Patterned after the former Lutheran Bible Institute in Minneapolis (founded in 1919), AFLBS began in 1966 with 13 students. AFLC church founders sought to establish young Christians in the Word of God before college and help believers to "win, build and equip" workers in local churches

The Bible school grew slowly: from 35 students the next year, to 65 in 1970, up to 95 ten years later and growing to an average of 105 through the 1990s. Most of the students came from Free Lutheran fellowships in the Midwest – and most between the ages of 18 and 22.

Rev. John Strand was the first dean, followed by Richard Snipstead (1968 to 1974), Ken Moland (1975 to 1984), Donald Greven (1985 to 1996), James L. Johnson (1996 to 2006) and newly elected dean Pastor Joel Rolf in 2006.  Faculty members have included an average of six full-time instructors – born-again pastor/teachers who taught also at the Free Lutheran Seminary – and up to 15 part-time Bible teachers from regional AFLC churches.

Today the Bible school experiences unprecedented growth.  Enrollment has increased from 102 in 1996 to 145 by 1999 to nearly 200 by 2002. Approximately 25 percent of AFLBS students come from outside of AFLC churches and youth ministries. Several open doors recently brought outstanding Bible students from Latvia, Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Brazil. About 80 percent of AFLBS graduates go on to complete four-year degrees at other colleges and universities.  AFLBS is pleased that several schools offer exceptional credit transfer – including Crown College, Northwestern College of Roseville, Minn., Concordia University of St. Paul in the Twin Cities area, as well as such well-known Christian colleges around the country as Moody Bible Institute, Concordia-Irvine (CA), Seattle Pacific, and Geneva College in Pennsylvania. Several public universities have also offered credit transfer.

Regardless of college credit transfer, two years of Bible study at AFLBS brings a life-long value (as does the third-year program of ministry preparation offered at the Ministry Training Institute on campus). In Isaiah 55:11, God says that His Word "will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire." Studying the Bible and cultivating life in Christ brings great fruit, says AFLBS Dean James L. Johnson, who studied here in the early 1980s.  "I came out of Bible school renewed because God's Word made me new," Johnson said.  "I have given 17 years of my life to secular study, but two years of Bible study made all the difference."