Administrative History

Mennonite Brethren Bible Institute of Ontario (commonly referred to as the Ontario M.B. Conference Bible School) traces its beginnings to the Niagara Peninsula, where it became known as the Virgil Bible School, which functioned under that name from 1938 to 1955.

In 1938, I.T. Ewert began to teach evening Bible classes in Virgil, Ontario. The following year the Virgil–Vineland Bible School Society was formed and B.B. Bolt was the instructor in Vineland, Ontario. Instruction was discontinued during 1941–1942 due to the war. Classes resumed in 1942.

In 1945, a high school was added onto the same campus and name became Virgil Bible and High School, which created some friction. In 1948, the Ontario Mennonite Brethren Conference assumed administration and all other responsibilities from the Virgil Bible School Society.

The Ontario Conference decided it best that the Bible School section move to the new education wing at the Kitchener Mennonite Brethren Church in Kitchener, Ontario. The education wing was completed in 1955, in time for Bible school classes to begin in October 1955.

The new location gave both schools more "breathing room." The high school came to be called Eden Christian College in 1956 and the Bible school was called Mennonite Brethren Bible Institute of Ontario. However, within a decade, the problem of low enrollment in the Bible school forced it to close its doors in 1964.