Church Crawl Connects Students to Local Churches

During a week when the orientation activities of two Canadian universities landed in national news headlines for the wrong reasons, a different kind of orientation activity was taking place at the University of Ottawa in Ontario.

Christian Reformed campus pastor Sid Ypma organized a church crawl with the help of leaders from 21 area churches and six campus groups.

Ypma said the group was concerned by the lack of events for people seeking community but wanting to avoid the excesses that often accompany university frosh week activities.

“A common question of incoming Christian students is ‘Where should I go to church?’” Ypma said. The church crawl helped show them their options.

Students split into teams of four to six and were given a clue sheet and a map of the various churches. After finding the church and the clue hidden there, they received a handout with information about the church’s worship and coming events.

Teams gained points for each handout they collected. Clues also highlighted faith-related locations on campus, such as the chaplaincy offices.

“This event really generated a positive buzz among a large swath of Christian clubs on campus,” Ypma said. He hopes the event grows even larger next year.