“Our hope was that it would set the tone for the year.”

Craig Macartney
Spur Ottawa Writer

The night was strangely still. It was the most peaceful Cristi Dagenais had ever seen the campus of Carleton University in the two years she has served on staff with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. The only sounds were the prayers and worship of students, pastors, and the united staff members from three different campus ministries.

“We had the Navigators, Power to Change, and InterVarsity. We gathered at Hartwells Locks, just off Carleton property, to pray together for Carleton and all students on Ottawa campuses.”

Despite the overcast weather that threatened rain, between 40 and 50 people gathered that night, on September 1. Last year, students and staff members launched a surge of new prayer initiatives on campus. Then, inspired by the January CAPITALYZE Conference’s call for greater relational unity, Dagenais reached out to ministry leaders from a number of other campus groups. Similarly stirred toward greater unity, a staff member from Power to Change suggested the groups gather to kick off the year in prayer.

“Our hope was that it would set the tone for the year in terms of prayerful reliance and unity,” explains the staff member who Spur is calling Matthew to protect his identity, as he regularly participates in missions to closed countries.

“Working together has allowed us to work more in the areas each group is strongest and most gifted in.” Photo courtesy of Emily Lorentz.

After praying together, the assembly split into small groups, many led by students, to do prayer walks around the campus. They ended the evening outside the library with a time of worship.

“I think one important message it sends to Christian students is that we are about the Kingdom first, not our individual ministries,” Matthew says. “It can be so easy to get focused on your own ministry and not see the bigger picture of what God is doing on campus, in our city, and around the world. Events like this help remind us that our specific ministries are just a small piece of what God is doing.”

The different ministries’ staff and students say this is only the beginning. They plan to continue looking for ways to collaborate together, and with Catholic Christian Outreach, whose ministry staff were unable to attend the kick-off event.

“In a time when division, competition, and polarization are so rampant, the Kingdom of God and the Gospel of Jesus provide the shocking alternative of unity and loving one another.“

“We’ve already seen the impact [of collaboration] at the University of Ottawa,” Matthew states. “Working together has allowed us to work more in the areas each group is strongest and most gifted in.”

Dagenais stresses that when the groups come together, they do so without any competition. It’s a characteristic that Emily Lorentz of the Navigators also believes can send a strong message in today’s world.

“In a time when division, competition, and polarization are so rampant, the Kingdom of God and the Gospel of Jesus provide the shocking alternative of unity and loving one another,“ Lorentz states. “My hope for the coming year is that our various groups can pray and cheer one another on.

“As we walk and pray toward unity I can imagine students encountering a fuller expression of God during their university years and taking that reality with them in the various churches and cities they will find themselves in post-graduation.”