BURNABY, BC-"To say that God is dead on our university campuses is to not understand what’s taking place there, at least in B.C.," says Kelly Manire, pastor of The Point, a new church at Simon Fraser University (SFU).

Launched last March with monthly "preview" Saturday evening services, The Point moved to weekly services in October. Of the 60 or so people who showed up, Manire expects that more than half will keep coming back.

"I was hoping by this point that we would be a little farther along in [the ministry]," he says, "but we’re still building and preparing to do that better as time goes on."

Manire’s optimism stems from what many involved in campus ministries believe is a renewed interest among students in spirituality.

"There’s a spiritual revival of sorts that’s beginning to take place with a lot of young people," he says. "Students now are coming to campus looking for a spiritual experience more than ever before.

"Mind you, it’s very New Age and pluralistic. But it’s also giving Christians a foot in the door like maybe we’ve not had in the past."

Growing tolerance

Recent contributions to The Peak, SFU’s student newspaper, by non-Christians reflect this growing tolerance of religion.

"I may not agree with what other people believe, but that does not in any way make their beliefs any less valid than mine," wrote one student in September.

None of this surprises Outreach Canada president Murray Moerman.

"It is quite broadly characteristic of post-modernity and the emerging generation, where skepticism of all things institutional-government, business and the church-continues to be very high," he says.

This interest will persist, Moerman cautions, "if that spirituality can be self-defined and explored without any undue heavy-handedness on the part of Christians."

The Point is one of seven university churches affiliated with the Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists (CCSB) that have sprung up in the past three years.

And all of them owe their existence to a broad cooperative effort among Christian clubs.

"In Montreal, we asked Campus Crusade, Inter-Varsity and others, ‘If we can help you to reach your goals, would you help us to plant a church?’ And so the majority of the leaders are all part of other Christian clubs," says CCSB national student ministries consultant Salt Jones.

"But when they lead someone to the Lord, one of the first things they say is, ‘Won’t you consider [our church]?’"

On most campuses, Moerman says, if a church and a Christian club were to meet side by side, the unchurched student would not be able to tell the difference.

"If you pop your head into one room or the other, it still looks like 30 people sitting haphazardly on various kinds of furniture in a relaxed way," he says. "They’re both involved in Bible study groups, worship, discipleship."

A major impetus to locate more churches on campuses are record enrolments, says Manire. "What this means is a mad rush all over Canada to build new student residences, which creates even more of a need to bring church and Christ to them."

Experimental worship

Orthodox Anglican priest Paul Carter shares that vision. In September, he launched Immanuel Westside Church near the University of British Columbia.

Although the church meets Sunday evenings at a Baptist church, Carter-a Cambridge graduate and former British military chaplain-hopes to move on campus within a year.

Their worship style, he says, is "experimental.

"We make use of the best of our liturgical past whilst not being afraid to include elements that are more modern and different. For example the whole service is run through PowerPoint."

Carter adds such adaptations are essential to reaching young adults.

"There’s at least two generations now-not only the present 19 and 20-year-olds, but their parents-many of whom would never have been to church, apart from the odd wedding or funeral," he says.

Moerman hopes more churches will view universities as places to reproduce themselves.

"Youth for Christ and Navigators are also now very consciously planting [university] churches," he says. "I would love to see Campus Crusade begin to plant churches, as well as Alpha. Every Alpha group is a potential embryonic church plant."