International ministry grows at Ontario’s fastest growing university
The cafeteria in the business and IT building on the campus of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology is well-lit, comfortable and offers student necessities like french fries, coffee and wide tables, perfect for study and conversation.
Graydon Baker—a 29-year-old zoology graduate turned missionary with SIM's Culture Connexions ministry—sits at one of them, waiting to see what the day will bring.
It's not that Graydon doesn't have a plan. He usually does, it's just that in university campus missionary work, there's "no typical day, no typical week," he says.
And this university campus is Ontario's fastest-growing, perched on the outer edge of Oshawa, a city that used to be better known for its auto industry. These days, you're as likely to come across an international student from countries like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey, as you are to meet a General Motors employee on the streets of this city.
John Denbok is SIM's executive director. "The Culture Connexions ministry of SIM is designed for situations just like this, Canadian churches wanting to engage with an increasingly international community, and being willing to commit prayer and funding to a missionary trained to help them do just that." He's watching Graydon's work on this campus with interest because much of this campus' growth is due to international students, the group that Graydon believes is the most open to hearing the gospel message.
"You talk to a Canadian kid on this campus, they're not even interested in speaking with you," says Graydon. "There is not a fear of God in them. But for the international students, they may not be Christian, but there is a fear of God."
Prior to his five years in Oshawa, Graydon spent a year in campus ministry in Tanzania. "In my whole year in Africa, I didn't meet one atheist," says Graydon.
Experience tells him that international students usually arrive on campus with a curiosity about Jesus, and an openness to Christianity. "It just seems to me that in a country where Jesus is censored, they know him as a prophet, they hear part of the story, there is that hunger and thirst. They know there is more, and here in Canada, because we still have our religious freedom in general, they have the chance to learn. A lot of the international students I meet come from closed countries, including Saudi Arabia," he adds.
Graydon recalls one conversation, where a student from Saudi Arabia sat beside him at this very cafeteria, typing away in Arabic. Graydon remarked on the student's obvious multi-lingual ability. The student asked Graydon what he did on campus. "I'm a missionary. I teach about Jesus Christ on the campus," he answered.
"Will you teach me?" the student asked.
It's not always that easy to be a witness on a Canadian campus of course. And this particular one might even be a tougher field than usual to plough.
"This university in particular doesn't have the DNA of Christian culture. It's new. They don't welcome chaplaincy, it was born out of a secular culture," explains Graydon.
And he has bumped up against that secular culture a few times now.
Last year, Graydon and the Christian club on campus partnered with the Muslim Student Association and the Skeptics Symposium to present "The Jesus Debate: metaphor, prophet or Son of God?" The event, designed to get people talking and considering who they thought Jesus might be, became an on-again, off-again event with the administration, who Graydon believes was firmly against having such a debate on campus grounds.
At that same event, which eventually was given a last-minute green light, Graydon was asked to take his conversation outside when an administrator overheard him openly sharing his faith with a curious student. Church services on campus have also been cancelled.
"We've seen plenty of opposition, you grow accustomed to it working on a university campus," Graydon says. "But I am baffled by it. The point of an institute of higher learning is to be a place where you're supposed to ask questions, and we're offering the students something to consider. They can take it or leave it, but it adds to the flavour of a campus and that is something that should be tolerated," he says. "Tolerance is the biggest value in every campus, but for some reason, almost a supernatural reason, it seems many things are tolerated except for Christ. The university campus is a window into where our country is headed, it gives us an idea of where we'll be in the next few years," Graydon believes. "We are moving into that direction where Christ is not welcome, and not tolerated."
Opposition and all, the area churches that support Graydon through SIM are not the least bit discouraged. "The churches have noticed the influx of international students, and they are very excited about that. They're wanting to find a way to reach out to these students. The ends of the earth are showing up on Oshawa's doorstep," says Graydon. "That is the great opportunity God has placed before us. God has a plan for this university campus."
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