the Alberta Christian Missionary Society, Phillips noted that "There is no question as to the need of such a college in this Northwestern division of our Dominion. We have the young people in our churches. We know of several who would avail themselves of intensive preparation of the various trained ministries of the churches were it possible. "