The Beginning
St. Stephen’s University is a transdenominational Christian university located in the border town of St. Stephen, New Brunswick, just across the St. Croix River from Calais, Maine.
Hosting professors from both Protestant and Catholic traditions (Vineyard, Roman Catholic, Anglican primarily), St. Stephen’s University is a small university that is becoming an epicenter for ancient-future thinking, community formation and emerging cultural leadership.
Just a few miles down the river is St. Croix Island, where the 400th anniversary of European settlement was celebrated in 2004. The French expedition which wintered there in 1604 included a Roman Catholic priest and a Hugenot minister, to provide for the spiritual needs of the little community and to begin evangelism among the people of the area. SSU is inspired by that first transdenominational community planted in this very area.
Planning began in 1971 for a new centre of Christian higher learning in Canada—one that would reflect a Biblical world and life view in all its activities. In 1975, the first students were enrolled in St. Stephen’s University, located near Canada’s border with the United States in St. Stephen, New Brunswick.
In 1998, SSU received a charter from the Province of New Brunswick to grant legally-recognized Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Liberal Arts and Ministry Studies.
The expanding University campus includes two historic 19th century buildings. Park Hall, which includes residence and academic facilities as well as the University chapel, overlooks the St. Croix River separating St. Stephen from Calais, Maine. The Governor Todd Mansion, a block away, provides additional residence space. In addition to the historic buildings, the N. D. Lea Ministry Centre provides residential and study facilities for full and part-time Ministry Studies students, and St. Croix Hall provides additional residence facilities and a classroom.
St. Stephen’s University offers a setting and programs that are unique. The University is a community of faith and learning characterized by:
(1) the centrality of its worship;
(2) the pattern of its community life;
(3) academic programs in Arts and
Ministry that are international, intercultural, and interdenominational in scope.
As a Christian University, St. Stephen’s encourages the highest standards of attitude and practice among all members of the University community. We seek to create and maintain a campus climate conducive to spiritual and intellectual maturation.
Worship
Community worship is characterized by a thoughtful approach to Scripture, a love of adoring God, an openness to the work of the Holy Spirit, and a concern for the world at large.
The University gathers for an informal time of worship several times each week. On Sundays students, faculty and staff are encouraged to participate in worship at local churches.
Programs
For more information on the St. Stephen’s University Bachelor’s and Master’s programs, visit our website.
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Recently, a friend told me of a CBC interview with Alan Jones, the Dean of Grace Cathedral (Episcopal) in San Francisco. Dean Jones said, “The opposite of faith is not doubt; the opposite of faith is certainty.” Ponder that!
Most of us crave certainty in the world around us: in our family-life, church-life, work-life. But often we face just the opposite, and so the struggle continues.
I keep on bumping into the truth of Dean Jones’ statement. It comes up in conversations with friends. It resonates with the stuff I’m reading. It speaks directly into to my own life and to the quality of life at St. Stephen’s University.
And it is consistent with Jesus’ teachings: “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (Matthew 21:21-22)
This morning I came upon this paragraph by C.S. Lewis:
“The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of the world: but joy, pleasure, and merriment, he has scattered broadcast. We are never safe, but we have plenty of fun, and some ecstasy. It is not hard to see why. The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and pose an obstacle to our return to God: a few moments of happy love, a landscape, a symphony, a merry meeting with our friends, a bath or a football match, have no such tendency. Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home.”
[The Problem of Pain, (1940) p. 103]
May those reading this find “pleasant inns” of-the-Spirit during the Summer of ‘05.
hah, this is a realy old post, but I am going to reply to it anyways. I just discovered this site tonight, so it’s not my fault.
anyways, I just wanted to say thanks to you two for making my brain work again. it has been a while since I’ve actually had to stretch my brain to fit something in, and what greg said made me do just that. at 1:00 in the morning, you have made my day
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