Yesterday I found Walla Walla College's Residence Hall Handbook.
I will quote their worship policies below and then I will make two comments.
WORSHIP POLICIESAll Residence Hall students are expected to attend campus worships. There are several worship options that are available for credit. Turning in worship cards (available at the Front Desk) are the means of keeping track of worships. Worship reeducation forms are available at the Front Desk for students who have conflicting schedules and feel that they need a reduction in the worship requirements. Your RA will post current worship totals.
These are the worship requirements, by academic credits earned:
1-44 credits earned 3 worships per week
45-89 credits earned 2 worships per week
90-135 credits earned 1 worship per week
136+ credits earned optionalWorship attendance is optional for students who are 21 or older. All students are expected to attend chapel.
We encourage you to worship together publicly and privately. It is by coming together collectively that we all experience being a part of God’s family.
As will all policies, there are consequences for noncompliance. If you do not fulfill your worship requirement, you can expect the following:
1. The first time you will be fined $25 in addition to assigned reading and report per credit.
2. The second time you will be fined $50 and will have to meet at Dean’s staff meeting on Wednesday morning between 10:30 and 12:30.
3. The third time you may be asked to take a quarter off of school to reevaluate if WWC is really the place you want to be. A new school year does not start the process over. Anytime you change in class standing, you must have completed one good quarter of attendance before receiving the next level of privileges.Monday 9:30 p.m. OPS Sittner Lobby
Tuesday 9:30 p.m. Student Huebach Chapel
Wednesday 9:30 p.m. Fireside Dale Court
Thursday 9:30 p.m. RA Your Hall
Friday Sundown Chaplains Sittner Chapel
7:30 p.m. Vespers College Church
Sunday Sunday Night Live Conard ChapelAuthorized Small Group worships that meet at least one hour weekly count as two credits.
My Two Comments:
Comment 1 I think having worship at 21:30 at night is a fabulous idea. Our worships take place at 19:15. I always feel that it cuts my evening in half and that I lose out on the following: Productivity: What happens between supper and worship? There is not enough time to do anything. Family time: All other families spend their nights together. By the time I come home from worship, my wife and daughter are in bed or on their way to bed. Prime TV. I don't really watch a lot of TV, but I long for a time when I can watch the full installment of news (19:00 - 19:30) or Amazing Race or Survivor (19:30 - 20:30).
Imagine having supper at 17:30 and spending the rest of the evening until 20:30 making maximum use of daylight hours, pursuing leisure activities like sport or watching Television. Then worship at 21:30 and by 22:00 you go to your room to study. High school can have a study hour between 20:30 and 21:30 and then go to worship, and immediately after worship they can shower and go to bed. No more worries for the deans about high school students running around uncontrolled on campus after the sun has set.
Comment 2: Mnn... I'm so excited about this new idea of worship at 21:30 that I forgot the other comment. ... aha ... I love the idea of having worship on Wednesday evenings around a fire. What if we found a spot on central campus where we could do something similar?
I'd love to hear your opinion.
5 comments:
Greetings!
I'm just wondering, if we it is wise to design our programmes after a pattern of an institution that operates within a completely different cultural and sociological context from ours.
I think that we need to examine and find the needs of our students and then seek to meet those needs.Worship programmes should not be a matter of filling in time.Dealing with people's needs also helps the organisers and administrators from having to formulate autocratic policies that seem to inhibit people's choices of being where they want to be when they so choose,including adults over 21.I'm of the belief that once people feel that worship is a place where my needs are met and the issues that i'm grappling with are adressed,they wouldn't need to be forced to attend worship.
Identifying these needs,comes with those responsible i.e Deans,chaplain and various staff members, interacting with the students.I doubt if anybody who doesn't spend time with me can know,exactly the issues i'm dealing with,hence when they stand in front of me they'll adress what they assume to be what i'm dealing with,hence they become irrelevant and you cannot force me to listen to someone who is of irrelevance to me.
I understand that the college has a responsibility to ensure the spiritual needs of the students...but maybe my question is..Is there not a better way they can do this?
Pinkpanther
Wow, well spoken Pinkpanther.
You've basically nailed it spot on. This covers the individualists' needs in everyone and not the generalization that so easily becomes the norm.
It is rather a tall order to maintain over an extended period of time though. You'll need someone with the right amount of passion to drive this sustainably.
Definite food for thought though, hope someone out there takes heed.
Later,
K.
I PERSONALY THINK THAT MAKING ANY CHANGES TO THE TIMETABLE OF THE STUDENTS WILL CAUSE CHAOS IN THE DORMS BECAUSE IT WILL TAKE A WHILE FOR THEM TO ADJUST ESPECIALLY THE HIGH SCHOOL AND SINCE THEY HAVE EXAMS COMING UP THE LAST THING THEY NEED IS A SUDDEN CHANGE OR DISTRACTION WHICH IS WHAT I VIEW THIS AS.IT IS UNECESSARY.IM SURE OUR FAMILIES UNDERSTAND IF WE HAVE TO ATTEND TO GOD AND SPEND TIME WITH HIM.AND AS FOR SURVIVOR THERE IS A REPEAT SO IM SURE IT CAN WAIT. AND WHAT ABOUT THOSE WHO WANT AN EARLY NIGHT BECAUSE SOME OF US HAVE TROUBLE WAKING UP AND NINE TO TEN IS HIGH SCHOOL FREE TIME AND SOME OF US CHOOSE TO SLEEP AT THAT TIME 0R DO SOMETHING CONSTRUCTIVE.
Pinkpanther you raise a few interesting questions:
Question: Would you say that our particular pattern of worship is much more unique than that of any other in our global community of Adventist colleges? I don't really think it is. At best our current worship practice reflects what other colleges did 10 or 15 years ago. Are we sociologically and culturally that very much different from other universities? Again, I don't think so. We watch the same television series as they do. We also own I-pods and surf the internet. We hear the same sermons that they do on Hope TV and invite their best speakers to come to our camp meetings and weeks of prayer.
While I agree with the principle of contextualisation, I do not think that we should expect it to be of value in every situation. Also, perhaps the content of our worship is in more need of contextualisation than the time at which it takes place. What governs the time for our worship is an issue of practicality and not necessarily a need to be unique or relevant.
I agree with you on the needs issue. I've served on the worship committee for almost three years now and on various other bodies similar to it in other contexts. At times I've been painfully aware of the fact that we do not always hit the mark when it comes to what we offer.
I still feel though that we should not close ourselves off to the experiences of others. At one of the universities, I see that they encourage students to form their own small groups and that they give worship credits for participation on these small groups. I think this is a good idea. It gives the students more power and responsibility to meet their needs.
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Anonymous:
You sound like one of those 80 year old church members that I pastored who were part of a small dying congregation. You seem very averse to any change and you cloak it in a language of piety.
But it does not matter. One of these days I will buy myself a pvr. Then I can tape Survivor, even if I am not there to watch it :-)
I must agree with Weiers and when can we start
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