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Home > Resources > Worshiping Communities > Campus > MinistriesRedeemer University College
Ancaster, Ontario, Canada
Founded in 1982
| Denomination: Interdenominational | Size: Just over 800 students |
| Affiliation: Member of the CCCU | Website: www.redeemer.on.ca |
Mission Statement
The mission of Redeemer University College is: first, to offer a university-level liberal arts and science education which is Scripturally-directed and explores the relation of faith, learning, and living from a Reformed Christian perspective; and, second, to support research and creative endeavor in this context.
Central to this mission are the following objectives: to equip students for lives of leadership and service under the Lordship of Jesus Christ; to advance knowledge through excellence in teaching and in scholarship; to be an academic community in which faculty, staff, and students can develop intellectually, socially and spiritually; to reach out through academic service to society; and in all these things to glorify God.
Chapel
Wednesdays 11:00-11:45 am
Students, staff, and faculty are invited to gather for chapel.
The weekly chapel services follow this format:
- beginning in darkness, with only candles for light, people enter in silence
- 3-4 entrance songs, using traditional hymns, praise & worship, and global songs
- several scripture readings from Old Testament and New Testament
- several student testimonies or brief meditation, sometimes with illustrations and graphics on screen
- song of response
- 5-10 minutes of prayers - a simple sung refrain is interspersed with spoken prayers of thanksgiving and petition; followed by projected topics for prayer during silence
- final hymn
The same pattern, which is a modified morning prayer service, is used throughout the year. Since the shift to this pattern about 3 years ago, attendance at chapel has grown considerably.
A student worship band, with just hand percussion rather than a drum kit, accompanies the singing.
Sundays
Church in the Box - a contemporary student-led service with guest preachers, meets once a month on Sunday nights, drawing people from the surrounding community as well as Redeemer students.
Students may attend local churches too.
Other Worship Opportunities
Most residences have evening devotions together, sometimes more extended worship, led by the apartment counselors (RA) on their own initiative.
Several prayer groups meet regularly each week - faculty/staff groups as well as student groups; there are also some self-initiated Bible study groups.
Highlights
Redeemer is a rather new and fairly small Christian college and has not yet developed anything about worship on its site.
The worship program will gain more structural support in a year or so, when a full-time chaplain will arrive at Redeemer.