Guelph Students Pray In Rain, Snow
A group of students meets for worship every Friday at 7:30 a.m. in a grassy area in the middle of the University of Guelph campus.
Though they sometimes have to huddle under a cold rain or shiver in snow showers, they’re there every week. Praying to God and celebrating communion together.
“We worship outside because it’s a sacrifice,” says Jamie VanderBerg, campus pastor at the Christian Reformed Home Missions-supported campus ministry at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario. “There is meaning in sacrifice.”
VanderBerg has been leading the weekly 45-minute worship gathering for the sleepy-eyed students for the past two years.
The group opens with prayer and a time of praise, followed by a litany reading. VanderBerg includes litanies from different Christian traditions because the students come from a range of Christian faith backgrounds.
After the litany, the students have a chance for more prayer, followed by VanderBerg leading communion. Students then form small groups for a period of intimate prayer.
“Prayer is the foundation of our ministry at Guelph,” he says. “Communion in particular has a real unifying power about it, especially as we’re standing in the cold together.”
After worship, they usually goes inside to have breakfast.
The Friday gathering, which runs fromSeptember to May, attracts up to 35 students every week.
“We keep doing this outside because the students want to do it,” VanderBerg remarks. “Snow, rain, or sun, they really prefer it this way. Their dedication has been a wonderful blessing to the ministry.”
Guelph Campus Ministry, one of 34 supported by Home Missions, doesn’t limit itself to the campus. VanderBerg and the students also focus on becoming involved in the life and ministry of local Christian Reformed congregations and the city of Guelph.
For example, many of the more than 50 university and post-graduate students involved in the campus ministry are also active in an after-school program, a community gardening project, and street outreach in downtown Guelph.
