D&E Chapel
DMPC Helps Give Birth to a New Worshipping Community at Davis & Elkins College
Over the course of the 2014 Fall Semester and the beginning of the 2015 Spring Semester, a group of Davis and Elkins College students discussed an interest in creating a new worshiping community on campus. The group discernment began with a desire was to have a weekly service for students, staff, and faculty to worship God together and share their faith. There had been a monthly chapel service with sparse attendance, but no weekly opportunity for some time.
In January, 2015 the College Chaplain, Rev. Kevin Starcher, brought together the group of students who had expressed interest in developing this new worshiping community. The group began meeting three times a week, opening with a short devotion and then discussing how to begin the weekly, student lead chapel service. Rev. Starcher encouraged the group to continue meeting with set requirements. He said that he is grateful that the student body wants to have this weekly worship service, and to be successful, the effort needed structure, leadership, and dedication that had to come from student discipleship. Five students had to be willing and ready to be engaged in the creation of this service, including being actively involved in the meetings, promotion, as well as the service. Rev. Starcher gave the group the greatest of confidence when he reminded the group to just give it to God. If the group trusted that God wanted the service to happen, then it would fall into place if there were people willing to work and willing to follow. The discernment process was – and continues to be – at all times held in prayer.
Once a dedicated leadership team had been established the group designated roles and responsibilities. Another level needed to be reached. The group decided to conduct a survey to better understand what the student body wanted out of a new worshiping community. From all the answers given by the student body the leadership team continued the discernment process by creating a mission statement and a structured order of worship.
The mission statement of the New Worshipping Community, simply called “D&E Chapel”, is “To empower students with seeds of spiritual growth and to inspire discipleship in an open, faith-based community.” The statement exemplifies and communicates the community’s desire to form new disciples of Jesus Christ within the context of an inclusive, student-led service. A student-led approach to ministry was chosen over a model that is staff-led because of an innate desire to change the way young adults view church, and to provide a service that varies from a blanket approach. It is the hope of this group to engage the college community in a creative and innovative manner, inspiring practical application in the lives of community members when they leave the service.
Following weeks of promotion around campus, the first service was held in Robbins Memorial Chapel on Sunday evening, March 15th, 2015. The leadership team was a bit apprehensive, wondering how many people would show up for the inaugural meeting. Quickly, the apprehension melted into gratitude as 28 members of the campus community gathered for praise and worship. Throughout the rest of the academic year twenty to thirty D&E community members gathered weekly for praise, prayers, and worship.
Word of God’s blessings on this community quickly spread. A generous donor offered to pay for a light meal following each service to enhance the community, while neighboring Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church agreed to sponsor this new worshipping community with accountability and financial support. The session of DMPC quickly offered a grant for up to $5,000 to help with the programming needs of D&E Chapel. Finally, the group applied through the PC(USA)’s New Worshipping Communities Initiative for a seed grant to further strengthen the program of D&E Chapel. The D&E Chapel leadership team was thrilled to learn on August 10th that is had received a $7,500 seed grant to support programmatic needs and strengthen student leadership.
To say that the D&E Chapel leadership team is excited for the next academic year would be an understatement. With widespread support across town at DMPC, the Presbytery Office, and the PCUSA Mission Agency, as well as excitement around campus, the group is excitedly praying for the adventure for another semester of ministry with young adults on campus.
