The Reality of Chapel

Editor’s Note: Bluefield College junior Aynae Simmons shares her thoughts about her experiences in chapel.

Every Wednesday, students go to Bluefield College’s required chapel service. We sit for about an hour (sometimes more) to listen to songs and hear a speaker. 

I can see they’re trying hard to incorporate more “modern” things happening in churches, like having a basketball player rap a verse or having a speaker that relates to students. In my opinion, they aren’t doing a very good job. It seems that they try too hard and miss the mark completely. 

Students listen to the same three songs and have to stand for all of them. I’m sorry, but doesn’t that get a little boring? If you want your students to be engaged, shouldn’t you find out what they actually like or want to talk about? Use that in chapel. 

We have about one good speaker throughout the whole year. Notice what I said: year. I feel that everyone else just cannot connect with students. It’s like they’re lecturing the Word to us instead of trying to help us understand it with real-world problems. 

An example would be the week of October 2, where the speaker droned on and on about his life and the Bible. It wasn’t interesting or engaging. Students just need speakers that can help them get through college and life with God. They want variations of songs that make them feel something and not just to pass the time. It needs to change or students will have the same negative feelings toward Wednesday chapels. If this is something that we have to go to in order to graduate, at least make it worth the credits. 

Editor’s Note: Continue the conversation. Share your thoughts about chapel by adding a comment below.