For people who don't have time to go to Bible College, Steinbach Bible College offers shorter evening courses in the hope it will build up the community.

"We've always had two different targets in our education here," says Layton Friesen, the Academic Dean at Steinbach Bible College (SBC). "One are the people who come to school here, the students who sign up for classes and take a degree. But we've also realized that over many years that the church needs Christian education in many forms." 

Layton started as Dean at SBC earlier this year in July. Previously he worked for the Evangelical Mennonite Conference.

"We have a lot to offer here in terms of teachers and professors who have a ton of knowledge. We're always looking for ways to, not only teach the students who come through our doors but also to offer the wisdom of our professors and teachers to the wider community."

SBC offers one-month intensive evening courses that run once a week. They also offer full classes over the course of a weekend from time to time.

"There are a lot of people who can benefit from classes on particular topics, that may not be up for doing a whole degree or just don't have that time. Perhaps they're in a different field and they just need to brush up on something. That's why we offer these courses."

One of the evening, month-long courses being taught right this September is titled 'Why So Many Denominations?'

"It's looking at the church and the fact that we seem to be split up between a lot of different camps, and there's more of them coming all the time," says Friesen. "To try and figure out, what is the Christian understanding, what is the Biblical understanding of this. Is it all bad? Is it just a sign of disunity or is it the multiplication of gifts in the church?"

SBC offers these evening and weekend one-off courses to any adults in the community. 

"We're wanting church leaders, business leaders, and people involved in the community to have a Biblical grounding in what they're doing. To be able to think Biblically about the questions that come to them in their everyday work. There is a need for us to understand the complexity of the world we live in and it's not always simple straightforward answers."

In January, SBC will be offering an evening course talking about what it's like to be a Christian in the workplace. In March they'll have a course on spiritual trauma. 

"What we need from leaders is people who have convictions but who will also have an appreciation for the complexity of the Biblical witness on so many of these things. We're striving to equip leaders to think theologically and Biblically about issues that vex us."