Worship, prayer, community
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ISSUE: 10/10/07 > Features > Worship, Prayer, Community
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These students taking part in Synodia, a new weekly worship service at Belmont, reveal that it provides a framework for Christian students to experience worship both as indivduals and as part of a group. The service is at 7 p.m. Wednesdays. |
Organized by students for the benefit of students, Synodia, pronounced “soon – a – dee – a”, is meant to be true to the meaning of its name, “a journey in company.” The leaders of this new weekly worship service held at 7 p.m. Wednesdays on campus hope to reach out to students from all Christian backgrounds.
“I think the purpose is to kind of break those denominational boundaries and come together in unity knowing that Jesus is Christ and we are brothers and sisters,” senior Callie McKinney, one of the leaders, said.
Refuge, the former citywide college worship service, came to a close this past summer. Because many Belmont students over the years took advantage of that worship opportunity, campus ministers Guy Chmieleski and Christy Ridings wanted to start something new for Belmont students.
“It seemed like a good time to move toward something more campus-based,” Chmieleski said.
Because Refuge was an event for students from multiple universities, Chmieleski distinguishes Synodia as a solely Belmont gathering. The campus ministers, though only serving as advisors and not actually running Synodia, are available at each of the services to help students connect with small community groups and outreach and missions opportunities.
Another feature of Synodia, which is held in the Maddox Grand Atrium, is that it is an all-music service. There is no sermon or speaker.
“We wanted to start it small and simple and allow God and students to shape it to what they felt would be something meaningful,” Chmieleski said.
The plan was to have music with some prayer and Scripture reading at the first Synodia and then to add a speaking component the second week. However, the student leaders met after the first week and all agreed they wanted to keep doing an entirely-music worship service for a while.
“Everybody felt it was just supposed to be worship - worship and prayer and community,” senior Adam Rae, one of the leaders, said.
In the future, they may bring in a speaker.
“But as for now, if this is what students want, that’s what we are going to do,” Chmieleski said.
Lisa Klingensmith, a junior audio and video production major, has attended Synodia multiple times.
“I felt it was another way I could worship,” she said. “It wasn’t the same. It wasn’t boring to me. I liked it a lot.”
Last spring Chmieleski contacted students who had previously been involved in campus ministries and asked if they’d like to start a new worship ministry. A number of students responded.
“The ownership of it is very spread out so it’s not one person doing everything,” Rae said.
For the first service, fliers were handed out at the activities fair, posters were put up the day of the first service, and some leaders sent out Facebook invitations. Despite the fact they’ve done little to advertise Synodia, in the first couple weeks, about 150 students attended.
“I feel like we’re off to a good start,” Chmieleski said. “We really didn’t know whether to expect five students or 500 students.”
Synodia leaders aren’t concerned about how many students show up.
“It’s not about the success in numbers,” Rae said. “It’s not about the singers or even the music. It’s about coming to find God.”
At Synodia, the worship leaders play music, but they also bring other elements into the service. For example, one week they told the students to sing their own songs to God at the same time.
“The whole place was singing something different. That was a unique moment,” Rae said.
Another night students were given the opportunity to shout out their favorite name of God or read something from the Bible.
“It turned into this Scripture-reading time,” Rae said. “Someone in the back on the right read a Scripture they were gripping onto and then someone in the front left would follow.”
Freshman PR major Allison Hurst appreciates the unity of a group so diverse.
“Even though there are so many different people here, we’re all united in Christ,” Hurst said. “It’s cool to get together with a bunch of people that I don’t know but I can still call them my family – my brothers and sisters in Christ.”
Synodia isn’t the only group on campus in which students can worship God. However, Chmieleski said the other religious groups serve more of a niche of students. Students with particular backgrounds or who are involved in certain activities normally associate with corresponding organizations. Synodia is meant to be more all encompassing.
“You have very charismatic students there, but you’ve also got students who are much more reserved in how they choose to worship,” Chmieleski said. “The hope is that we’re creating a space where anyone feels comfortable worshiping how they want to worship.”
Synodia leaders look forward to continuing to create a place where students believe they can meet God alongside other Christians.
“We feel like we’re meeting a need with a number of students, and we feel like God will continue to draw people there who want and need to be there,” Chmieleski said. “As long as we’re meeting needs on campus by creating a space for students to come together and worship, we feel like it’s a really good thing.”
