PRBI Summer Trumpet 2024

Summer Trumpet2024 Trumpet

Discipleship: A Core Value

Coinciding with our 90th anniversary celebration this past fall, we have explored in the pages of the Trumpet various themes from PRBI’s history. With this article, we bring our anniversary articles to a conclusion. It is fitting that this issue focuses on discipleship, one of our most dearly held core values. I want to address what discipleship looks like today and conclude with why we remain committed to it.

Informal discipleship was employed from the earliest days of PRBI, as reflected in these quotes: “I received many spiritual blessings through the study of God’s Word. Many truths were new to me. The walks we had to take to get fresh air and exercise became also a blessing, for we would memorize Bible verses. The verses learned then stayed with me” (Katherine Fast, 1936-1938). “It was at Bible School that I learned to love and appreciate books and the wealth of spiritual knowledge contained in them. It was just an opening to the possibilities that lie ahead in the

Kim Cairns President

field of study and research. I had my eyes opened to Bible exposition and the possibility that God might have me preach the Word” (Warren Larson, Grad 1965).

Students have been attending Bible School for decades, experiencing the transformative influence of informal discipleship. Multiple touchpoints of discipleship can happen throughout a student’s day. It might occur during a lecture they attend or while working on an assignment. I enjoy it when a student visits my office and begins with, “Can I chat with you about something that came up in class today?” Most often, the student is not looking to add to their knowledge, but to their learning. Learning is the core of discipleship, and as they wrestle with a concept from class, we can step into the moment with them to encourage and disciple.

We also have spiritual formation events like Chapel, Impact Week, Spiritual Emphasis Week, and Days of Prayer that offer valuable

opportunities for informal discipleship. When students look back on their school year, they often describe these events as truly lifechanging. In exit interviews, I asked our graduates, “What should we keep doing?” One responded, “Keep Days of Prayer; they were impactful for me.” Another said, “Keep prayer times in Chapel, as I appreciated having people pray with me and I learned how to pray for others.”

Informal discipleship opportunities also arise in more practical experiences. Staff facilitators have the opportunity to train students in life skills through Practical Work Experience (PWE). During these sessions, heart issues often arise, leading to spiritual conversations. We find similar opportunities in the area of sports. We encourage our staff to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading and to be ready to step into discipleship moments with our students.

We also have a formal program of discipleship, which has two components. The first is the Discovery Bible Study (DBS). On Tuesday mornings, four to five students meet with a staff or senior student facilitator to study the Word using the DBS method. DBS has been part of the global disciple-making movement for about 15 years. You can learn more at www.discoverybiblestudy.org or

www.dbsguide.org. In our context, all students study the same passage in their groups. DBS includes the traditional elements of discipleship: relationship building, accountability, study and application of the Word, and prayer. As a bonus, DBS is a method students can reproduce in their future discipleship relationships. Following the school year, some have shared how they put it to use in their summer camp ministries.

Peer Discipleship is practiced on Fridays as the second component. Each Peer Discipleship group is created by selecting two or three members from the DBS groups. The students have a list of questions that focus on encouragement and accountability. It is a time for students to share, pray, and walk with one another as they follow Christ.

Why do we continue to prioritize creating discipleship opportunities for students? We want students to both encounter Christ and make a positive impact in their churches and world. Discipleship has been used by God for decades to develop the moral virtues and practical skills of His people so that they can rightly love God and their neighbours. For this reason, it remains at the heart of all we do at PRBI! My prayer is that this will continue for many years to come.

College News

This year marked 90 years at PRBI and our students demonstrated an eagerness to learn, filling our campus with enthusiasm for learning and a desire to grow in their faith.

Our recent Open House event was significant, drawing in many prospective students for fall admission. The event provided an excellent opportunity for these potential students to explore our campus, meet our staff, and get a feel for the vibrant community we foster. We will be hosting another Open House on August 21, 2024 as a last call for fall enrollment.

We are in the midst of several exciting campus projects aimed at enhancing our facilities. A major renovation is underway in the Watt Memorial classroom building, which will modernize and improve the learning environment. Additionally, we are expanding the dormitory capacity in Ruark Hall. Essential repairs are also being made around the Ruark foundation, including excavation to fix weeping tile and blueskin issues, and we are reshingling the Ruark roof. In the administration building, we are converting the former bookstore location into a new classroom, further expanding our teaching spaces.

Jeremy Johnston Vice President

Looking ahead to the fall, we are pleased to report good enrollment numbers, with a notable increase in mature students, many of whom are joining us through our partnership with Rising Above. These mature learners enrich our community and bring a wealth of experiences and perspectives to our campus.

Our Learning for Life courses continue to offer our community educational experiences, with upcoming classes on End Times and Worldview this fall. Additionally, another round of the Alumni and Friends choir will be happening this fall in preparation for a our Christmas production scheduled for November. This event promises to be a festive and joyous celebration, showcasing the talents of our students and staff.

We are also working on a project to create a digital library of all PRBI yearbooks. Currently, we are missing yearbooks from before the 1954-55 school year, as well as the following years: 1961-62, 1962-63, 1965-66, 1966-67, 1969-70, 1971-72, 197475, and 1976-77. If you have any of these yearbooks, please contact the College.

Please join us in prayer for our upcoming school year.

PRBI’s Disciplemaking

The Peace River Bible Institute (PRBI) has always prided itself in preparing the next generation of students through discipleship. The early emphasis of the College was on equipping pastors and missionaries for the ministry, whether at home or abroad. In this mix of training young people for ministry, PRBI taught students how to become disciples of the Word.

PRBI’s story of discipleship occurred with the backdrop of the rise and fall of student numbers. In all likelihood, the most notable student declines developed in the 1960s and 1980s. The declining numbers and a change in presidency in the late 1980s, from Rev. Harold Peters to Mr. Reuben Kvill, prompted the Board to encourage Reuben to re-envision the direction of the College.

During the early winter Board meeting of 1990, Reuben presented the vision “to make disciples” of every student for the service of Jesus

Waldie Neufeld President 2007-19

Christ, whether sacred or secular. The Board accepted this direction, encouraged this emphasis in the hiring of faculty and staff, and set up a committee to formulate a new vision statement. The committee was comprised of Reuben Kvill (president), Robert Peters (Board member), and Sharon Neufeld (development director). After much reflection and deliberation on Jesus’ Great Commission, the following statement was proposed and accepted: “To train believers to become servant leaders (later revised to disciplemakers) who know God, model His character, and are able to build into others the life-changing principles of God’s Word” (Mt 28:1820). The development of this vision happened over several years and through numerous discussions with Board, faculty, and staff.

One of the challenges was defining the word discipleship. With its overuse, the word conveyed many things to many people. The

word had become too elastic. The struggle then was to employ another word that reflected the importance of a relationship with God, spiritual maturity, and the ability to build into others God’s principles of life. The College settled on the word “disciplemaking,” but often utilized the word “spiritualmentoring” to flesh out the emphasis on spiritual relational growth. In the past, discipleship frequently meant a student had become like their religious culture, whether Baptist, Alliance, Evangelical Free, Mennonite, etc. PRBI’s emphasis was on a growing relationship with God, maturity in faith, and the ability to lead others in the same direction (2 Tm 2:2).

To this end, the College developed a practical philosophy of disciplemaking. All facets of PRBI sought to incorporate the disciplemaking thrust in their area, whether hiring, classrooms, assignments, dorms, sports, Youth Alert, gratis/PWE, recruiting, etc. The College also sought to bring faculty and staff on side. Each staff person was required to integrate the disciplemaking thrust into their area of responsibility and student interactions. To help accomplish this, we hired Mel Reimer to assist PRBI in incorporating disciplemaking in every area of the College. This coordinated and allencompassing effort soon started to

have an effect. The College began to see a turnaround in student numbers as we focused on their spiritual maturity

This practical philosophy led to some revisions in titles, structure, and values. It quickly became evident that changing titles affected positive change. PRBI adjusted the terminology of their small groups to “Care Groups” and “Care Leaders,” shifting the focus to care. Further, rather than just having the Care Leader under the mentoring of Student Life, each faculty/staff person mentored one or two Care Leaders. We refined the process over the years but began with faculty/staff giving direction to Care Leaders and their Care Partners. Values were some of the more difficult aspects to change and ingrain, which naturally were easier to instill in new people, but many long-termers in time became convinced and adopted the values as well.

PRBI centred itself on five values: strong Bible-based academics, strong interactive mentoring relationships, people as integrated wholes (head, heart, and hand), community fostered spiritual growth, and a quality affordable education that involves the student on and off the campus. Each value found its way into every aspect of

the College and the service of each faculty and staff person. The impact of the values in student lives came through in their service, especially during their third and fourth years. They were increasingly involved in leadership roles, whether in student life, student leadership, Youth Alert leadership, etc. PRBI could assess the College’s values simply on the basis of how many students were involved in leadership and their effectiveness in leading.

One of the curious upticks of the new vision was a great reinterest in missions. Though the focus shifted from primarily preparing pastors and missionaries, the disciplemaking thrust began producing pastors, missionaries, and active workplace Christians. In the early 1990s, PRBI produced pastors but no four-year mission grads. By the late 1990s and

throughout the 2000s, PRBI became a hot spot for mission reps. So, the effect of training disciplemakers was a resurgence of pastors and missionaries, but many others also found ways to impact their workplaces for Jesus.

Historically, PRBI has always trained leaders, whether at home or abroad. Each generation of PRBI leadership has tackled afresh how to impact the new generation coming to PRBI for Jesus Christ and His Great Commission. The message remains, “Go make disciples,” but the methods will vary. May Jesus bless the new generation of leaders of PRBI as they employ state-of-the-art methods, while also re-envisioning the old, in order to spread the age-old message of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, to go and make disciples.

COURSES

Training of Students

Crawling up on the train platform and caboose in Sexsmith is a regular occurrence when walking through town with my five- and three-yearold. As often as we do, I find myself picturing a suit-clad PRBI graduate from yesteryear clutching a trunk and bound for some exotic ministry posting. This image is shaped in large part by a photo I walk past every day of Wilf Johnson doing the very same. I am too young to naturally associate trains with ministry but the image of a young minister wearing a smart, serviceable suit resonates with me still. The train imagery is embedded so firmly in PRBI’s historic mandate that when it came to rebranding the sports teams a few years back, a train logo seemed like an obvious choice. Emblazoned on the chuffing train of our crest is the word “Impact.” While

methods, fashions, and phraseology may have changed with the times, the essence has not: that word – that drive – to impact our world captures the historic mission to train students to be ministers at home and abroad. You see, you never really can get away from that train when you come to Sexsmith!

As I write, our REACH missions team is less than three weeks away from boarding a flight to the province of Pampanga in the Philippines to minister abroad. It struck me in a new way a few years ago in our Introduction to Teaching course that learning by doing is still doing! Our students in the Philippines are far from seasoned professionals but their service is effective in the hands of the Lord of the harvest.

Jesus understood and modelled the integration of learning and doing as He trained His disciples (literally: “learners”) in the Galilean countryside. Even in retreat to a deserted place north of the Sea of Galilee, the crowds pursued Jesus because they longed for a shepherd (Mk 6:34). Over and against His disciples’ suggestion that the people be sent away to find their own meals, Jesus challenged them, “You give them something to eat” (Mk 6:37).

John provides a helpful insight as to Jesus’ motivation in the moment, adding, “But He was saying this only to test him [Philip], for He Himself knew what He intended to do” (Jn 6:6). This is one of many examples where Jesus encouraged His disciples to think for themselves –to take what they had been learning

from Him about the Kingdom of God and press it into action.

In Mark’s narrative, the feeding of the five thousand comes on the heels of another lesson Jesus had developed for His disciples. He authorized and sent out the twelve in pairs into the Galilean villages with a call for repentance (Mk 6:12). As evidence that the rule of God was truly present, He empowered them to cast out demons and heal the sick (see Mt 10:7-8). This was not merely a drill – or a “soft opening,” as it were. No, the message was vital and urgent. The stakes for the disciples and the villages were nothing less than life and death. In these days, well before Pentecost, the twelve functioned both as disciples and apostles, that is, learners and sent

Scott Butler Faculty

ones. Grant Osborne captures the picture of Mark 6 well when he highlights, “being a disciple means being involved in Jesus’s ministry as well as learning his teaching.”1 Like our young students headed to the Philippines, doing is the training.

Perhaps the most memorable training Jesus’ disciples received was not beside the Sea of Galilee but on it. It was there that seasoned fishermen beheld in striking ways the majesty of their Lord and His call on their lives, seeing Jesus calm the sea with a word (Mt 8:26) and even invite one of them to walk upon its waters (Mt 14:29). Here they saw the One from whom living water flowed and under His employ became not simply fishermen but fishers of men (Mt 4:19). Afloat on a sea, these men stood at the mouth of the river envisioned by Ezekiel centuries earlier: a river originating at the very Temple of God, flowing with fresh – indeed living – water from which there would be very many fish (Ez 47:8-9). Embedded in Ezekiel and Jesus’ rich metaphor is this key principle: growth is a process of inflow and outflow. Underscored again is this notion that doing is training. Unlike the dead, stagnant Salt Sea to the south, the Sea of Galilee had water going in and water going out. A sea, yes, but alive like a river. So it is with all growing disciples of Christ: the life flowing in must also flow out. What Christ has

done for you, so also do for others (see 2 Co 1:6, Ph 2:1-2). As surely as those who love the Lord feed His sheep (Jn 21:17), ministry at home or abroad is the healthy outflow of biblical training.

Matthew Stobbe’s daily commute as a pastor in Dawson City could very well include a boat ride on the mighty Yukon River. We both stood in my office late this last semester, shaking our heads and grinning at the many peculiarities to ministry in the North, as Matt shared the details of his recent candidating weekend. He and his wife Micah and young son Josiah are set to take up their first pastoral ministry assignment in a place that is not technically abroad but feels like it in many ways. Though he will not board a train, he has been trained. His next steps follow a senior sermon preached in Chapel where, as a suit-clad young minister, Matthew compelled fellow disciples to know their Lord and preach Him. Matthew is a learner and a doer – a disciple now quite possibly standing on a boat! He forms in my mind part of the living record of PRBI’s efforts to transform, energize, and impact the world for Jesus Christ.

1 Grant R. Osborne, Mark, Teach the Text Commentary, 99.

Statement of Operations and Budget

July 2023 - April 2024

CHRISTMAS PRODUCTION NOV 22 & NOV 24

YOUTH ALERT MARCH 6-8, 2025

MONTHLY GIVING

BE A PRAYER PARTNER

REFER A STUDENT

Peace River Bible Institute is recognized as a degree-granting Bible College by the Province of Alberta. Building on Christ as our foundation, PRBI values Biblical Training, Authentic Relationships, Kingdom Service, and Strategic Partnerships. Our vision is that every student encounters Christ in ways that transform their life, energize their church, and impact their world. We are a Bible College for Life!

For more information on our Mission, Vision, and Values, go to www.prbi.edu.