Columbia Bible College
Columbia Bible College (CBC), Abbotsford, B.C., is proof, said president emeritus Wally Unger, that “where there is a vision, people will support.” As part of that vision, Columbia’s faculty “didn’t teach students for information,” he said, “we taught them for transformation.”
CBC celebrated 75 years at a banquet on Oct. 22, attended by 485 guests. Alumni from each decade stood up and were recognized in turn – there was even one representative from the 1930s. The dinner capped a day-long program of events, including a tour of the new residence hall, built with enhanced safety and community in mind. Alumni came from all over B.C., Alberta, and elsewhere. Rudy Baerg, who retired after a 30-year term as Columbia’s music director, came back from a new posting in Ukraine to lead the alumni choir.
Unger, a long-time servant of CBC, was keynote speaker. He thanked college supporters, faculty, and alumni “for letting me serve you” for more than 40 years (many of them as president).
He offered four guideposts to keep the school on track for the future. First, continue to keep the Bible central, stressing biblical literacy in an era of resurgent atheism.
Second, maintain and teach ethical integrity, wedding theology to ethics in how we live and act as Christians, being distinctive in a secular society.
Third, give priority to doctrinal faithfulness, grounding teaching on biblical principles, and remembering balance to ensure doctrines of sin and heaven and hell aren’t lost from the picture.
Fourth, he urged the CBC community to remain culturally relevant. We must understand the culture and relate to it, he said, “but do so while we also guard our Christian values.”—BMc
Sarah I. Martens, a 1956 alumna, celebrated CBC’s diamond anniversary with fond memories. Originally from Black Creek, B.C., Martens travelled to the mainland to attend the school (then called MB Bible Institute) from 1953–1956, and was part of the first graduating class at the Clearbrook campus location. When asked about the value of her Bible school training, Martens said, “It gave us a good understanding of God and how he works. It also helped us get into the Word – we did lots of Scripture memorization, and the Lord would bring those verses to mind years later.” Martens also reminisced about the many extracurricular opportunities she found: outreach in care homes, child evangelism ministry, and choir performances in various churches.
But leaving for Bible school as a single 25-year-old – much older than the typical 18 or 19 – wasn’t an easy decision. “People would say, ‘All they’re going for is to find a husband.’ So I didn’t want to attend. Then, after my friends came back from CBC, I made a decision. I said to myself, ‘I don’t care what they say – I’m going!’”
For this bold woman, being part of the CBC community was a “character building” adventure. And today, the school offers a similar adventure to hundreds more.—LK
