Institutional Assessment

Prairie Conducts Institutional Assessment

July 27 , 2009

A few months ago Prairie’s leadership (Board and Administration) was presented with a series of opportunities that would forward the mission to which Prairie is called. These offers were not sought out by us, but came to us unbidden. Each opportunity was independently interesting, but the convergence of several of them together created a situation that warranted serious thought and attention.

These opportunities together offered the ability to expand our vocational training programs and to significantly improve our cost structure. These improvements could then in turn be channelled back to support the students preparing for ministry through the Bible College well into the future. The difficulty was, for all of us, that they required us to move the school to a new community.

Our leadership firmly believes that the school, our property and all of our resources belong to God for His purposes. We also believe that it is the role of leadership to courageously determine God’s leading for Prairie and that we must be open to a fresh vision of what He wants for us.

These are challenging times for providers of biblical education. Many of our companion Bible schools and colleges have undergone wrenching change in the past few years. Several have moved, some have merged and many have closed. Sadly, one local example is Taylor in Edmonton who had to discontinue their University College program earlier this year.

Prairie is in a sound position. We have no debt, our finances are strong and new student enrolment trends are encouraging. Still, the leadership believes that we must take seriously any options that would make our program stronger and more viable for the future. We believe that it is the burden of leadership to perform due diligence and operate in sound financial responsibility to our students and supporters. For that reason, the leadership is undertaking a comprehensive review of the situation.

Our leadership team is looking at every possibility as to whether it is best to stay or to move and we have not reached any conclusions on which option is God’s best for Prairie. There is much more work to be done to determine the full long term feasibility of either option. We cannot pre-judge the outcome. While the option of moving is certainly disconcerting to all of us, failing to respond to the call of God, where ever that leads is equally troubling.

This is a serious decision for the Prairie community and we are looking at it carefully and listening to what our staff and advisors are telling us. We are asking for prayer as we diligently seek God’s will in this matter.

For more information, contact

Prairie Bible Institute

Box 4000

Three Hills, AB T0M 2N0

403-443-5511

Prairie is a leading Canadian centre of higher education for Christians. We equip students to achieve their life, ministry and career purposes and to fulfill their role within the Body of Christ.



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