Our Story - MB Seminary

MB Seminary is the national seminary of the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches. We partner with churches and schools across Canada to carry out our mission.

Who we are

MB Seminary educates and equips men and women who help lead the church in reaching Canada and the world with the good news of Jesus Christ. Through Teaching Churches across Canada, our faculty provide training to both graduate students and general participants, allowing us to reach beyond fixed geographical borders.

Our office is located in Langley, British Columbia on the campus of Trinity Western University.

Why Mennonite Brethren?

As the seminary for the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches, we equip and educate current and future pastors, missionaries, spiritual care practitioners, scholars, and leaders for congregational or marketplace ministry within the Mennonite Brethren constituency. Our goal for every student is for them to become a passionate and committed follower of Jesus, biblically astute and theologically aware, culturally discerning, and active in mission through lifelong learning and training opportunities.

Our History SEMINARY TIMELINE

2020s

The early 2020s were a period of significant transition for MB Seminary. In response to decreased funding from the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches (CCMBC) and the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Seminary implemented a two-year restructuring plan that successfully restored a balanced budget and clarified its ministry focus.

In the fall of 2021, the Seminary launched its first Teaching Church partnership in British Columbia. This innovative model enables students to pursue graduate-level education within their local church contexts. Over the following years, additional Teaching Churches were established in Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario. The first cohort of students completed the Master of Arts in Transformational Leadership degree in June 2025.

In the summer of 2024, the Seminary launched The Centre for Education and Advancement of Spiritual Care, a program designed to foster and promote clinical and theological excellence in spiritual care. The Centre provides clinical psychospiritual education (CPE) that is a requirement for many practitioners in various fields. The Centre’s CPE program is approved by the Canadian Association for Spiritual Care (CASC).

In 2024, the ACTS Seminaries board voted to dissolve the consortium by May 2026, with the intention of transitioning the core elements of its programs to Trinity Western University (TWU). In early 2025, TWU acquired Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) to integrate it into TWU’s new School of Theology. As a long-standing ACTS partner since 1999, MB Seminary is deeply grateful for the collaboration that has shaped decades of graduate education. Today, MB Seminary continues to serve its constituency through innovative, church-centred programs that equip leaders for ministry across Canada and beyond.

In June 2010, the seminary property in Fresno was transferred to Fresno Pacific University and renamed Fresno Pacific University Biblical Seminary later that year. Declining enrolment and budget constraints had led to the conclusion that the Fresno campus was no longer viable on its own.

In March 2011, the Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary Inc. board transferred the campus at ACTS in Langley, British Columbia, to the CCMBC, establishing Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary Canada (later referred to as MB Seminary) as its own entity with centres in Langley and Winnipeg. Bruce L. Guenther became president on February 1, 2012, after serving as interim president for the previous year.

In 2016, Bruce L. Guenther resigned from the presidency to return to his full-time faculty role. Mark Wessner was appointed by the board to serve as MB Seminary’s second president beginning in July, 2016.

In January, 2019, the ACTS World Campus was officially launched which provided students with the opportunity to earn their seminary degree eight weeks at a time from anywhere in the world.

In 1995, MB Seminary started the BC Centre in Abbotsford, British Columbia, and in 1999, MB Seminary became one seminary in three locations as it became a full member of the Associated Canadian Theological Schools of Trinity Western University (ACTS) in Langley, British Columbia, and also a part of the Winnipeg Centre for Ministry Training in Manitoba.

In 1963, the Cornelius Hiebert Library was built, as a joint project with Fresno Pacific College. Other facility additions have included a prayer chapel (1967), housing facilities (1967), additional office space (1970), a library extension (1980), and a new educational wing with classrooms and lounges (1982). In 1974, the Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies was established and the Center for Training in Mission/Evangelism in 1984.

The Seminary received accreditation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges in 1972 and from the Association of Theological Schools in 1977.

In 1975, the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches became a partner in the school, and the seminary was transferred to the General Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches. The conference appointed a board who represented an equal number of American and Canadian members.

Founded in 1955 and located in Fresno, California, the Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary was the result of the merger of the Bible and Theology Department of Tabor College and the graduate work at Pacific Bible Institute (PBI, later named Fresno Pacific College and now Fresno Pacific University).

At the time of its formation, it was owned and operated by the Board of Education of the United States Mennonite Brethren Conference on behalf of the Mennonite Brethren Church and the Krimmer Mennonite Brethren Church. Several members of the faculties of these two schools were chosen to form the new faculty. The first classes began on 8 September 1955 in the administration building of Pacific Bible Institute at 2149 Tuolumne Street in Fresno. The first president was B. J. Braun and the first dean was G. W. Peters. The Bachelor of Religious Education and Bachelor of Theology degrees were offered with PBI along with the Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Arts in Missions on the graduate level. By the fall of 1956, the school was located on a six-acre campus at the corner of Chestnut and Butler Streets, adjoining the future campus of the Pacific Bible Institute.