Prairie Bible Institute now known as Prairie Bible College is the oldest Canadian Bible school and renowned around the world for its missionary training program. In its eighty-nine years, Prairie has sent missionaries to over 114 different countries. This ultra-conservative school was founded by L.E. Maxwell and operated under the motto of “training disciplined soldiers for Jesus Christ”. Sadly there were many who were deeply wounded in the process of making these soldiers.
Over eighty sexual abuse victims from Prairie Bible Institute have come forward. Many of them were staff kids who have horrific stories of abuse to tell: stories of extreme physical, emotional, spiritual and sexual abuse. We have contacted the administration of the school and asked them to bring in G.R.A.C.E. (Godly Response to Abuse in Christian Environments) to help us facilitate the process of making sure that all the victims are acknowledged and their stories heard.
We have been met with much opposition, stonewalling and hostility from the school and its supporters.
Prairie Bible Institute is located in Three Hills Alberta. The above quote is from a petition started by abuse survivors calling on the Institute to hire G.R.A.C.E., ”a private, non-profit organization that provides training, technical assistance and publications to assist the Christian community in responding to the sin of child abuse.”
The stonewalling of PBI administration is not surprising, many of the people in charge now were not part of the school when abuse took place. A Facebook group which was started in September also needs media who will listen to the stories of PBI abuse survivors with the hope it will move PBI leaders to start taking steps to address the harm former staff kids and students suffered while at the formerly independent fundamentalist school. The culture of shame and silence is over.
The Institute is in a transitional phrase and SwerveCalgary has an excellent article on PBI’s history, founders and shapers, conflicts, drama and struggle for relevancy in a changing world: For the Love of God
Facebook group: We Were Prairie Bible School Kids
Prairie Bible Institute
Linda Fossen
via: Blog on the Way
“Be sure your sins will find you out”
Any attendance at an evangelical church in my area and you’d meet people who attended PBI. Revelations of this nature ceased to shock me some time ago – and I’ve since gotten in touch with a friend to inquire as to personal experiences. I am sure she will be utterly devastated to learn of these allegations. Thousands of Christians are going to be impacted – and it isn’t going to do the cause of Jesus much good.
If you cheat on your diet and buy that Reece’s Pieces chocolate, you’ll get fat.
If you physically, emotionally, spiritually and sexually abuse people, you’ll go to jail, or get sued. It has nothing whatsoever to do with god’s judgement.
God didn’t stop this abuse – why would he wait so long to have it “found out”? Get serious Brano. Use your head.
Corrrection:”If you physically, emotionally, spiritually and sexually abuse people, you’ll go to jail, or get sued. It has nothing whatsoever to do with god’s judgement.
Repeat:”Be sure your sins will find you out”
This be sooner…This may be later!
Modern day vernacular…You reap what sow!
These would be universal absolute Truths
Prairie Bible Institute was a big deal in my CM&A background also. It was the largest bible school in Canada at one time and apparently the Facebook moderators are getting a lot of flack from some former students who don’t want abuse brought up and made public.
It will impact a lot of people – I wasn’t surprised there has been abuse, I was surprised former students and staff kids have the courage to speak out.
If you commit a crime you transgresses the law, but you are then, speaking of a different law. When God declares that transgression of the law is SIN, He is referring to the transgression of His Law. When mankind declares that someone has transgressed the law – is called CRIME.
Simply stated, mankind cannot punish a sin or sins, because SIN is an issue between God and man, not man and man.
God has NOTHING to do with this Brano. He ignored the problem – it became a legal issue.
and the case will not be tried in the church.
You are such a fish Brano … I could use candy for bait and you’d take it.
And you will know the truth, and that truth will set you free.”
You learn the truth when you set yourself free.
…..LMAO…Bon Chance!,Navel gaze away my priend
Just for shit,s & giggles could you extrapolate on this priendo…”You learn the truth when you set yourself free”
Psalm 137:9: “Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the rock.”
Maybe Brano, who I have never known to intelligently answer a single question in this blog, can use his biblical expertise to explain this scripture, and justify in terms of a loving and forgiving god, why he would advocate this.
….let us commence by doing a contextual,hermenutical,exegetical look at this single portion of scripture shall we amigo?
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Socrates would say that you can find the answer yourself….Bon chance!
The recipe for perpetual ignorance is: be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge.
-Elbert Hubbard
Would that be a self fufilling prophecy/reality amigo?
“Strange, indeed, that you should not have suspected that your universe and its contents were only dreams, visions, fiction! Strange, because they are so frankly and hysterically insane – like all dreams: a God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave his angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice and invented hell – mouths mercy and invented hell – mouths Golden Rules, and forgiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who mouths morals to other people and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man’s acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him!” – Mark Twain
1. A man has free choice to the extent that he is rational.
2. All the efforts of the human mind cannot exhaust the essence of a single fly.
3. Because philosophy arises from awe, a philosopher is bound in his way to be a lover of myths and poetic fables. Poets and philosophers are alike in being big with wonder.
4. Better to illuminate than merely to shine, to deliver to others contemplated truths than merely to contemplate.
5. By nature all men are equal in liberty, but not in other endowments.
8. How is it they live in such harmony the billions of stars – when most men can barely go a minute without declaring war in their minds about someone they know.
9. It is requisite for the relaxation of the mind that we make use, from time to time, of playful deeds and jokes.
10. Love takes up where knowledge leaves off.
Thusly, the ultimate source of imperfection is God himself. An imperfect humanity could have only been created by an imperfect God and Christianity does not allow for an imperfect God, so thus, God does not exist. He is a logical fallacy unto himself.
He stretches out the heavens as a curtain in the morning and the renewal of creation is at work daily. Going beyond what any human can see. Outer space with various heavenly bodies. Galaxies with their established orders. Oribits that maintain their relationships. Mankind limited, to see only part of the heavens, the other part given in word. Only He (God) commands the Heavenly Hosts.
Thanks for your support! I am a survivor of ten years of sexual abuse at the hands of my preacher father and spent seven years at Prairie Bible Institute. Please help these survivors get the acknowledgment they deserve and let every voice be heard. If you know anyone who was abused in any way at PBI, please have them contact me at http://www.LindaFossen.com We want to include as many people as possible in this process until every voice is heard.
Thank you so much for spreading the word. We have been a site marred by many many controversies, and recently with a survivor committed suicide. I am the Benjamin Chung, am the person making comments in the article “For the Love of God,” and the FB site “We Were Prairie Bible School kids…” I would like to ask your help to sign the petition and put pressure on the folks whose inaction causes more pain and suffering of our survivors. I cannot speak for everyone, but sat on the Board for a time, and a Prairie High School graduate now seriously considering agnosticism and free thinking, I do ask for your humanity shown to the victims. Regardless of what our opinions on faith and science, we can come together when there is atrocity done on innocent little children whose lives forever are changed after their molestations. Many have kept silence for the longest time, and now begin to speak out, but they are intimidated and harassed at every turn. I think the Institution is trying to keep things covered by seeking an in-house investigation, but at the end, the help victims will likely get is a shoulder to cry on and a few prayer meetings, may be in the direction of “reconciliation and forgiveness.” I am sure as atheists, you do believe more concretized steps should be take, compensating the victims, changing the patriarchal environment, and making policies to make sure this will not happen again. This will not happen, if the Institution is not ready to deal with its ugliest past. Or simply by buying more time, the atrocities continue and victims are victimized again. Please, spread this, help us by signing the petition. Thank you for listening and showing your humanity.
Pray and hope that something good will come out from this painful chapter in many people’s lives.
Hi Benjamin:
A few ‘atheists’ commenting at this site are westerners, well aware of Prairie Bible Institute, and who would be the first to stand with those who were abused and silenced.
I agree with you, a vague promise of in house review is not going to begin to address the years of neglect victims have faced and and asking qualified outside agency such as G.R.A.C.E. to come in and help will do a great deal to help abuse survivors and help leadership learn proper response so that this never happens to another person at PBI again.
I commend survivors for finding their voice and for their courage to press on.
Signing the petition is a way outsiders can stand with you.
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Why are so many “christian” people abusing children. Politicians, preachers, church leaders…they are all in the news.
Are more Christians abusing Christians? Or are the ways we are able to communicate and expose abusers more available to us?
What were closed communities (such as Independent Fundamentalist Baptists) opening up because people are able to get grievances and information out?
Interesting story. Is it true? Nothing empirical so far to indicate either way…BTW where can one see a list of the alleged survivors…what if there were only 8 instead of 80? Do you think that neither side in the matter has an image to protect, an agenda to preserve and mantain? Before we so hastily jump on the politically correct bandwagon of church bashing…maybe we should see some cold hard evidence. I’ve heard the school has taken all the allegations to the RCMP – I reserve judgement on the matter until I hear their report or until I see some actual evidence to support the allegations. Loose lips do not sink ships…torpedoes of truth are another story…
The Institute is not a church. As for a list of people who were have come forward about their abuse, perhaps you can contact the administrators of the Facebook page.
If the school has taken the allegations to the RCMP, then good for them. The police can do their job.
What if only 8 were abused instead of 80? We know what Jesus has to say about one, let alone 8 and what our responsibilities to that one or the 8 or the 80.
Abuse survivors will have to dig deep to take the next step. And that is taking it to the RCMP.
Disclosure has to start somewhere, and with abuse that occurs at institutions it most often starts when people share their stories. There will be other steps, this is a marathon, not a sprint.
In any situation like this, our responsibility is to evaluate what is presented to us and to determine, to the best of our ability, what is the truth of the situation. Many have asked for proof from the FB site, none has been provided except for a few anonymous posts. They have been begging for people to come forward to speak on radio and TV, why so, where are all these vicitms. There is no smoking gun, no crimson letter. Only a number of tales of hearsay and speculation. But no need for me to waste your time – check it out for yourself. If you can find some evidence I’d be happy to see it. Words can mean anything one wants them to, the FB group is alleging rampant abuse and coverup by Prairie – there have been thousands of students going through that school in the past 50+ years, a handful or even a score of tales of abuse does not provide evidence of rampant abuse or a conspiracy. Tragic as the few of those stories indeed are.
one more thing – why are the media not reporting any of these alleged abuses? Surely the secular media would be all over this story if it had any substance. Letters from the group members have been sent to the Calgary Herald and other major media outlets, yet a curious silence prevails. Is the influence of Prairie so great that these secular outlets are cowed into silence? Or is it more likely that they realize this story has no legs?
update – Calgary Herald story today :
Abuse claims hit Bible college
http://www.calgaryherald.com
RCMP are investigating allegations of abuse dating back several decades at a central Alberta Bible college.
removed at the request of the author – BD
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allegations are just that. who knows? or who really cares? nobody has come forward.
celine:
What do you mean no body has come forward? You’ve lost me, would you clarify?
Hello,
I see a lot of misrepresented facts about Priarie in this blog. I think the author needs to do some real research and contact the leaders at the college themselves. Prairie has wholly agreed to cooperate with any abuse victims and to help them overcome the horrific events of the past. As posted on their website http://www.prairie.edu/, they have also agreed to cooporate with the RCMP over this issue as well. The president and his wife, the Maxwell’s, have personally taken many calls from abuse vitims and heard their stories. As a student there for two years I have seen the Lord working in miraculous ways to transform the school. It is sad to hear of these stories and my heart aches for these people that have been hurt. As Believer’s of Jesus Christ we need to pray for them and also those who did the abusing so that all may come to repentance and recieve Christ Jesus. Slandering the school and the administrators of today in a blog will do nothing to unify the kingdom of God.
Please sir/ma’am, visit the website and talk to the Maxwell’s and hear the truth. Thank you.
Hi Roda71:
If you click the Prairie Bible Institute tag at the bottom of the post, it will take you to everything written so far.
I’d like to know how many abuse survivors have talked with the Maxwells. It kind of proves what people have been saying: that in 90 years a fair number of people were abused in various ways and have been silent.
PBI has no choice when it comes to co-operating with the RCMP. It’s the law, and taking the FB pages to them was not reporting. What the RCMP need to do in their investigation is up to them.
PBI did not consult with abuse survivors about Centre Street Church. It’s a take it or leave it proposition. While this church may be as qualified as PBI is presenting, there is not going to be an investigation.
How PBI presented their proposal (being paid for by alumni) is Ken Sandes Peacemaker model, which is taught in a graduate class at PBI. It’s a flawed model for abuse, Sovereign Grace Ministries used it for abuse situtations for years with disastrous results.
I’m interested in where facts have been misrepresented.
By all means tell me, and I’ll correct any errors.
I’d also like to know what you perceive abuse survivors asking for from PBI.
Hi Everyone!
I would like to announce that the Abuse Resource Network is now up and running!
Check out: http://www.abuseresourcenetwork.com
We are delighted to let you know that this website, which was an idea, is now a fact!
Brandon was busy posting and got it lookin’ pretty good. As you can imagine, there is more work that needs to be done, but it now has a framework and can be accessed for information in the following areas: Sexual abuse, child sexual abuse, clergy sexual abuse, spiritual abuse, and domestic violence. There are other related topics that will be available: biblical equality, counseling and legal information, and resources, which includes books and other helps.
You are invited to take a sneek peak! Your pals, Dale, Faith, Barb and Brandon
Abuse Resource Network
http://www.abuseresourcenetwork.com
This site was designed to be a resource available for people seeking information on abuse. Abuse covers a range of topics. The main abuse topics that are categorized and defined on this site include the following: