The Rock on Campus meets the spiritual health needs of students
Just under a hundred universities in Canada, close to 60%, have some form of spiritual care or chaplaincy. But there are about 140 community colleges, and less than 3% of them have any kind of spiritual care available to students, reports Francois Kruger, executive director of The Rock on Campus (TheRockOnCampus.org).
Kruger has been serving Canadian college students since 1995. He was the lead chaplain at Fanshawe College in London, Ont., from 1995–2018. In 2006 he founded The Rock on Campus, a registered charity that seeks to care for the mental and spiritual health needs of students attending Canadian colleges. The ministry involves chaplaincy, campus clubs, partnering with local churches, community events and finding creative ways to engage students.
The Rock on Campus began by planting chaplains at St. Clair College in Windsor, Ont., and Lambton College in Sarnia Ont., but soon found they were being overworked. In 2022, after Covid, they focused on rebranding.
The goal of The Rock on Campus is to see 75 campus ministries established in the next five to ten years, and is hoping to establish three or four Montreal campuses by the end of the 2026–2027 academic year.
Kruger says the need to engage students is especially important now because many are looking for purpose, community and meaning. At the same time they are "living in the now," growing up in a world of instant gratification, and among people who shun submission and authority.
The Rock on Campus plans to recruit more chaplains and launch initiatives such as campus house parents, who can disciple students while teaching life skills like cooking and budgeting, as well as ministry hope kits providing small gifts for students to support them during exam time. They also offer seminars such as Contending the Faith, designed to equip parents and youth leaders with tools that can help children prepare for the postsecondary years.
"Almost a million students in Canada are on college campuses, and every single one will perish if they are without the saving relationship that comes in Jesus Christ," says Kruger. "We do what we do not to be successful; we do what we do because we’re being faithful to the gospel."