Gemma Soper was trying to make connections as a first-year student from outside Vancouver at the University of British Columbia (UBC) when she met the Rev. Alecia Greenfield, Anglican chaplain and rector of St. Anselm’s Anglican Church, at the school’s clubs day in January.
“I was struggling to make some friends … UBC is just such a huge campus and there’s a lot of people,” Soper, 19, recalls. Greenfield invited her to attend the weekly dinner at Epiphany Chapel on campus, where Anglicans and United Church members gather for a meal, conversation, prayer and after-dinner activities, from building gingerbread houses to hearing reflections on the church and mental health issues.
Soper has since attended the dinners regularly and plans to continue. “It’s the most important part of my week,” she says. “It’s everything to me. My faith is important to every single part of my life … For me, it’s about community.” The only Christian in an atheist family, Soper says she enjoys having a place to discuss her faith with like-minded people her own age where no one worries how others will perceive them.
“I have autism and I struggle to make connections, but everyone there is so friendly … People are very non-judgmental,” she says. “They just want to talk and to be your friend … It’s very accepting.”
Offering connection for students is a vital part of campus ministry. As the Anglican Journal reached out to Anglican chaplains and students at universities across the country, those who responded highlighted the ability of this ministry to provide fellowship and meaning for students at a transitional time in their lives.
Greenfield says that “given the anxiety of the world,” there is an increasing curiosity about faith and Christianity even among students who are not Christian.
“Ten years ago, they might’ve shown up with a whole bunch of criticisms of Christianity and the hypocrisy and a super big awareness of the ways that Christianity has failed,” she says. “They show up now longing for spiritual practices to hold them. They are longing for God and longing for the gifts of our tradition. So I think there’s huge opportunity right now.”
Anglican chaplains provide spiritual guidance to students and direct them to resources on campus. They lead regular worship services, Bible study and even meditation classes. They organize activities and support outreach programs such as food banks, often as part of multifaith teams of spiritual care providers. Students, in turn, make new connections, enjoy social events and participate in volunteer activities.
Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. has a specifically Anglican student organization—the Queen’s Canterbury Club, which describes itself as an affirming Christian club that welcomes LGBTQ+ people and that seeks “to follow Jesus with intelligent and compassionate faith.” Sponsored by St. James Anglican Church, the club hosts regular lectures, such as a recent five-part series on the Book of Job, as well as game nights, socials and worship services.
The Rev. Lisa Chisholm-Smith, part-time Anglican chaplain at Queen’s University and children and youth ministry coordinator at St. James, says the Canterbury Club is also committed to Indigenous reconciliation. Leaders have intentionally developed its relationship with the Anglican parish of Tyendinaga in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, she says, inviting parish priests to speak on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
The priests in turn invited students to visit All Saints Church and Christ Church Royal Chapel in Tyendinaga. “We had a wonderful road trip … and had a great time to interact with the people there and also ask questions and worship with them,” Chisholm-Smith says.
Meghan Corbett, a 2025 Queen’s engineering graduate, formerly served as co-chair of the Canterbury Club. Hailing from the Greater Toronto Area, she grew up Anglican, knew some club members beforehand and had family members who attended St. James. She joined the Canterbury Club in the fall of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic limited opportunities for social connection.
“Even though we were limited by COVID and not being able to do a lot of activities in person, the range of speakers and topics that we were able to cover [at the Canterbury Club] … I was really impressed by it,” Corbett says. “We had a lot of emotional, moving and informative discussions.”
“Coming to university … it feels like everyone’s searching for something, some meaning, purpose,” she adds. “It’s a time in a lot of people’s lives when they ask, ‘What am I going to do next? What’s my purpose in life?’” Corbett says she appreciates the Canterbury Club encouraging intelligent discussion of such questions.
Innocent Ojobile, an international student from Uganda, served as co-chair of the Canterbury Club in 2025-2026 during his graduate studies in cancer research. He says Christian groups on campus can help support students grappling with emotional instability, substance abuse or academic stress. “In fellowship like we do every Sunday evening, maybe that’s where they [can] find some comfort,” he says.
The Queen’s Canterbury Club provides physical as well as spiritual nourishment for students. During the winter term, the Canterbury Club hosts a free monthly “soup-to-go,” offering homemade soup to students outside St. James. Members also pick apples in fall for the local food bank.
“Increasingly, food insecurity is really big on campus,” Chisholm-Smith says. Rising food and rent costs are both impacting students, she says, citing a 2025 report by Rentals.ca and Urbanation that found Kingston now has the fourth-most expensive rent in Canada.
At the University of Victoria, the Rev. Rebecca Yeo—who serves as a spiritual care provider and Anglican chaplain—also supports a food share program, picking up items from the Mustard Seed Food Bank and making them available at the university’s Multifaith Centre for people to take what they need. Another program is running a drop-in pet café, bringing in therapy dogs from a Vancouver Island service for students to spend time with while they drink tea or coffee and get to know each other.
Yeo, who is non-binary, works closely with a student group called Inclusive Christians, which has a focus on social justice and welcoming LGBTQ+ people. Anglican chaplains and students who spoke to the Journal say a recurring challenge in a largely secular campus environment is overcoming assumptions, such as answering questions about Christian attitudes to LGBTQ+ issues.
“I often experience the secular environment as one where there’s lots of opportunities—yes, for evangelism, but also just for answering people’s questions and challenging some of the stereotypes that people hold,” Yeo says.
For Yeo and the Rev. Scott McLeod, Anglican chaplain at Renison University College and the University of Waterloo, providing pastoral care for students is a key part of their responsibilities. Through one-on-one conversations, McLeod has helped students navigate everything from relationship crises to feelings of homesickness to grappling with social, cultural and political issues.
While Christianity is a guiding principle in his work, McLeod says, the part it plays in such conversations depends on the student, not all of whom are Christian. For those who are, he says, many have told him how important it is, “as they’re trying to make choices and navigate life, to know that they have this anchor of faith to help them through it.”
