Moody Bible Institute ( MBI ) was founded by evangelist and businessman Dwight Lyman Moody in 1886. The campus, located in the heart of Chicago on the Near North Side, has remained at the same location chosen by Moody 120 years ago. MBI consists of three major ministries: education, broadcasting and publishing. In 1886 D.L. Moody established the Chicago Evangelization Society, for the "education and training of Christian workers, including teachers, ministers, missionaries and musicians who may completely and effectively proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ."

In 1870, four years after opening a church on Illinois Street (the forerunner of today's Moody Church), Dwight Moody was introduced to Emma Dryer. Emma was a principal and teacher at Illinois State Normal University. Dryer was also deeply devoted to teaching the youth of Chicago about Christian doctrine and Scripture. In 1871, after a terrible fire which devastated much of the Chicago area, Moody began to simultaneously minister to the needs of those damaged financially and physically by the fire. Moody invited all the youth to his Church, and Dryer was invited to teach Bible Study classes to these masses of people. This fueled Moody's interest in educational purposes, which would later lead to the birth of the Institute.

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