Fifth anniversary of rebooted University of Calgary campus ministry

Rev. Moffett leading an Impact Session at the 2018 ABC District Youth Gathering

CALGARY – Foothills Lutheran Church was originally named Varsity Hill Lutheran, and the first pastor, Rev. Paul Schmidt, was called in 1965 to be the part-time University of Calgary chaplain. The Lutheran students’ club had a designated room in the parsonage, with regular meetings there and in the church, as well as worship services and other events on campus.

There were four chaplains between 1965 and 1991, but after that, the reason the church had been built so close to campus seemed forgotten.

In September 2014, Rev. Mark Jasa, a Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod campus chaplain, took Foothills’ then-vicar, Rev. Eric Moffett, to an outreach event at the university. He had booked a display table in the food court, and had a sign saying “religion is for the weak.” After two days, they had contact information from eight people, who all followed up with Rev. Moffett within a week.

He felt God had clearly provided an opportunity, so he began spending time on campus. The eight students told their friends, and by the end of the semester, he was in contact with thirty.

Five years later, he’s in regular contact with over 200 students; his “second congregation.” Every week he emails them his sermon or notes on the readings, there are twenty to thirty people in a weekly Bible study, and he’s on campus for at least part of the day several days per week.

Developing relationships with the students and talking about faith and life is a joy, but dealing with the university has some challenges. Rev. Moffett has been removed from campus several times over the years and is on the booking office’s watch list, which complicates arranging for meeting space.

A student, encouraged by someone who didn’t like his message, staged a loud confrontation in an effort to have him banned from campus, the “religion is for the weak” sign was once deliberately crushed by a passerby, and he’s experienced verbal abuse.

The university’s Faith and Spirituality Centre, staffed by chaplains of many religions, is generally supportive of his work, but their pluralistic, inter-faith events make this complicated.

Foothills also has an active youth ministry, complemented by Rev. Moffett’s experiences on campus. He spoke at the 2016 National Youth Gathering about how youth can keep their faith strong during post-secondary school, and taught the youth at last year’s Fall Youth Retreat how to talk about their faith “with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).

The students he meets come from a range of backgrounds, and learning what questions they have informs how youth can be equipped for those issues before going to university.

Rev. Moffett enjoys the challenges and blessings of campus outreach, and Foothills is pleased to support this thriving ministry to students who are hungry for the Word, asking for support on everything from dealing with difficult professors to relationship counselling to grieving the loss of family members.

Even if a student spends weeks talking to him just about their personal issues, the conversation always gets around to faith eventually, because they know he’s a pastor; that’s why they reach out to him.

While Foothills’ original purpose of ministering to the university was lost for a time, the last five years clearly show God’s provision for a great need, as hundreds of students have been pointed to the gospel.

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Michelle Heumann is Regional News Editor for The Canadian Lutheran.

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