Capital City Carleton U 1

I did a recon trip to Ottawa with two humble goals. The first was to make contact with two key paoc churches in Ottawa that are in a position to impact our nation’s capital’s two major universities, namely: Carleton University and the University of Ottawa. The second was to spend some time on the campuses in order to familiarize myself with them and to hear what God might say to me about them.


At present, we do not have works on either of these campuses, although Doug Stringer – represented the paoc at the U of O for the previous several years. I was hoping to touch base with him, but he indicated by email that he had moved on and that he wished me well. I am still hoping to debrief his experience with him.

Beginning with the campuses, here are some observations: Again, notes in a pad. It ain’t prosaic, but it captures my perceptions. It’s a bit of a download, somewhat scattered but still helpful.



Carleton.

• Spacious modern, nicely spread out. It is a similar size/age/feel as the University of Calgary.

• The University Centre… a nerve centre. Small Tim Horton outlets. The large atrium features Starbucks.

• Efficient typical maze of hallways leading into and out of the University Centre.

• Somewhat forced sense of community - not natural hangout or a place to relax

• Designed to gather and move crowds. The individual could easily become lost

• Concrete / glass / steel a soft brutalist design.

The reader might notice that I usually comment on the architecture. The fact is, it has a significant role in the overall student experience and their perceived needs - along with ministry programming. More on that another time.

• Bulletin boards reveal the soft curricula or the para-curricula. What is telling is that nowhere was there anything that reflects any notion that God has anything to do with reality. Not only related to academia, but student life. If one were to remove two random posters on Kabbala and Yoga, nothing else could be considered even covertly spiritual.