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By Frank Stirk
 TRINITY Western University is poised to begin work on creating a new satellite campus in downtown Richmond, BC that could begin admitting students by the fall of 2010.
The new facility would be part of a massive $1-billion retail, office and condominium redevelopment of the properties bordered by No. 3 Road, Minoru Boulevard, Firbridge Way and Ackroyd Road. What the city's Planning and Development Department has called "a very important component" of the plan is a four-storey building at Minoru and Firbridge that would be shared by Trinity and a new community centre.
An unnamed philanthropist has gifted the building's two top floors, comprising 2,079 square metres or 22,378 square feet, to the university for 25 years rent-free.
At a two-hour public hearing of Richmond City Council on October 20, councillors voted unanimously to grant the rezoning required before construction could begin.
"A few concerns were raised that [the developer] promised to address. . . . But other than that, it's pretty well a done deal," said Steve Moore, senior associate pastor of Richmond Pentecostal Church, who was at the meeting.
"This is a terrific opportunity . . . to take the essence of Trinity into a new setting and a new market, but yet carry out the ministry and mission of Trinity as a Christian university," said TWU president Jonathan Raymond.
"The Richmond campus will start out in this location," he added. "We envision that over time, the university will purchase other property and expand out. . . . We see Trinity over several years developing as a downtown campus in multiple sites."
Mars' Hill, the university's student newspaper, reported that business development director Andry Tjahyana has been appointed the Richmond campus's executive director.
TWU will still have to cover the costs of equipping and furnishing the two floors, hiring the faculty and marketing its degree programs -- all of which it hopes to pay for with a special fundraising campaign.
Communications professor Bill Strom conceded that faculty members "are a little bit concerned that we don't forget the main Langley campus and its needs. We're growing, and that's energy and that's time and that's taking away from Langley a little bit," he said. "But it's also building our area of influence."
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Raymond said he is confident the Richmond campus will offer potentially thousands of older men and women -- including the approximately 28,000 employees at the Vancouver International Airport -- the opportunity to finally complete their university degrees. One program he can foresee being offered there is Business Administration.
"There are strong ties between Richmond and Asia, and we think [the new campus] will attract students internationally as well," he said.
That would be a significant boost to TWU's overall enrolment figures. Reflecting the reality of Canada's aging population, its first-year undergraduate enrolment has slipped from a peak of 2,507 students in September 2003 to 2,015 students this year.
"And although this hasn't been talked through thoroughly," said Raymond, "I anticipate that it'll be a venue for ACTS seminaries as well for the many, many churches in the Richmond area to benefit by seminar curriculum, including lay people."
"I'm very thrilled about that," said Ray Woodard, who was pastor of Towers Baptist Church in Richmond for 18 years. "With the massive movement of individuals to urban centres, to put the ACTS seminaries in the middle of an urban situation close to the airport, on mass transit, available to a city, is just outstanding."
Woodard shared Raymond's confidence that the Richmond campus will be welcomed, especially by older residents. "There are a large number of adults that want to continue their education, particularly in a changing global market, as well as [receive] good, sound teaching in order to offer an answer for their faith," he said.
"I might even take advantage of it," said Moore. "A lot of the reason why adults like myself don't continue in education is the time it takes to get there and back and the short amount of time that we have outside of our jobs and families. And to have something right down the street would be a great opportunity that you wouldn't want to turn down."
But Dan Unrau, senior pastor of Fraserview Mennonite Brethren, said given the economic hard times many in his church are facing, "we wouldn't have a large group that would go, but we would certainly have some." At the same time, he said he is hopeful that just the prospect of TWU coming to Richmond will open doors for sharing the gospel.
"We need to find multiple ways of having neutral conversations that are able to hint at the real question," said Unrau. "And the mere fact that there's a Christian higher-education institution being planted in this place creates a conversation."
Trinity Western already has a satellite campus in Bellingham, Washington.
October 23/2007
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