Maritime Campus Ministry Convergence

The idea behind my trip to Nova Scotia was providing a context where our people in the Maritimes interested in campus ministry could learn about what God has been doing across the country through our movement and offering them an opportunity to think and pray about where they might fit into the unfolding story. Because there is an unfolding story. Since many in our movement work in relative isolation, it was encouraging for them to hear the stories and see how our C5 approach evolved along with how we implement it. It was encouraging for them to hear about how we contextualize what we do and find ways to make our efforts fit each situation.

Flying to Halifax, I decided to use a plane flight as a metaphor. It occurred to me to start ‘ take off’ by telling a bit about my own story and involvement with campus ministry for the past thirty years. That brought us up to cruising altitude where we had an opportunity to look at the breadth of campus ministry in Canada from the thirty thousand foot level and talk about the distillation of the C5 approach across the county.

Then we 'landed' in the Maritimes. Rev David Martin, our creative young Acadian pastor in Dieppe,NB talked about his ministry to the francophone University of Moncton. Haute Zone ( it rhymes with Ozone, and I butchered the pronunciation when I introduced him) is a great example of contextualized ministry that responds well to the unique needs and challenges presented by the specific institution.


We had a solid time of discussion regarding challenges in the communities represented and some of the campuses we would like to approach first. The Maritimes have a number of first class universities and colleges , many with churches nearby. The questions arose: How can we get the churches to engage the campus missionally? Would there be any willingness on their part to do it, if they have not done it already? Is it a matter of finding the right person or is it a matter of finding the right church? All I can say is that it depends. I am really happy that campus ministry is on the District’s radar and hope and pray that it can lead to constructive action.

Finally, I appreciated the opportunity to hang out with David Sawler - Church Planter and ministry leader who is putting Cape Breton Island ( the northern arm of Nova Scota) on the proverbial map. The author of "The Goodbye Generation" , Dave not only sees the need for campus ministry but for cooperative models of ministry development that transcend traditional denominational boundaries.

I also had breakfast with Jim Molloy, the ministry director for the District who introduced me to a gifted youth leader who is considering whether to engage a nearby campus in a full-time capacity over breakfast. That was an encouraging time.

Anyway, time will see.