Kelowna Bound

I landed in Kelowna on Sunday, October 3, and spent the afternoon hanging out with Matt and Sandra Duffie. Matt is the chaplain at the University of British Columbia at the Okanagan ( UBCO). Matt and Sandra are a team and it is great to see how she weighs in with the ministry on campus.

Over an early dinner, Matt and I had a deep ecclesiological discussion of what church actually is and what it means to be the church on campus, without taking on the structural obligations of being an institutional church. That is why I am grateful for the flexibility we have at Campus Mission Canada when it comes to defining and responding to our mission to being church without having to “be a church”. As I like to say, church is a noun. I also consider it to be a verb. We do church. We church.



As mentioned in a previous blog last year around this time, Matt is both the director of University Christian Ministry (UCM) at UBCO and the chaplain to the university. He has a strong ministry of presence within the university, among students, faculty and administration. He also works at equipping student leaders and developing reproductive community. I once wore both hats myself, at UBC. Most of my time was with UCM which was student run, although it was strongly ‘staff led’ or guided. The level of connection and engagement with the university community in general and with students in particular simply cannot be matched by a church luring students offsite.


They are both excited and pleased about the addition of James Perraux from the UCM at UBC to their staff. Matt , with tongue in cheek, said that because they were the “lowliest of the low”, they were able to “get the top draft pick”. There is no denying that James ( who I will write about in the next blog) brings a lot to the table. He will make a strong ministry even stronger.


The student ministry, this fall, is off to a solid start. Not only did UCM have a good initial response ( they fed hundreds of students in the first week ) but there was a large group who signed for the retreat occurring on the second weekend. Normally, interrupting your second gathering of the year for a retreat could be momentum killing. However, this was not the case, here. It was , by all reports, a strong time of bonding – even if it was in the rain…

Setting Up in the Atrium

Pre-Meeting Buzz

 

When I hung out before the evening meeting, I found that there were many things that I appreciated, even before the event officially started. The atrium is a particularly nice venue for a service. It is a high, multi-level room complete with tropical plants. The acoustics are well suited for the ‘unplugged’ band – which by the way led worship simply and powerfully. I also enjoyed meeting the students who were friendly and engaged. I was surprised to find out how many of the group were engineering students.

Solid Worship

The room quickly filled up and buzzed with expectancy. Students were putting icing on cupcakes and opening boxes of Timbits. Sandra brought kettles to boil water and prepare coffee and tea.

I had an opportunity to speak to the group for their Sunday evening service. It may come as no surprise to those familiar with my past year that I took the opportunity to introduce them to my son, David, and the last words he posted up on Facebook. They present a challenge to live our lives for Christ.. now. The immediacy and the power of the challenge is hard to describe. It is a message that speaks right to the heart of the student. I had the satisfaction of seeing God work through pain and brokenness in the way that only He can do.

Matt facilitated a question and answer period afterward. The questions were honest and perceptive. The students were sharp and engaged.


There is a strong work, here. It has been well led and it will only get stronger in the coming year.