An Update On Maritime Christian College

Maritime Christian College is one of the few Restoration Bible colleges in Canada. The purpose of this article is to bring readers up to speed about Maritime Christian and the significant changes that started seven years ago and are still underway.

Maritime Christian College was founded in 1960 in the eastern Canadian province of Prince Edward Island for the “provision and conduct of religious and general education and the preparation of men and women for the Christian ministries and other fields of endeavour.” Since its founding in 1960, Maritime Christian College (MCC) sustains its Restoration heritage and has provided leaders for Restoration churches on the eastern coast of Canada.

Why Maritime Christian College Transitioned to Online Education

Canada as a nation has seen serious spiritual decline over the past 30 years. A widely-quoted study from 2019 indicated that less than 10% of the Canadian population attends a weekly religious service (See the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, “2019 Church and Faith Trends Survey,” https://www.evangelicalfellowship.ca/Communications/Research/2019-Church-Faith-Trends-Survey). Against this demographic backdrop, Maritime Christian College experienced a decline in enrollment from its traditional base of 18-24-year-olds taking undergraduate degrees in preparation for working in local churches. Despite many different outreaches to individuals and churches over that time, Maritime Christian continued to experience a decline in undergraduate student enrollment. By 2019, MCC faced an existential crisis.

Throughout that year, Maritime Christian College’s Board of Directors evaluated multiple options for the future. Discussions with Restoration Movement churches and organizations in both Canada and the United States added value and encouragement to evaluate the various options the Board considered.

In January 2020, Maritime Christian College announced a bold step to move all its future programming to an online delivery model. Instead of requiring students to attend class in person, students would be able to take classes from wherever they lived in the world. In conjunction with this new delivery model, MCC also announced it was re-aligning its focus from training 18-24-year-olds for local church ministry positions to educating and equipping followers of Jesus to become better disciple makers. This change in focus was in response to the need in the Canadian context of improving the ability of everyday followers of Jesus to become active and intentional disciple makers, right where they live, work, and socialize.

MCC’s January 2020 announcement occurred two months before the COVID-19 global pandemic hit North America. COVID-19 impacted the way universities delivered programs for the next several months. When the pandemic hit Canada, MCC had already hired an online learning expert and was well underway to offering its first courses in September 2020 using the new format and new disciple-making focus.

Expanding Disciple-Making Education Through New Programs and Partnerships

Throughout 2020 and 2021 the number of students taking online courses from Maritime Christian College continued to show a slow but steady increase. MCC was blessed to have strong collaboration emerge with two Restoration Movement organizations that also had a strong focus on disciple making. Renew.org and Real Life Ministries Texas helped MCC evolve its ability to develop new online courses and to provide qualified instructors to deliver those courses to students.

In 2022 Maritime Christian College celebrated the last graduates of its in-person Bachelor of Arts (Bible) degree and started offering a graduate level degree, a Master of Arts in Disciple Making & Church Leadership. This MA is targeted at students who do not have a theologically-oriented undergraduate degree, but who have come to a place in their life where the Spirit has convicted them to grow in their knowledge and practical application of being a disciple of Jesus who intentionally makes other disciples. It has attracted highly qualified students from around the world who have a non-theology focused undergraduate degree, but who are now leading in a local church context. For example, there a dozen highly qualified students from the Pastors Discipleship Network in Uganda who are working toward their MA degree. This MA program celebrated its first graduates in 2025.

Maritime Christian College has continued to modify its program offerings to encourage and support individuals and churches to step up to the commandment of Jesus in Matthew to “Go and make disciples of all nations.” In 2025, Maritime Christian College started offering Certificate programs consisting of three 8-week courses taken over a 12-month period. These certificates were developed based on feedback that believers in local churches still wanted access to Christian higher education, but they wanted a less-demanding format that fit their busy lifestyle better than a full undergraduate-level course. MCC’s online learning methodology and technology platform was a perfect fit for this.

Maritime Christian College’s Future Vision for Disciple Making

All these changes in the past seven years at Maritime Christian College started with faithful prayer and a deep conviction from the Holy Spirit in the hearts of a small group of leaders. In the September 2026 semester alone, the total number of students and courses being taken is equal to what MCC delivered during the entire 2020/21 academic year.

Maritime Christian College looks to the future with optimism and commitment to fulfill its purpose to educate, equip, and inspire disciples of Jesus. MCC’s plans will feature a continued emphasis on working with other like-minded partners where relational disciple making is at the core of their mission. These ministry partners are found all over the world, and MCC envisions an increasing emphasis on bringing together students from multiple countries into a single learning environment. Maritime Christian College has a strong desire to be part of a Holy-Spirit led disciple making movement in Canada that would see many existing congregations rejuvenated and many new churches planted.

Author: Richard Jones

President of Maritime Christian College