"Is Chapel at Christian Colleges a Good Idea?"

Note: I'm borrowing this blog from a friend of mine from his blog: http://livegenerously.wordpress.com/

That being said, here it is (and my response will follow)

“I didn’t really go to church much in college because we had chapel three times per week.”

I’ve heard that statement from people who have attended just about every major Christian college in Southern California. I’ve been told that going to church on the weekend was the last thing they wanted to do because of mandatory chapel attendance. More often that not these were students who were walking with God and were serious about their faith, but they simply had enough “church” during the week.

I’ve also heard plenty of stories of chapel simply being a time when students who didn’t care would sit in the back and do their homework, leading me to believe it’s not a time that is making that much of a positive difference in their lives.

I didn’t go to a Christian college, so I can’t speak to this subject with even a hint of expertise.

However, the aforementioned conversations lead me to question the value of chapel. At best, it seems that chapel is like a parachurch ministry that takes up so much of a student’s time that they are not involved in church. Nearly all parachurch ministries I know encourage local church involvement, and that is part of what makes them work as well as they do. Chapel, on the other hand, serves as a full-on church substitute.

As a result, churches are deprived of the important contributions that college students can make in their congregation, college students are deprived of the opportunity to be in church fellowship with multiple generations of people, and I can only imagine that the mandatory nature of chapel makes it seem like an obligation rather than a blessing for many students. I simply don’t believe that spiritual growth can be promoted through mandatory programs. Such programs can promote religious observance, but as Christians that’s not really what we’re after. I can imagine this would also have the effect of dulling a student’s desire to become a part of a church either during the summer or after graduation.

These all seem like major issues. Frankly, I believe the list of “things that are a good idea even though they discourage church involvement” is really, really, really, really low. And mandatory chapel isn’t on the list.

However, I am aware that there are many good reasons to have chapel on college campuses.

So, my question is simply, is chapel at Christian colleges a good idea?

I’d love to hear from any of you, particularly those of you who have attended or are currently attending a Christian college."

Here was my response:

"Brian, I was immediately intrigued when I saw the title of your post. When a title catches my eye I’ll usually read your blog. So, since I go to a “Christian” college, I feel like I could offer something here.

It is definetly true that some students sit in the back and do homework so for them it’s not much of an experience, but usually, they wouldn’t go to church otherwise, so it can expose them to something they wouldn’t choose to experience. At Point Loma, it’s been made aware that people just do homework and they’ve made a few comments on it this year that they respectfully ask that the students give attention to the service. During worship specifically, everyone stands (at least for the most part) so during the worship part of the service, the majority of the people are at least somewhat engaged.

Some people I know definitely fit in to the “I only go because I have to and I won’t go when I’ve met all the requirements” but it still exposes them to something and there may be that one song or that one speaker that God can use to finally grab their attention.

But, there also is the opposite end. I know, personally as well as from meeting people, that chapel is a great help. It’s a time where you can get away from school and focus on God in the day. I find that our chapel services can be enriching (but there are also the dull ones as well) spiritually as well as mentally. Certain speakers know how to challenge and intrigue us while others know how to lull us to sleep.

As far as church involvement goes, once again, there are both sides. Some people, like myself, can’t get enough and they see the importance of meeting in a congregation on a Sunday. But there are still others, both that take chapel seriously and that don’t that already have enough and commit the weekend to homework and social events.

So in conclusion, there is the good and the bad. I don’t think it should change because I believe that even when a certain amount of chapels are mandatory, God can still grab the attention of even the most spiritually dead person and use whatever is going on for His glory in whatever way He does.

Hope this helped."

And I'll also pose the question to you all, whoever you may be. It may just be one of you. I don't know who reads this. Maybe someone will comment.

Side note: Random shout out to Tyler who I met today as he was visiting Point Loma for a Preview Day. He said he read my blog. So I thought I'd mention him. He just got 50 points. End side note.

That is all.