Chris ristian tian and Missi siona onary ry Allianc nce e in - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Early History

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A.B. Simpson, founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, born in Bayview, PEI, in 1843.

Plaque commemorating the founding of Cavendish, PEI by A. B. Simpson’s ancestors. Simpson’s family later moved to Chatham, Ont.

The Simpson family’s homestead in Chatham, Ontario

John Salmon, founder of Alliance work in Canada, is born in Scotland in 1831 and emigrates to Canada in 1856. After pastoring a succession of churches in Eastern Canada, he moves to Toronto (Yorkville) in 1882 to pastor Hazelton Avenue Congregational Church.

John Salmon around 1862, the year of his graduation from Trinity College (Methodist) in Coburg, Ont

Hazelton Avenue Congregational Church

The healing of Maggie Scott in October 1882 prepares the ground for the four-fold Gospel (Christ as savior, sanctifier, healer, and coming Lord) in Canada.

John Salmon begins his healing ministry

(see photo of 1887 newspaper notice below).

1883

Salmon, deathly ill with kidney disease, travels to Buffalo, N.Y., where Simpson is holding healing meetings. He is healed and baptized in the Spirit and becomes a close associate and loyal supporter of Simpson, whom he considers a kindred spirit. Indeed, both men:

• Are irrepressible evangelists
• Have both Arminian and Calvinist elements to their theology
• Believe in the pre-millennial second coming of Christ
• Have undergone believer’s baptism by immersion
• Have experienced sanctification and physical healing in response to

prayer

• Have a concern for the neglected unchurched masses

1885

1887

Salmon resigns his pulpit in the face of a possible congregational split over divine healing. He begins independent meetings for healing and sanctification, assisted by William John Fenton. He and his wife Elizabeth help Mayor William Howland, founder of the Toronto Mission Union, in his work with the poor of St. John’s Ward. 1887 newspaper notice for Salmon’s meetings at Wolseley Hall (originally Brownlow’s Hall), the first church services in Canada committed to the four-fold Gospel teaching.

John Salmon’s wife Elizabeth assists him in ministry. He dubs her “Lizzie the Ripper” because she rips apart donated clothing to make garments for the poor.

William John Fenton, Salmon’s “right hand man.”

William Howland, 1844-1893, reforming mayor of Toronto, 1886-1888, is largely responsible for the city becoming known as “Toronto the good”.

Slum housing in Toronto’s St. John’s Ward

This photo of A. B. Simpson was taken at Old Orchard, Maine, site of the 1887 conference where he and his associates found the Christian Alliance, “a fraternal union of all who hold in common the fullness of Jesus;” and the Evangelical Missionary Alliance, “for a rapid evangelization of the most neglected sections of the foreign mission field.” Salmon is elected a vice-president of the Christian Alliance and Fenton is elected a vice-president of the Evangelical Missionary Alliance.

Four months after the founding of the two Alliances Salmon establishes an interdenominational independent four-fold Gospel church in Toronto that begins meeting in Wolseley Hall (pictured here a few decades later). The congregation becomes known as Bethany Chapel in 1889.

The first missionary to be sent out by the Evangelical Missionary Alliance is William Cassidy, a native of Ailsa Craig, Ontario, who departs for China in 1887. He dies en route.

• Dr. Reuben Zimmerman, a dentist, joins the Wolseley Hall group

and serves as its principal preacher and teacher.

1888

Matthew Birrell, future missionary to China, also joins the group.

Hamilton, Ontario, where A. B. Simpson had his first pastorate (Knox Presbyterian Church) hosts the first of 64 Alliance conventions Simpson will lead in Canada. At the end of the meetings the participants establish the Dominion Auxiliary Branch of the Christian Alliance, a “fraternal union of believers” that has its roots in a native Canadian movement in the four-fold Gospel. William Howland is elected President, John William Fenton is elected secretary, and Reuben Zimmerman, John Salmon, and Maggie Scott are elected vice presidents.

1889

First Methodist Church, Hamilton, site of the founding convention of the Dominion Auxiliary Branch of the Christian Alliance.

Ellen Hatch, a Methodist who had joined Salmon’s group after experiencing a miraculous healing in 1886, is also elected a vice-president of the Dominion Auxiliary.

Christian Alliance “branches” are established in Aberfoyle, Wiarton, Galt, and Peterborough. Up to this point few Toronto Alliance folk have taken an interest in the Evangelical Missionary Alliance, because many mission organizations have offices in Toronto, and because most Toronto Alliance folk still attend a denominational church that already has a missions program.

1889

Interest in Alliance missions grows. Mary Birrell, sister of Matthew Birrell, along with four other members of the Toronto branch, attends Simpson’s Missionary Training Institute. That year she and her husband, William Knapp, sail for China. She becomes the first member of a Canadian branch to become a missionary with the renamed (in light of strong Canadian participation) International Missionary Alliance.

1890

Rebecca Fletcher founds Bethany Home (30 Maitland St., Toronto), a “healing home” for people suffering from material and physical distress.

Branches have been established in Ottawa and Montreal. Simpson, Salmon, and Howland ordain Reuben Zimmerman. Fenton resigns

• ver this sign of denominationalism. Salmon and Zimmerman also
• rdain three dissident Salvation Army officers, Peter W. Philpott,

Alfred W. Roffe, and George E. Fisher. The three go on to found the Christian Workers Church, which is now known as the Associated Gospel Churches of Canada. Roffe and Philpott also later serve as district superintendents of the C&MA.

1891

• A. W. Roffe.

Peter W. Philpott.

Roland Bingham (1872-1942), whom Salmon has been mentoring, becomes his new pastoral assistant. Bingham will later become a missionary to Africa, found the Sudan Interior Mission, and repudiate the Alliance’s view of divine healing.

1893

Bethany Chapel, (University Ave. and Christopher St.), mother of all Canadian Alliance branches and churches, at the time of its dedication.

John Salmon founds the Toronto Missionary Training

• School. It succumbs within a

year to “the competition,” Toronto Bible School (later to become Ontario Bible College and Tyndale College and Seminary).

1893

Annie Melnick founds Bethany Orphanage (82-84 Hayter St.) Like

• ther Bethany ministries, it is lay-initiated. It lasts until 1928.
• 1894. John Salmon opens Bethany Mission, which provides preaching, counseling,

and used clothing (but not meals or lodging) to the destitute. It lasts until 1911.

Alfred Robb (central Africa) becomes the first Alliance missionary from Western Canada.

1895

By this time missions has overtaken divine healing as the principal focus of the Dominion Auxiliary Branch of the Christian Alliance. At that year’s convention in Toronto, A. B. Simpson ordains R. A. Jaffray (1873-1945) as a missionary to China. Jaffray will later go on to become the C&MA’s most famous missionary and the pioneer of its Indochina and Dutch East Indies fields.

1896

The Christian Alliance and the International Missionary Alliance merge to form the Christian and Missionary Alliance. As a result, the Dominion Auxiliary Branch loses its democratically-elected board and president and becomes just another branch reporting to a New York-appointed district superintendent. Canadian lay involvement in the movement begins to wane.

1897

The Alliance convention, Grimsby Park, near Hamilton, Ontario

1900 00

A plumber named Stevens, who attends Bethany Chapel, puts together a Gospel wagon featuring an organ, a literature rack, and an elevated preaching platform.

The dapper H.L Stephens (1874-1947) founds West Queen Street Gospel Mission. He is ably assisted by his evangelist mother, Eliza Stephens. In fact, the mission grows out of meetings held in the Stephens family home.

1901 1

The Mission becomes a branch of the C&MA through the influence of May Agnew Stephens (1865-1935), a former associate of A. B. Simpson’s, whom H.L. Stephens marries in

• 1902. It quickly becomes the most active

center of Alliance missions in Canada.

1903

John Hamilton, a lay leader at Bethany Chapel, establishes the Bethany Workingmen’s Home near the junction of Frederick and King streets. It houses and feeds 90 men until its closure in 1914.

Walter Oldfield of Severn, Ont. (1879-1958) joins West Queen Street Mission and later, with his wife Mabel (1878-1965), becomes a missionary to China, where he is indeed, at one point, kidnapped by bandits. The CMAC Archives has a collection of the Oldfields’ memorabilia from China.

1904 4

• Dr. Reuben Zimmerman moves to Vancouver to become the first

resident Alliance worker in Western Canada. He returns the following year to become pastor of the West Queen Street Gospel Mission.

1906 6

Toronto General Hospital expropriates the land on which Bethany Chapel sits. The congregation moves from rented facility to rented facility and its vitality wanes. John Salmon, their pastor, that year receives the gift of tongues, but, unlike many of his Alliance contemporaries, doesn’t join the Pentecostals. (John Salmon, ca. 1907)

1907 7

• H. L. Stephens becomes assistant

superintendent (to Zimmerman) of the Western Canada region and begins convention tours there. By 1911, when he resigns from the C&MA, the Alliance has branches in Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, and a number of other cities in Western Canada. Here he preaches a sermon on the text “only a cup of cold water.”

West Queen Street Mission relocates to a new 800-seat facility near Queen St. and Gwyne Ave. and is renamed Parkdale Tabernacle.

• A. B. Simpson preaches the dedicatory sermon.

1909 9

Salmon falls out with Simpson over the C&MA’s decision to try to acquire the title to as many Alliance church buildings as possible (because of the defection of many C&MA congregations in the U.S. to the Pentecostal movement). This move smacks too much of denominational control for Salmon. The last straw comes when Salmon’s house is expropriated. He retires, at 80, to southern California.

1911

John Salmon and daughter Winnifred in Southern California

• L. J. Long replaces Salmon as pre-eminent district superintendent of the

C&MA in Canada and pastor of Bethany Chapel. He leaves Bethany and becomes the new pastor of Parkdale Tabernacle on the retirement of Reuben Zimmerman in 1915, and Bethany goes into a steep decline.

Having been without a district superintendent since the resignation of H.L. Stephens in 1911, the branches in Western Canada fold one by one.

1917

One of the last photographs of John Salmon before his death was taken at the Alliance’s Central China conference in October, 1917. Salmon is flanked by Matthew Birrell (left) and R. A. Jaffray (right).

Salmon’s gravestone, Oak Hill Cemetery, San Jose, California

A frustrated L. J. Long resigns: he finds it physically impossible to maintain contact with the branches under his jurisdiction. Moreover, the Great War and the decision of many gifted young men to become missionaries have many pulpits vacant.

1918

Notice of A. B. Simpson’s death.

1919

• A. B. Simpson’s funeral procession. Nyack, N.Y.

• A. W. Roffe replaces H. L. Long as superintendent of the Canadian
• work. The Alliance now has eight active branches left in Canada,

five of them churches, and only one of them is healthy.

Almost all of the slides used in this presentation have come from the photograph collection of Lindsay Reynolds (1920-2005); and almost all of the text is based on the first part of his definitive history, Footprints: The Beginnings of The Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada (1982). (Lindsay Reynolds, 1982)

The History ry

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Paul Rader (1879-1938) becomes president of the C&MA on the death of A. B. Simpson. He resigns in 1924.

1919

A.W. Roffe (1866-1947) serves as district superintendent of Alliance work in Canada from the Rockies to the Maritimes from 1919-1924.

A youthful Oswald J. Smith (1889-1986) becomes pastor of Toronto’s Parkdale Tabernacle (35 members), bringing with him his

• wn struggling independent congregation.

1920

Beulah Mission in Edmonton expresses interest in joining the Alliance and asks Roffe to provide them with a pastor. He sends

• J. H. Woodward (1895-1979).

Woodward informs Roffe of the great need of the largely unevangelized West.

• J. H. Woodward in the early 1920s.

1921

1920s threshing crew somewhere on the Prairies.

• A. W. Roffe and his wife make a 62 day fact-finding tour of Western

Canada during which he preaches 74 times. He comes away convinced that Western Canada, which has received more than a million immigrants since 1891, holds more potential for the Alliance than the well-churched

• East. Indeed, it needs the Gospel as much as “darkest Africa” does.
• A. W. Roffe travelling by dogsled.

Fred Francis, “F. F.” Bosworth (1877-1958) and his song-leader brother B.B. lead successful Alliance evangelistic meetings, centered on healing and the deeper life, throughout Canada and the U.S. Their particularly successful meetings in Toronto in 1921 inspire Oswald J. Smith to erect a tent at the corner of College and Spadina Streets to conduct “continual revival” meetings.

• J. H. Woodward establishes the Great West Mission to take the Gospel directly

to isolated homesteaders. He starts off with four students from Nyack. Each receives only a horse, a blanket, and a harness, and must rely on the homesteaders for food and shelter. The 1923 team increases to four women and six men.

1922

Saddlebag evangelist Ed Cross in 1926, the year of his death.

Oswald J. Smith convinces his congregation to build a new building, the Alliance Tabernacle, (at the corner of Christie and Bloor Streets) to “institutionalize” the Bosworth revival. Popularly known as the Christie Street Tabernacle, it is barn- like, un-insulated, and poorly heated; but it seats up to 2,500 and is often filled. It hosts many large missionary conferences from 1922-1926.

The Cleveland Colored Quintette perform at the Christie Street Tabernacle and accompany Oswald J. Smith and A. W. Roffe in their convention ministries for 18 months.

Margaret Connor (1876-1962), too frail for missionary service, turns her attention to the Canadian west in 1918 and starts planting churches. By 1923 she’s planted four, assisted by the singing duo of Elva and Clysta Stephenson. She then makes a deal with A. W. Roffe, her former pastor: she’ll bring her four churches into the Alliance, if he provides a pastors for them so that she can move on and do more church planting. Roffe accepts.

1923

Margaret Connor Elva and Clysta Stephenson

Elmer B. Fitch, former pastor of the Gospel Tabernacle, New York City, accepts a call to

• versee the Alliance’s work in Ottawa. Like

many other Alliance churches of the period (e.g., the Owen Sound church), it has come to birth as the result of an extended missionary convention. In 1925 the congregation erects a 2,500 seat building in an attempt to replicate, in greater comfort, the Christie Street Tabernacle.

1924

In September 1924 the C&MA’s national training school, Canadian Bible Institute, begins classes in a building adjacent to the Christie Street

• Tabernacle. The curriculum is based on that of the Nyack Missionary

Training Institute. Oswald J. Smith is one of the adjunct faculty. Twenty-nine students from various parts of Canada enroll.

Canadian Bible Institute, with the Christie Street Tabernacle on the left.

Cover of the program for the graduation exercises of CBI, 1928.

• E. Ralph Hooper, principal 1925-1929.

• J. H. Woodward becomes Roffe’s assistant. He begins to de-emphasize

saddlebag preaching because it is less likely to generate money and volunteers for Alliance missions. Instead, he wants to evangelize cities and towns before the (very aggressive) cults do. Enter the Gospel car, forms of which are already being used by both the Anglican Church and the Salvation Army. It can get from town to town quickly, carry a tent and other supplies, and even serve as sleeping quarters. Constructed on a one-ton Ford truck chassis, the custom- made vehicle costs the Alliance $1,060.00 in the summer of 1924. The first crew consists of Gordon Skitch and Ed Cross.

The inscription on the rear of the car reads, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Gordon Skitch makes a sermonic point. Ed Cross preaching from the Gospel Car.

The crew of the Gospel Car talks to some seekers.

Crowds gather around the Gospel Car in a prairie town.

The Gospel Car begins to show its age.

One of the converts of the Gospel Car ministry is Reuben Pearson, a self-taught radio technician. J.H. Woodward installs him in a basement room of his house in Edmonton, and within three years Pearson has set up a radio station. Woodward begins broadcasting Gospel messages in 1927. From that point on radio will play a significant role in the growth of the C&MA in Western Canada. Some of the larger Alliance churches will later have daily broadcasts—virtual continual revival meetings.

In October 1924 Great West Bible Institute opens in Edmonton under the direction of J.H. Woodward. The 1924 District of Canada conference grants him approval only for “study classes,” but Woodward soon concludes that only a full- fledged Bible school can provide adequate training for his workers. So the school comes into existence without the approval of General Council, the Board of Managers, the Home Department, or the District of Canada. Ten (later 18) students enroll in the first year. Margaret Connor serves as superintendent of women and instructor in evangelism.

The faculty and students of Great West Bible Institute, ca. 1925. This location, the school’s second, is a former nurses’ residence. J. H. Woodward is in the front row, sixth from the left.

Catalogue of Great West Bible Institute for the 1925-1926 academic

• year. The institute has just moved

into new quarters in a former school building.

A.W. Roffe tries to bring B.C. into his jurisdiction, but the Board of Managers tells him that the province is more effectively administered from Seattle than from Toronto. In 1924 he conducts 28 missionary conventions, suffers a nervous collapse, and resigns as superintendent. During his tenure the number of active branches increases from 8 to 23. The C&MA now divides Canada into two districts: the Western Canadian District (Fort William to the Rockies), under J. H. Woodward, and the Eastern and Central District, under Oswald J. Smith. Smith resigns his pastorate at the Christie Street Tabernacle, and attendance at the church goes into a steady decline.

• H. M. Shuman (1878-1967) becomes president
• f the Alliance. Under his leadership missions

begins to overshadow salvation, healing, and the deeper life. He and the Board of Managers have come to believe that if the C&MA stresses

• verseas missions then home ministries will

automatically prosper. But most members of Canadian C&MA churches end up giving far more to missions, which inhibits church growth at the local level. The Pentecostal churches take a more balanced approach and make considerable inroads in the C&MA in Canada during the 1920s. Shuman and the Board of Managers begin to re-emphasize “home work” around 1935.

1925

Building on the (1923) evangelistic campaigns of Charles Price (c.1880- 1947) and the subsequent teaching meetings of T. J. McCrossan (1867- 1960), the Alliance establishes a church in Victoria, B.C. The Alliance also establishes churches in other major centers during the late 1920s: St. John, N.B. (1928—the first C&MA church in the Maritimes), Winnipeg (1926), Regina (1928), and Montréal (1926). One factor in this growth is the flight of conservatives from the newly-formed United Church.

1926

One of the polemical writings of T. J. McCrossan, whose teaching meetings play a critical role in the establishment of a C&MA church in Victoria, B.C.

• J. D. Williams (1870-1949) becomes

superintendent of the Eastern and Central District following the resignation of Oswald J.

• Smith. He re-emphasizes home ministries;

interest in missions remains strong.

1928

In the face of a decline in giving the C&MA’s Board of Managers

• rders the closing of both of its Canadian schools and two of its

American Bible institutes. In addition, it orders the Western Canadian District to sell the Great Western Bible Institute property, insists that Canadians attend American schools, and overrules further attempts to reopen the two Canadian schools. J. H. Woodward is devastated.

1929

The Western Canadian District conference in Winnipeg votes to create three part-time sectional superintendents to help Woodward: Gordon Skitch (Alberta), Gordon Wishart (Saskatchewan), and Elmer B. Fitch (Manitoba).

Gordon Skitch, who became pastor of Beulah Tabernacle in Edmonton in 1928. Gordon and Myrtle Wishart in 1929, during Gordon Wishart’s tenure as pastor of the Alliance Gospel Hall in Regina. Elmer B. Fitch, recently installed as pastor of Winnipeg Gospel Tabernacle.

Following the closure of Great West Bible Institute, the Home Department tells

• J. H. Woodward to abandon rural

extension work and to relocate to Calgary. Two years later, the Board of Managers tells him that the Western Canadian District does not generate enough income to justify having a superintendent there. He terminates the work of the Great West Mission and moves to the United States.

1931

• J. H. Woodward and his wife Flossie.

The Board of Managers amalgamates the Eastern and Central and Western Canadian districts under the leadership of J. D. Williams. In 1934 Williams becomes superintendent of the Pacific Northwest District and continues his Canadian superintendency part-time. He resigns from his Canadian responsibilities in 1936, having done a remarkable job despite his restricted involvement.

1932

• J. D. Williams appoints Marion Hull and Marguerite Railton to take over one of

Margaret Connor’s churches in Denzil, Saskatchewan. The work prospers, as does the Bible camp they take over—hundreds of people become Christians at the camp over the years, and many campers became ministers or missionaries. Hull and Railton move to Hythe, Alberta in 1941.

1935

Marguerite Railton and Marion Hull in Denzil, Saskatechewan, 1939.

Inside the big tent at Denzil Bible Camp.

David Mason becomes district superintendent of the Eastern and Central District. He favors the old policy

• f stressing missions at the expense of

planting and nurturing churches. Church growth in his district stagnates during his tenure (1935-1946). In 1930, the district has 23 churches, in 1947, 22.

Gordon Skitch is appointed “Board representative,” i.e., de facto district superintendent, for Western

• Canada. Despite numerous appeals on

the part of his district, the Board of Managers does not officially recognize him as District Superintendent until 1943.

1937

Gordon and Myrtle Skitch outside Canadian Bible Institute, Regina, in the early 1940s.

Future district superintendent Roy McIntyre, having established a church in Fort St. John, moves to Moose Jaw, SK, where he and his wife Evelyn begin a radio ministry that contributes greatly to the steady growth of the Alliance Tabernacle there. Their daily radio program, “Rock of Refuge” (later renamed “Tabernacle Tidings”) is broadcast over CHAB.

1939

• J. D. Carlson, pastor of Beulah Tabernacle from 1939 to 1944, also

uses radio successfully as an evangelistic tool. He broadcasts his daily program directly from facilities in the tabernacle. He later establishes a radio ministry in Calgary.

The founding of Canadian Bible Institute (Regina) Part 1:

George Blackett, pastor of the Winnipeg Gospel Tabernacle, becomes principal of Winnipeg Bible Institute (now Providence College and Seminary) in 1935. Disagreements with the board of WBI lead to Blackett’s resignation in April 1941. Blackett writes Willis Brooks, pastor of the Alliance Tabernacle in Regina, telling him he believes it is time to open an Alliance Bible school in Western Canada. Possibly on the same day, Willis Brooks writes Blackett about his own desire to see an Alliance Bible school established in the West, and offers to host it in the basement

• f his church.

1941

George and Lucy Blackett. George Blackett was the founding principal and dean of Canadian Bible Institute (Regina). Willis Brooks and family ca. 1944. From 1941-1945 Willis Brooks serves on the faculty of CBI, and his church hosts the school.

The founding of Canadian Bible Institute (Regina) Part 2:

Brooks and Blackett present their plan to de facto district superintendent Gordon Skitch. Skitch has the two men present their plan to the district conference, which gives its approval. Canadian Bible Institute opens on 1 October 1941, in the basement of the Alliance Tabernacle, with a student body of 50.

Premiere issue of The Messenger. Classes at CBI start a month after its publication. The Alliance Tabernacle, Regina. Canadian Bible Institute will hold classes in its basement from 1941-1945.

Second year class at CBI on the steps of the Regina Alliance Tabernacle,

• ca. 1942. Note the large number of women students.

An early CBI reception in the basement of the Alliance Tabernacle.

Negative consequences of the founding of CBI: The Eastern & Central District is alienated because: they weren’t consulted, they wanted to reopen their own school, the Westerners have stolen the name of their school, they consider it a case of one-upmanship. The Board of Managers (in New York) says CBI’s refusal to obtain permission violates policy. It waits four years before granting the school official status, and requires that CBI change its name to Western Canadian Bible Institute.

The newly-renamed Western Canadian Bible Institute moves into new quarters, the former Clayton Hotel, in downtown Regina.

1946

Note the “provocative” sign. Ever the dignified Englishman, president and dean George Blackett arrives for work at the new campus.

The Eastern and Central District sells the Christie Street Tabernacle and (former) Canadian Bible Institute property to buy an estate in the Muskoka district that will become Glen Rocks Bible Conference.

A view of Glen Rocks from 1949 showing the tent where services were held, the Manor, and Lake Rosseau.

Regina-based Mavis Anderson becomes District Sunday School Superintendent and Youth Secretary. She edits two periodicals, develops a standard curriculum, and initiates a training program for Sunday school teachers. In 1952 she becomes the National Sunday School Secretary (for Canada and the U. S.)

Mavis Anderson (with “regulation” head covering) teaching a (largely male) class.

1947

The Board of Managers decides not to establish a separate Canadian “agency” despite agitation for same.

1948

His health having broken, Gordon Skitch resigns as district superintendent and returns to the pastorate. During his tenure the number of C&MA churches in the district almost triples, to 64, and missionary giving increases six-fold. This growth can be attributed to Skitch’s leadership, aggressive evangelism (especially by means of radio), and the large numbers of prairie folk leaving the United Church in search of a “plain gospel.”

Gordon and Myrtle Skitch in Vancouver around the time of his resignation as district superintendent.

Willis Brooks, since 1946 pastor of 10th Avenue Alliance in Vancouver, becomes superintendent of the Western Canadian District, a position he holds until

• 1953. He convinces the Board of Managers to add Victoria and the Lower

Mainland to that district. A year before becoming superintendent he conducts revival meetings with A. H. Orthner in Abbotsford that lead to the founding of what will become the largest Alliance church in Canada, Sevenoaks Alliance.

1949

Willis Brooks in the 1940s. Shown here in the late 1950s,

• A. H. Orthner, co-founder
• f the Alliance work in

Abbotsford, would eventually become the superintendent of the Canadian Midwest District.

Nathan Bailey, superintendent of the Eastern and Central District since 1946, meets with George Blackett of Western Canadian Bible Institute, to try to heal the rift between the school and the East. The meeting goes well, and Bailey appoints three graduates of WCBI to pastorates in his district. In 1954, Blackett, now district superintendent in the West, invites the East to contribute 2 members to the board of WCBI. In 1955 the Eastern executive committee recognizes WCBI as “the all-Canada school,” and one year later General Council designates it the official school for Canada.

Nathan Bailey in 1960 , the year he became president

• f the C&MA.

Former Church of the Nazarene pastor Charles Templeton urges his former congregation, the newly independent Avenue Road Church, to join the C&MA. Under pastor Don Shepson it grows to become the largest church in the Eastern and Central District. A. W. Tozer becomes its preaching pastor in 1959.

1950

A.W. Tozer, not long before his move to Toronto to become preaching pastor at Avenue Road Alliance.

Recent CBI grad Bob Richardson wants to start a francophone work in Québec, but district superintendent Bailey tells him the C&MA is not ready for such an

• initiative. By 1956 Richardson has established a French-language Alliance church

in Welland, Ontario. Thanks to Jean Heidman’s prodding, the Alliance gives her, Mabel Quinlan, and Bob and Elise Richardson permission to try to start a church in Québec City. They soon establish la Mission chrétienne évangélique française, and the following year Heidman and Quinlan turn their attention to the city of Lévis.

Mabel Quinlan (top) and Jean Heidman do visitation work in Québec City during the early 1950s. Thanks to their efforts and those of their co-workers, the Alliance is able to establish a viable presence in Québec by 1966. The C&MA churches in Québec become the St. Lawrence District in 1983.

WCBI moves to a new thirteen-acre campus on the western

• utskirts of Regina. A year later it becomes Canadian Bible College.

1956

A publicity shot of Canadian Bible College in 1966, five years after the completion of the first stage of construction.

The first Chinese Alliance church in Canada is organized in Regina. The congregation calls Rev. Augustus Chao as pastor. This event marks the culmination of 30 years of evangelistic work by Ruby Johnston and her co-workers. As of 2012 the CMAC has 90 Chinese congregations in Canada.

1961

Pastor Augustus Chao (holding briefcase), Ruby Johnston (far left). Pastor Augustus Chao in the 1960’s.

Alvin Martin, president of Canadian Bible College, and faculty member Sam Stoesz begin conversations about C&MA graduate theological education in Canada. General Council authorizes them to develop a Canadian graduate school. Canadian Theological College opens on the CBC campus in 1970 with 20 students. The seminary changes its name to Canadian Theological Seminary in 1982.

1967

The new seminary building on the Regina campus, ca. 1981.

Alvin Martin, president of Canadian Bible College and Canadian Theological College 1958-1972. Sam Stoesz, co-founder of Canadian Theological College, author, and professor of systematic theology at the seminary until 1988.

The Home Secretary reluctantly permits the Canadian churches to hold their first Tri-District Conference. The goal of the gathering is to stimulate reflection on methods of evangelism appropriate to the Canadian context. The U.S. hierarchy is becoming increasingly uneasy at anything that smacks of Canadian autonomy.

Cover page of the proceedings of the first Tri-District Conference.

Factors contributing to the Canadian desire for autonomy:

• 1897. Dominion Auxiliary of the Christian Alliance is scrapped, resulting in decreased

autonomy.

• 1910. Canadians refuse to comply with the C&MA’s move to acquire title to property of

affiliate branches because it’s based on U. S. conditions (the incursion of Pentecostalism).

• 1912. C&MA constitution includes a “reversion clause.” No Canadian church signs it.
• 1920s. C&MA hierarchy sees churches as primarily a source for missionaries and funds

for missions, hence fails to capitalize on opportunities for church planting in Canada.

• 1930s. C&MA leaders show little concern for the evangelization of the Prairies and are

insensitive to the need for a C&MA Bible institute in Canada. 1967- growth of Canadian nationalism . 1960s and 70s. Last straw: U. S. insensitivity to Canadian home missions, especially to ethnic, First Nations, and francophone opportunities.

Ohio-based C&MA evangelists Ralph and Lou Sutera (“the Sutera Twins”) hold meetings in Prince George, B.C. The resulting revival strengthens evangelical churches throughout Western Canada.

1971

The “Canadian Corporation” of the C&MA becomes a legal reality (it replaces separate provincial charters) at the insistence of autonomy-wary president Nathan Bailey. In 1973 the Corporation becomes a member of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. Two years later, in response to Canadian demands, the Board of Managers appoints A. H. Orthner General Director of Canadian Ministries.

1972

A.H. Orthner around the time of his appointment.

The C&MA officially becomes a denomination. The Canadian districts hold their second Tri-District Conference. Among its recommendations: Nationalize home missions and ministries. Start a revolving loan fund to promote Canadian church growth. Found a Canadian Alliance periodical. Hold another Tri-District Conference. The participants are by now convinced that “nothing short of full autonomy [will] enable the Alliance in Canada to develop according to its own genius.” (Lindsay Reynolds, Rebirth, p.425-426).

1974

The directors of the Canadian Corporation meet with their American

• counterparts. The latter take an increasingly hard line against

autonomy, telling the Canadians that they have neither the financial nor the leadership resources to run a national church.

Walter Boldt, vice-president of the Canadian Corporation, ca. 1979 in the sanctuary of Circle Drive Alliance Church in Saskatoon. Roy McIntyre, president of the Canadian Corporation (with his wife Evelyn at the opening of the Christian Publications bookstore in Calgary in October 1976).

Nathan Bailey’s term as president of the C&MA comes to an end. Louis L. King replaces him. A former missionary, and a proponent of the indigenization of national churches, King is more favorably disposed to Canadian autonomy. At that year’s Tri-District Conference the delegates vote 87.6% in favor

• f autonomy. A year later General Council

ratifies their decision.

Louis L. King, president of the C&MA at the time of Canadian autonomy.

1978

The Canadian Corporation holds its first biennial General Assembly. On 1 January 1981 The Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada becomes an official entity, with Melvin P. Sylvester as its first president.

1980

Mel and Marion Sylvester on Mel’s accession to the presidency of the CMAC. Cover of the proceedings of the CMAC’s first General Assembly.

Arnold Cook becomes president of the CMAC.

1992

Arnold Cook, back row center, seen here in his student days, prepares to make his “maximum impact for God” (MIFG) at the expense of some hapless hockey opponent. Dr. Cook was the first person to be awarded a B.Th. degree at Canadian Bible College (1959). (Note the anachronistic name on the jerseys in this 1957 photo).

Franklin Pyles becomes the third president

• f the CMAC.

2000

Franklin Pyles, shown here with wife Gay, in 2003.

CBC/CTS moves to Calgary; CBC changes its name to Alliance University College and joins forces with Nazarene University

• College. In 2007 the two merge to form Ambrose University

College, and CTS changes its name to Ambrose Seminary.

2003 03

Ambrose University College moves to its new campus in western Calgary.

2008 08

Dedicated to the memory of Lindsay Reynolds, D.D. (1920-2005). Dr. Reynolds is the author of Rebirth: The Redevelopment of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada 1919-1983, which served as the basis for the text of this

• presentation. Most of the images used come from his personal collection, which

he presented to the Archives of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in 1998.

Lindsay Reynolds in 1982, shortly before the publication of Rebirth.