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UBC Okanagan could be one of 50 ‘host’
universities or colleges across Canada, in the development of Alpha Campus
‘Introduction to Christianity’ programs.
That indication came recently from Elwood Mean,
director of Alpha Canada’s Alpha Campus program, which has been
catching fire around many public universities and colleges throughout the
country.
It all began at the University of New Brunswick eight
years ago, when Mean, a former forestry business executive, arranged for
the distribution of 1,200 boxes of Tim Horton’s ‘timbits’
in student residences.
Along with the ‘bits’ was an invitation to
the popular Alpha Course, especially adapted to a format which would fit
student interests.
Some 130 students, either from UNB or
Catholic-affiliate St. Thomas University, turned up for the program, and it
has continued strong since.
A video documenting the program began circulating, and
soon Mean found Canada-wide interest.
He took to the road to see what might happen if church
leaders in university cities would take on the challenge of setting up
Alpha Campus programs.
It is about nine months since the national initiative
got underway.
As of early summer, there are plans on 40 campuses to
start programs in September or January.
The original aim was to get 50 campuses in five years;
so, says Mean, they are ahead of the curve.
Interest in Kelowna was engendered in June, when Mean
met with a group of youth pastors whose churches are part of the Kelowna
Evangelical Ministerial Association (KEMA).
For now, the key Kelowna area contacts with Mean are
Bruce Moffatt, minister at St. David’s Presbyterian Church and Ron
Smith, a Kelowna lawyer who is a member of Willow Park Church.
St. David’s has a few years of experience in
conducting Alpha programs at the congregational level. Moffatt reports that
the congregation has used Alpha’s small group configuration and,
fairly recently, involved a total of 70 people.
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The interest was strong, says Mean, cautioning,
however, that the amount of activity across country has meant that it has
been hard for Alpha to keep up. So he cannot say that UBC Okanagan is one
of the universities setting up in the next few months.
For his part, Moffatt says he and Smith hope to firm up
local liaison arrangements with Alpha Campus in the next few weeks.
Mean notes that Alpha’s partnership preferences
in a community are local churches, although, in some cases, they also work
with existing campus Christian organizations, like Inter-Varsity Christian
Fellowship, Christian Catholic Outreach, Navigators and Power to Change.
“The Introduction to Christianity program is
unique and pretty basic. Other ministries are well equipped with programs
and approaches to take people forward who have taken IC,” Mean points
out.
“On some campuses, we encourage web page links
with other Christian organizations, as a way to develop
continuity.”
The effect of having churches involved in Alpha Campus
partnerships is that IC alumni can continue an association long after they
leave university, he suggests.
– Lloyd Mackey
August 2008
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