Administrative History

Steinbach Bible College (SBC) had its beginning as Steinbach Bible School when three teachers and 13 students met for classes in 1931 in the Steinbach Mennonite Brethren Church in Steinbach, Manitoba. Classes were discontinued after that year, but resumed in 1936 with the first class graduating in 1939.

An independent inter-Mennonite governing board, which had been working for several years, was formally organized under the name Steinbach Bible Society in 1938, with charter members from four local churches. They erected the first school building on First Street in downtown Steinbach in 1939, beginning classes in the building in early 1940. Eventually, disagreements over points of doctrine, modes of baptism, and whether it should be a denominational school or not, resulted in the Mennonite Brethren, one of the four founding Mennonite groups, discontinuing their involvement in the school (see Jerry Hildebrand, Training Servant Leaders: A History of Steinbach Bible College [1997], 20–21).

The school was founded to provide an opportunity for young people to expand their Bible knowledge. Teachers taught by example that outreach is an integral aspect of furthering biblical knowledge. By the mid-forties, the school's program had expanded, with increasing emphasis on preparing workers for the ministry of the church both at home and abroad. Students in these early years were granted both a Bible School Certificate and an Evangelical Teacher Training Association Diploma.

A high school program was added in 1947 and the name was changed from Steinbach Bible School to Steinbach Bible Academy. High school classes were dropped after a few years but, because of the need for high school training for many adults in the constituency, it was added again in 1953.

Increasing enrollment prompted a building program and a move to its present location on a sixteen-acre campus in the northwest part of the town in 1955.

A further change in the governance of the school came during 1960–1962 when the independent Board requested the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren, the Emmanuel Evangelical Free Church, and the Evangelical Mennonite Conference to assume the operation of the school. Later, additional church groups, including the Evangelical Mennonite Mission Conference and the Chortitzer Mennonite Church, became part of the governing body of the College. The Emmanuel Evangelical Free Church withdrew its membership from the Board in 1983, as did the Christian Fellowship Church, Mennonite, in 1991, and the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren in 2000. The three remaining sponsoring conferences are: Chortitzer Mennonite Conference, Evangelical Mennonite Conference, and Evangelical Mennonite Mission Conference.

In the 1970s a facilities expansion program was initiated. The gymnasium was constructed in 1972 and the chapel/music building was completed in 1978. The college library-administration building, which facilitated the separation of the College and Collegiate Divisions of SBC Inc., was completed in 1988.