P.E.I.'s Maritime Christian College moves entirely online

P.E.I.'s Maritime Christian College has stopped in-person instruction and moved its degree programs and certificates entirely online. 

Officials with the college say interest in full-time, in-class learning had been dwindling for years, alongside declining church attendance — and it was time for a change. 

"We say we're reclaiming the innovative spirit of the 1st century church for the 21st century," said Richard Jones, president of Maritime Christian College.

"The online format really allows us to serve a pretty diverse range of people who maybe have a full-time job and are doing this part time in different time zones," he said. 

The private college offers certificates, undergraduate degrees and, as of 2023, a new Master of Arts in Disciple Making & Ministry Leadership. 

New focus on online, part-time study

Jones said, as of 2022, the focus has been on part-time study offerings that anyone in the world can access, and there's already been a "dramatic" increase in enrolments.

"In, let's say 2019, we had four students that were taking full-time courses from us and we had three-part time ones," said Jones. 

"Now, we don't have any full-time ones, but we have 44 part-time students. So it's a pretty dramatic expansion in terms of the number of students, and the number of courses that are being taken."

Jones said students are accessing the courses from across Canada and the United States, and as far as the United Kingdom and Africa. With the entirely online format, there was no longer a need for a physical campus.

This spring, the college's 1.3 hectare property across from UPEI on University Avenue in Charlottetown was sold to the Gray Group. Now, the college's administration is run out of nearby Sherwood Christian Church.

"When I got involved with Maritime Christian College, the campus that we had on University Ave. was an asset that was very important to the way we were delivering classes. But just like many other things, we wanted to stay true to our mission but not be married to our methods," said Jones. 

He said now the emphasis is online instruction with small groups of students to help anyone interested in ministry thrive in modern times.  

We say we're reclaiming the innovative spirit of the 1st century church for the 21st century- Richard Jones, president of Maritime Christian College 

"The idea there is to help leaders of churches literally kind of transform their DNA from, 'Hey, this is what we did before when people were used to going to church and Sunday morning was reserved' to an environment where nobody even knows anything about Christianity," said Jones. He said the sale of the former Maritime Christian College building, alongside ongoing investments in online learning, will help the college continue to grow in years to come. 

"When you drive by, if you were used to seeing our sign and now it's bare out there … not only are we in business but we're certainly thriving more than we were just a few years ago," said Jones. 

200 units planned for former Maritime Christian College property

Officials with the Gray Group, the company that bought the former Maritime Christian College property, say the plan is to eventually redevelop that land for multi-unit housing.

"We're really looking at in excess of 200 units at this point," said Trevor MacLeod, president of the Gray Group.

"We felt it was underutilized based on the location, and with UPEI growing the way that it is, it is a prime opportunity to provide student-style housing." 

MacLeod said the hope is to have an application to submit to the city by the fall of 2023. The property would need to be rezoned and the company's plans will need to be approved by council and city planning staff. 

He said he's confident that the high-density development will be a positive addition to the area. 

"The (new) UPEI residence has set the tone for that and, as everybody knows, there's a severe housing shortage and we do need to densify properties these days in order to accommodate that need," said MacLeod. 

MacLeod expects it would still be several years before work on those new units would get underway. In the meantime, he said the company is exploring options to rent out the building's former dorm rooms.