The Embassy - A Student Church

Waterloo, Ontario is home to both Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo. What better place to feel the heartbeat of an emerging generation than a city in which more than 25,000 students gather to learn?

Today, 10 years later, we still cherish our original vision to see a generation of young leaders living for God. Our goal is to introduce people to Jesus in a real and relevant way, using whatever methods we can to present the truth and inspire life change.

Home About Us Monday Nights Sermons Community Locations Contact Us Donate	Our Origins Submitted by Brandon Malo, Founding Pastor: Waterloo, Ontario is home to both Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo. What better place to feel the heartbeat of an emerging generation than a city in which more than 25,000 students gather to learn? As part of this new generation, I studied Business Administration at WLU, with hopes of making it big. In fact, hanging on my bedroom wall was a quote that I’d taken from a first-year textbook: “The total annual pay package for the average Canadian CEO is $454,000.” Talk about motivation! However, as I immersed myself in the university environment, my motivation began to change. As my second year drew to a close, I began to sense that God was doing something new in my life. Driving home from a co-op interview one day, I had an amazing sense of God’s presence and I knew that my life was about to turn down a different path. That summer, I dropped out of university and by October of that same year, I knew exactly what God was calling me to do. Of all the places and people I could have ended up serving, I was back with the very people I had just left: students. God was calling me to plant a church on campus. Mark Twain once said: “A cat who sits on a hot stove will never sit on a hot stove again. He’ll never sit on a cold stove either. From then on, that cat just won’t like stoves.” Well-founded or otherwise, my generation’s negative concept of what church is like is often deeply ingrained, and this was something I knew we would have to address from day one. Being only 20 years old at the time, I had plenty of questions about the likelihood of pulling something like this off. But, as one would expect, God proved faithful and within a few short months we were sponsored by a local church and had formed a small group of committed leaders to help get things off the ground. After months of promoting this new venture in the city and around campus, we opened the doors of the Humanities Theatre at the University of Waterloo on Monday, September 14, 1998. Eighty-five people showed up and The Embassy was born! Today, 10 years later, we still cherish our original vision to see a generation of young leaders living for God. Our goal is to introduce people to Jesus in a real and relevant way, using whatever methods we can to present the truth and inspire life change. Every Monday night, hundreds of young adults climb the stairs to the upper room of the Rec Complex. As students bring their friends, we see people finding answers to the most important questions of all, and in turn, they’re challenged with new questions about the meaning and direction of their lives. People who have never been to church before are hearing about the God who loves them and wants to be in relationship with them. At The Embassy, we are determined to do everything we can to impact our campuses, our community, and our world in a positive way. We have no interest in seeing a generation rise up without knowing or experiencing God, so every year, we commit ourselves to investing in young leaders who will leave university closer to God than when they first arrived in Waterloo. What We Believe »
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