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2017-18 Undergraduate Academic Catalog | Student Development

Spiritual Life/Chapel Program

OUR COMMITMENT TO CHRISTIAN SPIRITUAL LIFE AND FORMATION

As a Christian College we believe that God shapes and forms the lives of those who confess and follow Jesus as Lord, transforming them into the likeness of Jesus, a process fully complete in glory.  Roberts Wesleyan College, as a Christian faith community, cooperates with the Christian Church and contributes to the spiritual formation of all in the community by:

  • Providing opportunities for the gathered community to participate in the classic means of grace, such as the proclamation and teaching of the Word of God in scripture, worship, prayer, and the Lord’s Supper
  • Providing an environment where people’s relationship with God through Christ is intentionally nurtured through the encouraged practice of communal and individual spiritual disciplines.
  • Integrating a biblical, Trinitarian, orthodox Christian worldview and ethic into all aspects of the College: academic life, student life, and service to our neighbors and the world.

CHAPEL WORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

Attendance at Chapel and/or one of these other approved spiritual growth opportunities offered through the Chaplain's Office is a requirement at Roberts showing our commitment to Christian growth and practice as part of our community.  Full time students are required to earn at least 22 spiritual life credits per semester. We encourage students to spread their 22 credits over the course of the semester so that spiritual life is fostered throughout the entire semester. 

"Community Gathering Chapels" held on Mondays offer students, faculty, and staff the opportunity to worship together--to pray, praise God, and hear from the Christian scriptures. Our goal is to maximize opportunities for us to grow in Christ by building relationships with many different people in the Christian Community. Community Gathering Chapels are structured around sermon series and reflect a breadth of elements from different Christian worship traditions over the semester.

Wednesday chapels offer biblical messages and testimonies from local pastors and faculty, most commonly with student-led contemporary worship teams leading in the worship of the day. Once a month there is a Sunday Evening Chapel Service organized by the Student Association Chaplain.

Our Resident Directors host a Friday student discussion time as another option for spiritual growth. The discussions focus on different life relevant issues. Saturday Service opportunities provide another, more active growth option to fulfill the spiritual life credit requirement. These are offered 2 or 3 times a semester as scheduled.

OTHER SPIRITUAL GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES

We encourage every student, staff and faculty member in the Roberts community to connect with a local church as we believe ultimately that God is forming His people in and through the fellowship, worship, and teaching of the local church.

Roberts has multiple opportunities for spiritual growth through small groups and campus ministries such as worship team, drama ministry, dance ministry and intercity ministry. We also strive to offer a number of mission trip experiences each year where faith can be put into action as we gain a global understanding of God's love for all people.

DISCOVERY EVENTS

At Roberts, we are committed to helping our students explore and discover a sense of God's calling in their lives.  Terms like “vocation,” “giftedness,” “life purpose,” and the like point us toward God and how He has created each of us and invited each of us into His loving work and purposes in the world. To help students in their exploration of God's calling, we have three extra-curricular "Discovery Events" throughout their college experience.

  • Discovery Desserts are informal gatherings of the First-Year Seminar classes in the fall at wich students hear of our commitment to help them in this exploration. Students are invited for a dessert at the First-Year Seminar Professor's home to learn Robert's basic definition of "God's Calling" and hear the story of their professor in his/her journey.
  • Discovery Dinners are faculty/staff team hosted dinners in one of their homes. Current freshmen and sophomores are invited to have a meal together and share where they are these days in their journey and sense of calling. The home-cooked meals and warm, home environments allow students to both listen to others stories and tell their own.
  • Discovery Retreats offer students a weekend to get away and learn to listen for God's voice. We know that we carry questions of calling and vocation with us throughout our lives, so here we provide a toolbox of essentials needed to consider these questions that we have now and may carry with us into the future.