{"id":4187,"date":"2018-12-13T08:29:25","date_gmt":"2018-12-13T13:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/?p=4187"},"modified":"2019-12-18T13:18:13","modified_gmt":"2019-12-18T18:18:13","slug":"new-campus-worship-format","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/2018\/12\/13\/new-campus-worship-format\/","title":{"rendered":"New Campus Worship Format"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Students knit in a Wednesday chapel break-out session called “The Chronicles of Yarnia,\u201d hosted by administrative assistant Barb Byer. The small group sessions during chapel time have expanded faith-sharing opportunities for students, faculty and staff.<\/p><\/div>\n

WITH THE BEGINNING<\/strong> of the new academic year at Eastern Mennonite University comes inevitable changes \u2013 a new schedule, new courses and new demands on time. But this fall, one of the mainstays of the weekly schedule looks and feels much different.<\/p>\n

Consolidated into one weekly meeting that alternates with convocation, campus worship is now twice the time, supported by a multitude of volunteer leaders, and hosted in a multitude of different places.<\/p>\n

Word is, too, that the multitudes are responding.<\/p>\n

That makes absolute sense to pastoral assistant Lindsay Acker<\/strong>. \u201cOne worship style is never going to fulfill everybody\u2019s spiritual needs,\u201d she says. With different \u201cbreak-out groups\u201d meeting around campus, Acker summarizes the new format as \u201cso much opportunity to do your own thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

STEM fans gather in the Suter Science Center to explore science and faith. Seminarians host \u201cwelcoming prayer.\u201d A residence life director offers co-exploration of a book about the journey from Christian to Christ follower. A staff member opens space for entering the Gospel through informal dramatics.<\/p>\n

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And there\u2019s more, Acker says. \u201cPeace Fellowship is working on an interfaith break-out group to co-host with the Center for Interfaith Engagement. And have you heard about the \u2018Chronicles of Yarnia\u2019 group? They are gathering for knitting and reflection. I love that spaces like these are now being welcomed and supported by the university, and I hope it can lead to greater change and understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

This revisioning has been years in the making.<\/p>\n

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During many past chapel services, campus pastor Brian Martin Burkholder<\/strong> watched the clock as the 30 minutes trickled away. So, too, did some of the audience \u2013 heading out to class or other commitments while music was playing, a speaker was wrapping up, or announcements finished.<\/p>\n

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The amount of time wasn\u2019t the only concern of Burkholder and the campus ministries council. They were asking questions attentive to enhancing faith and spiritual life on campus: Would other formats for gathering be more formational? Could more options be offered to meet more community and individual needs?<\/em><\/p>\n

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The experimental answer is programming that is both \u201cinvitational and intentional,\u201d Burkholder says. \u201cThis structure expands our time together, offers choices for how a person wants to engage and brings people into spaces around campus where they are both comfortable and challenged. We are broadening our ministry to better meet the growing diversity of our student body in connected and collaborative ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Pastoral assistant Luke Hertzler calls the new format \u201ca beautiful and energizing space for the EMU community to come together centered around Christ … embracing unity in diversity.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe all have different ways we experience and love God,\u201d he said. \u201cRegardless of what our God-given calling or passion is, we can still be a part of the same revitalizing, Spirit-led movement emerging across campus this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Though Acker says the break-out groups are a \u201cgreat way to celebrate our differences,\u201d she sees some \u201ckinks to work out.\u201d The fact, though, that EMU is trying something new towards the goal of engaging with the community\u2019s diverse spiritual needs is meaningful.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI hope that in doing so, we can grow and keep ourselves accountable to students\u2019 needs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WITH THE BEGINNING of the new academic year at Eastern Mennonite University comes inevitable changes \u2013 a new schedule, new courses and new demands on time. But this fall, one of the mainstays of the weekly schedule looks and feels much different. Consolidated into one weekly meeting that alternates with convocation, campus worship is now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":242,"featured_media":4188,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[946,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-winter-2018-19","category-magazine","issues-fall-winter-2018-19"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/242"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4187"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4189,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4187\/revisions\/4189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}