Chapel at Western Theological Seminary

Introduction

The peace of Christ be with you!

Western Theological Seminary is a worshipping community. We have a wonderful tradition of inviting students, staff, and faculty to prepare and lead worship each weekday. This is a deeply formative activity; in our encounter with God we are restored, reoriented, remade. Corporate worship shapes us spiritually, educationally, and institutionally. It is at the heart of what we do, preparing women and men to lead the church in mission and ministry.

Nearly every weekday we gather as a community to:

pray for ourselves and for our world,
sing and be silent,
confess and receive pardon,
praise and lament,
proclaim and enact the good news,
and to witness and testify to God's work among us.

TIMING. We meet at 9:55am in Mulder Chapel, during a break in the schedule expressly devoted to being and building community. Services are approximately 20 minutes long. On Wednesdays, there are no classes scheduled, and the community is encouraged to find time in the day for personal devotions. On Friday, a faculty member preaches and the whole community is invited to come to the Table to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, to taste and see how good God is. On these days, services are about 30 minutes.

LOCATION. We do all of this in Mulder Chapel, whose beauty and flexibility shapes our expectations for where and how God will show up.

LEADERSHIP. Attendance at chapel is not mandatory, but leading worship and receiving evaluative feedback is a key piece of each students’ co-curricular learning. Staff and guests from the community round out the roster of those who help to lead worship each day. The team who offer advice, provide resources, and otherwise assist students in preparing services is made up of these people:

The administrative assistant = Cherri Westhouse
The student Chapel Stewards for 2023-24 = Emily Hanrahan, Vanessa Funk, Jeremiah Mitchell, Shaundra Fairfield, Allison Eding, Susan Fennema, AJ Funk, Ruth Langkamp, Lucas Grove, and Katy Kroondyk
The Faculty Advisors = Prof. Ron Rienstra (aided occasionally by Sue Rozeboom, Chuck DeGroat, Travis West, Madison Pierce, Winn Collier, and Alberto la Rosa Rojas)
The rest of the community at WTS - Students, Faculty, Staff

RESOURCES. It can be intimidating to be responsible for everything related to Chapel: knowing what scriptures to use, listening for a Word to proclaim, leading pastorally in prayer, preparing a bulletin or powerpoint, selecting and rehearsing music, reporting items for copyright, finding an A/V technician, choosing a space set-up, etc. This website is designed to make all the materials you’ll need easily available.

STRUCTURE. Typically, students or staff prepare some variation on either a service of Prayer, or Proclamation. You can learn more about each type of service from the links on the home page this website. Your Chapel Steward will be happy to help you prepare a service that either conforms to some of our patterns, or deliberately and creatively departs from them.