Nova Scotia travels...

did I mention "the middle of nowhere...?"

The next day, George was tied up in meetings and I hit the open road.

I was off to visit St Francis Xavier University. After driving an hour and a half from our district headquarters in Truro,NS,  I arrived at what seemed like the middle of nowhere. When I saw the university, nicely set on a hill with the town of Antigonish at its feet, the idea of a castle and burgh came to mind. In other words: A town forming at the base of a castle.

SFX entrance  

As I had heard, St Francis Xavier is a high class, nationally ranked university. It’s compact campus is neatly and classically designed with a “New England” architectural look and feel. It boasts of its high scores in student satisfaction surveys and uses its relatively small enrollment ( around 5,000 ) to its advantage in recruiting. I enjoyed the combination of architecture.

lower floor student centre

When I land on a new campus to ‘scout the land’, one of the first things I do is look for where students naturally congregate when they are not in class or in the library. In some places, like the University of Alberta, it is easy to do. In others, such as the University of Toronto, Mississauga (UTM) , it is much more elusive ( students seem to avoid the UTM student centre). However, I quickly found the student centre at SFX. While the main floor was not promising, its lower levels revealed a hub of student activity and its upper floors led me to the chaplaincy offices.


SFX, seems to have a relatively inclusive approach to chaplaincy and appears willing to embrace different forms of spirituality. While I tried to connect with the chaplaincy office, which is well situated and seems to be well run, there was no one there. The best I could do is leave a note of greeting. I plan to follow up on it.


Over the past several years, our PAOC church near the campus has been deeply involved with Xavier Christian Fellowship, on campus – but now it is in the midst of a pastoral transition. We will have to ensure that whoever follows this pastor has a missional heart towards the university. It is important to see that kind of involvement and connection again. Everything about the town and the campus sings "potential". I am praying that we will see it actualized.