A Singular Vision

For more than a century, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) has stood at the crossroads of faith and scholarship, a place where the authority of scripture and the transformative power of the gospel have shaped generations of pastors, missionaries, and theologians. What began in 1897 as a small institution in a church basement devoted to training ministers for what became the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA) found a new home in Deerfield, Illinois, in 1963. Under the leadership of Kenneth Kantzer, TEDS became more than a denominational seminary; it became a hub of evangelical thought, drawing faculty and students from across evangelical theological traditions. It was, in Kantzer’s words, “the Free Church’s love gift to the worldwide church of Christ.” Kantzer’s vision was always for TEDS to be a divinity school providing theological influence within a larger Christian university.

Meanwhile, on Canada’s west coast, a parallel vision was taking shape. The EFCA appointed a committee to explore founding a liberal arts college in Fraser Valley, British Columbia, with a clear mission—to develop godly Christian leaders. The dream finally took flight in 1962 when Trinity Junior College opened its doors, setting the stage for what would become Trinity Western University (TWU).

Since those first days, Trinity Western has held a unique vision for Christian liberal arts and sciences education in Canada. The first president and former EFCA missionary to Japan, Calvin B. Hanson (1962–1974), helped shape that early vision. By 1980, TWU sought accreditation as a full liberal arts university, driven by its original conviction that ministry could extend beyond the pulpit to classrooms, hospitals, courtrooms, and boardrooms. Succeeding Hanson as president, Canadian Free Church educator Neil Snider saw it as an opportunity to “elevate ministry training to university level” while preparing Christian leaders for a breadth of vocations.

By the mid-1980s, discussions of collaboration between TWU and TEDS took shape. TWU’s Vice President and Academic Dean Ken Davis envisioned “TEDS Canada,” a seminary deeply rooted in the evangelical tradition yet distinctively shaped by its context. Though those plans never fully materialized, TWU pressed forward, expanding its academic offerings while holding onto the dream of a theological institution with global influence. It stands today as Canada’s largest privately funded Christian university with nearly six-thousand students and a broad-based liberal arts, sciences, and professional studies curriculum.

Now, forty years later, that vision has found its fulfillment: TEDS has entered into a formal commitment to take steps moving under the auspices of TWU, a union that brings together two institutions with a common statement of faith and story of origin, as well as a shared commitment to training Christian leaders for the church and the world. As this moves forward, TEDS will become TWU’s seminary, all the while remaining steadfast in its mission “to train men and women to testify to the transformative power of the inerrant Word throughout the world while providing a critique of the competing ideologies that threaten the life of the church” (Dr. David Pao, Dean of TEDS). In a world that is ever-changing, the charge remains the same: to safeguard and proclaim the truth, to equip the next generation, and to reimagine theological education for a new era.

“At this time of both challenges and incredible opportunities in Christian higher education,” said Trinity International University President Kevin Kompelien, “I believe a school like TEDS will thrive best and accomplish our mission most effectively as part of a larger theologically and missionally aligned evangelical Christian university.”

“We cherish our longstanding connection with the EFCA,” said TWU President Todd F. Martin, “and this addition of TEDS to our university will only deepen that relationship. Through both in-person instruction and online learning, TEDS as a part of TWU can continue its mission to train pastors, missionaries, and leaders for Evangelical Free Churches and for the evangelical church across North America and around the world.”

EFCA Acting President Carlton Harris added that “TEDS has long offered the EFCA a training ground where leaders are developed for the local church and the mission field. Generations of biblically grounded pastors, leaders and missionaries who received training through TEDS have served the EFCA faithfully. For this, I am deeply grateful. TEDS will continue to impact our movement as we, the EFCA, Trinity Western University, and the Evangelical Free Church of Canada, pursue the Great Commission together.”

What began as two separate institutions, shaped by geography and history, has now converged into a singular vision: to prepare men and women for faithful, thoughtful, and transformative ministry in North America and beyond. The journey continues, but the calling remains unchanged.