Last year, James Adair, started a campus chapter of the Christian Student Movement (SCM) at the University of Ottawa.
Although he knew of some existing Christian groups on campus, “I didn’t see the kind of connection between faith and activism and social justice work that personally was something that actually drew me to becoming more of an active Christian when I was a teenager.” he told Perspective. Now 21 and preparing for his final year of a double-major political science and public administration degree, Adair participated in the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa’s Youth Internship Program (YIP) for two years as a teen.
The Christian Student Movement is an ecumenical, social justice-oriented, youth-led international movement. Adair said he knew of SCM, but his interest in it was re-invigorated when he read a biography of the late Canadian politician Tommy Douglas, who had been involved with the SCM in his youth. Realizing that SCM was still an active organization and wanting to create something on campus to leave for others after he graduates next year, Adair decided to create a chapter of SCM. During the summer he wrote out a plan about what he would need to do to get it all started when he was back in Canada, but in the fall, the Student Christian Movement posted a notice that they were hiring someone to start a club at the University of Ottawa. “This seems like it’s perfectly aligned,” Adair thought. He applied, got the job and began working a couple of hours a week to get it up and running.
He describes the group’s first year as fairly active. “We held a prayer service for Palestine and Lebanon in November that had about 20 to 30 people show up, including members of the Ottawa Palestinian Christian community. And that was hosted at St. Albans, so we were very grateful that St. Albans was able to give us that space,” Adair said.
The group also co-organized an event in February on migrant workers with the Filipino group Migrante. “I thought that it made sense considering we have so many international students and so many people on campus from around the world to do an event about migrant workers and international students.”
In March, they hosted an online discussion with two theologians, Dr. Michel Andraos and Dr. Jane Barter, discussing the roots of Christian Zionism in Canada. And prior to the federal election, the SCM group worked with the campus chaplaincy and Citizens for Public Justice to host an event called Engaging Faithfully for the Common Good about connecting Christian faith with political engagement.
In June, Adair travelled to Calgary to participate in the G7 Jubilee People’s Forum, organized by KAIROS Canada, which took place from June 15 to 17. KAIROS gathered pilgrims and activists from across Canada and the world to discuss their visions for global economic, environmental and social justice, with a focus on Jubilee 2025, a global initiative to cancel debt for low-income countries. Adair received a travel grant from the World Student Christian Federation’s Lois Freeman Wilson Fund. Wilson, who was active in SCM in her youth, went on to become the first woman to serve as Moderator of the United Church of Canada, the first Canadian president of the World Council of Churches, and a Canadian senator.
“It’s been interesting seeing like how large SCM used to be and the goodwill from that,” Adair says, noting that he’s met many supportive alumni.
Starting the campus SCM chapter has been really fulfilling, Adair said. It was challenge was to build from the ground up because contemporary students had no knowledge of the organization. “It’s been interesting trying to explain it to people and get them involved,” he said. “I think they see student Christian movement, and they’re skeptical because it sounds like something that might be scary for a lot of people.”
The new chapter drew interest from a diverse mix of students, he said. ‘It’s some very devout Christians who have never really done political work or activist work in their lives, and then some political activists who maybe went to church when they were kids but who wouldn’t think of themselves as Christian, but they’re interested in the work that SCM is doing.” Both groups have seen value in connecting their faith with action, such as feeding the hungry, caring for others, he says. “We even have one or two Muslim members and one or two like atheist members who say, ‘I just like going to your events. You do interesting stuff.’”
Adair says he invited a friend who he knew used to go to church to a prayer service. “They went and they hadn’t been to church since they went to university, and I think probably before that. But now they’re back home for the summer, and they’re leading a church group back home. I don’t want to say it’s because of SCM, but I think they were having a crisis of faith [questioning},’What is the value of this in this world currently?’”
He suggests that might be true more broadly. “For the prayer service for Palestine and Lebanon, we were able to get about 30 people in a church on the Friday evening during exam season. People didn’t have to be there, and a lot of people personally inconvenienced themselves to go to that, so I think that’s something maybe church leaders should listen to. People want that connection and the community. … I don’t think people want to see a church that retreats away from the world or away from the world’s questions. They want to see a church that is saying, ‘You’re right. This is scary. This is hard, but also we can do something about it right now.”
More information on the work of the UOttawa SCM can be found at @uottawascm on Instagram.
Church of the Ascension, Ottawa — Deanery of Central Ottawa