Spiritual Life

Yes. Messiah's student body gathers together on Tuesday and Thursday mornings as well as Tuesday evenings to attend chapel services. Chapel at Messiah University is a central expression of our identity as a community of Christians with a deep commitment to spiritual growth and academic excellence. In chapel we seek to nurture holistic Christian faith through:

• worship that expresses our faith with a full range of contemporary and traditional forms
• teaching that connects God's Word and our world
• community building that affirms our common identity in Christ and celebrates our diversity

Each student is required to attend 14 chapels per semester. Students record their chapel attendance electronically with student I.D. cards.

On Tuesday mornings the Worship Community leads music in these contemporary services. We say that these services are anchored in the Word, exalting Lord Jesus. On Tuesday evenings chapel is unplugged, and sometimes these take shape as lectures or workshops and not worship services. These are designed to help students explore the implications of the Christian faith for life and culture. On Thursday mornings two student groups (The Student Chaplains and World Christian Fellowship) alternate planning and leading chapel. At the same time educator-led small groups take place around campus. These are delivered as 6-week series, with about a dozen offered during the first half of the semester and a dozen more during the second half.

Small groups and Bible studies give you the opportunity to connect with your peers in a more informal setting. The University’s main small-group ministry on campus, propelled by student leaders, is Koinonia—dedicated to small group ministry, leadership training and relationship building.

See our opportunities page for more information about some of the other ministry programs on campus: The Loft, AROMA, Zugos, The Theology Club, Powerhouse, Acclamation.

Each year approximately 98 percent of the graduating class participated in some form of community service through the University's Agape Center for Service and Learning. During summer or spring breaks, on the weekends or in their spare time, Messiah students find ways to serve.

Any student with prior small group experience is invited to apply to serve as a Koinonia small group leader.  You can lead a group of friends or we will assign a group to you.  We provide peer mentoring as well as resources for making your group meaningful and successful.

The Prayer Team is led by the student prayer chaplain.  They meet weekly in the campus Prayer Chapel to pray for campus and to plan prayer-mobilization events on campus.

World Christian Fellowship is a student led organization that works to create a missions focus and global lens for Messiah students to use in transforming everyday life.  The WCF  team is in charge of planning the Salt and Light Thursday chapels series. 

The Chaplain team is a group of upperclass students who are selected to oversee the primary ministry and discipleship organizations on campus and who plan spiritual life initiatives for the campus as a whole.

While Messiah University does not require students to attend church on Sunday mornings, it is strongly encouraged that students connect with a local congregation. Many of the local congregations send either buses or vans to campus to pick up students for Sunday services. (Transportation opportunities are listed for current students to attend various local churches for worship on the Campus Ministries website.)