Corporate body

Associated Canadian Theological Schools

In 1985, representatives from four denominations, including The Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches of Canada, The Associated Gospel Churches of Canada, The Evangelical Free Church of Canada, and The Baptist General Conference of Canada met to discuss the possibility of cooperation in post-secondary education, including the preparation of pastors, church planters and missionaries for the challenges of the 21st century. Through prayer, planning, and much consideration, a new vision developed to work together in the Believers' Church tradition to reach Canada and the world with the Gospel. In 1987, the Baptist General Conference established Canadian Baptist Seminary, and the Evangelical Free Church of Canada, along with TWU, established Trinity Western Seminary. Northwest Baptist Seminary, established in 1975 by the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches, relocated its operations from Vancouver to the Langley campus of TWU. In the summer of 1999 Canadian Theological Seminary, operated by the Christian and Missionary Alliance, opened a western campus as part of ACTS. At the same time, Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, Fresno, California, relocated its BC Centre to the TWU campus and became part of the Consortium. All the seminiaries are affiliated with TWU, with TWS being an operational part of the University. As ACTS, the five seminaries constitute the Graduate School of Theological Studies of Trinity Western University and enjoy maximum cooperation, effectiveness, efficiency, and quality. Part of this effective cooperation is the ACTS/TWU library. Degrees in the consortium are offered "conjointly," that is, by the University and the participating Seminary together. In June, 1997, ACTS became an accredited member in the Association of Theological Schools (ATS). A new ministry of ACTS was created in the Spring of 1998, the ACTS Intercultural Ministry Centre (AIM). The ACTS Seminaries also maintain effective, on-campus partnerships with Canadian Pentecostal Seminary, the Canadian Institute of Linguistics, and a number of other ministry organisations. All five seminaries occupy space in the Fosmark Centre (completed in 1993) on the TWU campus. The Consortium's goals are to strengthen each denomination's distinctions and mission; to provide the finest training designed to accelerate evangelism and the planting of New Testament churches; and to witness to our essential oneness of purpose in Jesus Christ or Lord. The mission of ACTS is to develop godly servant leaders who have a love and burden for people based on a strong commitment to Jesus Christ, the Word of God, and the ministry of His church, who will energetically strengthen, revitalize and actively multiply communities of effective ministering believers in Canada and around the world. As of 2002, seminary presidents were: R. Neil Snider, President of TWU/TWS; Henry Schmidt, President of MBBS; Daryl Busby, President of CBS; Larry Perkins, President of NBS; George Durance, President of CTS. Wendell Phillips was appointed Registrar for ACTS in 1995. In August 2001, Phil Zylla was appointed Executive Director of ACTS. In October, 2004, the Canadian Pentecostal Seminary joined the ACTS consortium.