Over a year ago, the main chaplain for the CRC campus ministry at the University of Toronto (U of T) made known his plans to retire. As a fellow CRC campus minister, I’d become friends with some of the U of T staff team and hoped they’d find a new staff member who was a good fit for the ministry. And, because I’d like to see more female campus minister colleagues, I also thought it’d be great if they could find a female to take on the position. 

When it became known that the campus ministry was indeed looking for someone to fill the position full-time, I started reaching out to people who were qualified. I brainstormed with Sara, a friend of mine who used to work as part of the staff team in Toronto, about all of the qualified females we could ask, trying to help arrange things for God.

And then in February this past year, Sara and I were wondering again how we could help out the ministry (and God) with filling the position, and she suggested again that I apply. When she’d suggested this previously, my answer had always been a quick no, sometimes with a laugh at the absurdity of the idea. I loved my job with Campus Edge, and besides, if/when we moved again, it would be back to Europe. 

When Sara asked again if I shouldn’t apply, what had once seemed an obvious ‘no’ felt differently. So I wondered if perhaps the Spirit was prodding me to look again – might God have even been using my intense interest in arranging things for the ministry as a preparation for being open to the idea of applying to the position myself? But it still felt absurd to contemplate moving to Toronto, and so when I asked my husband about his thoughts about moving to Toronto, I assumed he’d respond negatively. But he was enthusiastic about the idea, and I had a stronger sense of what chaos God might be asking us to enter into the coming months.

And then the pandemic hit, life truly turned chaotic, and I was in a position to provide needed encouragement and pastoral care to folks connected to Campus Edge as we navigated this new season. And still, sensing God’s hand on the whole process, I applied to the position at U of T. I was hired and accepted the position and thus made plans to leave Campus Edge. I worked part-time for both ministries this past fall, gradually shifting more of my time from Campus Edge to Toronto. I have experienced God’s help throughout the process: everything went well with selling our house, we had tremendous help in finding housing in Toronto (and were graciously welcomed), and Campus Edge has found a new pastor.

Not surprisingly, God answered my prayer (for more female campus ministers), just not in the way I expected. I will stay in campus ministry, albeit in a new place, and my experience with Campus Edge will be a gift to the ministry at the University of Toronto. And there will be one more new female campus minister with the Christian Reformed Church: here at Campus Edge!