Thursday morning chapel is getting a format and purpose shift with an eye towards attracting more students to attend.
Bud Mccluney, the Campus Pastor at Ottawa University, spoke about the change and why it was made “In the past we’d start off with someone who would do some music, usually just a performance,” he said. “We’d have a pastor or guest speaker come in and it was like a lecture.” Of course, students are lectured to all the time in class. Mccluney wanted to do something different.
Another problem is that attendance at the Thursday morning chapels was very low. No one wanted to come to them. The new format is held in the meditation chapel, with large and small group discussions on broad topics. The goal is to ” try to make it more of a workshop style interactive event,” Mccluney said. His goal is to have 75 students attending by December.
Mccluney said that Thursday morning chapels at 11 a.m. have always been a little different from Sunday night. Sunday night chapels at 9 p.m. are usually student-led worship services. They are definitely religious activities, very similar to a contemporary church service with some music and a short sermon. “Thursday was designed as a combination of the religious and academic,” Mccluney said. “And now it’s leaning more towards the academic with a religious touch to it.”
The first new-format meeting was held on Thursday, September 24. The topic was “what it means to be a spiritual being.” A few questions on the subject were posed to the students who then broke into smaller groups to discuss. After the small group discussion the floor was fully opened up for different groups to share and discuss their answers to the questions
Courtney Mabe, a freshman, enjoyed the new chapel. “I thought it was a very good experience for the Ottawa students to congregate and talk about their spiritual beliefs,” she said.
Dr. Richard Menninger, Professor of Religion and Chair of the Religion department, said that he feels the new Thursday chapel is getting off to a good start. “There was good discussion and sharing without anyone attacking another person’s beliefs,” he said. “If we have good support I think this concept will prove beneficial for all those taking part.”