Going West... Day 2

On Monday morning I drove to the scenic village of Harrison Hot Springs to meet with Matt Duffy, the chaplain and UCM Director at UBCO, the University of British Columbia of the Okanagan. HHS is partway along the road to Kelowna, and he was kind enough to come much more than half way to meet me.

Matt is a wonderful blend of maturity, passion and wisdom along with a creative drive tempered by profound patience. He and I roomed in Dallas about four years ago for a campus ministry conference, and I quickly grew to respect and appreciate him. As we met at the Hot Springs Hotel, three hours blew by before we knew it and we had to call it quits.
Matt is someone who is able to build bridges between churches and who has had a real impact on the actual institution of UBCO. He does more than relate to students. He connects with faculty and administration, many of whom actively seek him out because of his servant heart and wisdom. He has established a great deal of trust with the senior administration. In short, he uses the Chaplaincy model to great effect.

He has a solid UCM student group which he mentors and disciples. They have a strong small group thrust and he works extensively with the leadership to give them the necessary knowledge, skills and tools to provide leadership to their peers. He also has a Sunday night service where he loves to steer from the rear. This is very much a service by students for students, right on the campus.

Presence on the campus is a very important part of Matt’s philosophy of ministry. It could be called a ministry of “presence” or another word for it would be.. “incarnational”. Whatever it is called, it involves addressing the university in a wholistic fashion rather than as a fishing hole.


Then it was back to Abbotsford. Later that afternoon, I met with John Engels, the Director of BC Campus Ministries.  

We both met with  pastor Jeremy Postal, an associate pastor of Christian Life Community Church in Abbotsford, right at the base of the mountain upon which Summit Pacific College is situated. Jeremy has dedicated one day per week to the University of the Fraser Valley ( UFV). This is a great example of both Church based ministry and Club Ministry. Jeremy has reported that there are several dynamic students who are picking up the mantel of student leadership and taking UCM forward in a positive direction. The group is thriving.

The previous BCCM  UFV campus worker, Jayme, served the vision well by obtaining club status for UCM. As it turns out, there are and will apparently never be any other Christian groups allowed on campus. As the UFV reasons, there is no need for redundancy. UCM will be the representative for Christianity on campus.

That is not something we take lightly. We have taken an approach of servanthood, providing the people who live on campus with a pancake breakfast on Thursdays. It has proven extremely popular and has earned the good will of groups on campus who are usually hostile to classical Christianity. UCM is enjoying a rare atmosphere of grace and goodwill. We are determined not to squander it.

As it turns out, there is another group who has targeted the campus as the location of a church. We are not sure how that is going to turn out, but they are meeting with UCM to see how they can work together.

Following our meeting, John took me to tour UFV, which is a going concern. There are about ten thousand students attending the Abbotsford campus, which has a cluster of buildings and a large residence right near the Highway. It is great that we no longer have to meet with students 'below the radar' in the cafeteria, but that we are able to book proper facilities and properly serve the university community.

John phoned home and cleared my coming home with him for dinner with his wife Nancy and family. It was a real treat. John is a solid, wise leader who has steered BCCM into a very bright future. Make no mistake, he is not without real challenges. Leadership succession and credentialing weighs heavily on him, but he has been able to see the various campus ministries grow and mature under his leadership. I am reallllly glad that he is at the helm. I believe he has a vast amount to share with the rest of the country. I also believe that BCCM can provide a working prototype for other districts, as well.