As a Christ-centered living and learning community, Grove City College sees spiritual formation as an essential part of the student experience.
The Office of Christian Formation develops Chapel programs and oversees campus ministries. Throughout the academic year, it provides weekly opportunities to worship, pray, study, and explore the implications of a faith-filled life, including Worship Wednesday services, all-campus Bible study and prayer meetings, and faculty-led “Fivers.” The Faith for Life series of evening events features guest speakers and special events like Homecoming Worship and musical performances.
Worship Wednesdays, a midday service led by Rev. Dr. Don Opitz, chaplain and senior director of Christian Formation, focuses this fall on “The Reach of Acts (Journey Outward.)” Luke’s ”second gospel” will be taken up in sermons by Opitz and a series of guest and faculty preachers – including alumnus Rev. Jim Kilmartin ’98, pastor of Center City Church, Altoona, Pa., and Grove City College professors Dr. Carl R. Trueman, Dr. Mark Graham, and Rev. Dr. Donald Shepson.
“Working through Acts gives us lots of opportunities to preach about the centrality and power of the Gospel, the importance and purpose of the church, and the challenges and joy of taking the message on the road. It sets the stage for our Mission Awareness Week in October,” Opitz said.
Five-week, educator led mini-series known as Fivers are held on Friday mornings alongside an All-Campus Bible Study on the Gospel of Luke and a Prayer Gathering in Harbison Chapel. “Fivers give students the chance to get to know beloved educators even better while studying the Bible, practicing a spiritual discipline, reading a faith-nurturing book together, or addressing important issues of theology and Christian life,” Opitz said.
The Faith for Life series is designed to help students explore the implications of faith and develop a Christian perspective for life in the world, according to Opitz. This fall’s lectures by guest speakers and faculty cover a range of subjects. “This semester our conviction that Christ is Lord of All will lead us to discussions about friendship, moral formation, human sexuality, and discerning truth in the noise of the news,” he said. Faith for Life lectures are free and open to the public.
The Faith for Life speaker schedule includes:
- “Christian Friendship” – Rev. Sam Allberry, author, speaker, and pastor of Immanuel Nashville Church, at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 14 in Harbison Chapel.
- “Story and the Moral Imagination” – Dr. Vigen Gurioan, professor of Religious Studies, University of Virginia, and senior fellow with the Trinity Forum, at 7 p.m., Sept. 20, in Sticht Lecture Hall of the Staley Hall of Arts and Letters.
- “The First Sexual Revolution” – Rev. Dr. Kevin DeYoung, senior pastor of Christ Covenant Church, Matthews, N.C., at 7 p.m. Oct 3 in Ketler Auditorium of the Pew Fine Arts Center.
- “Discipleship for All of Life” – Robert Crow, chief development officer, Multiply 222 Network, at 7 p.m. Oct. 11 in Sticht Lecture Hall.
- “Global Mission Week: Global Christianity - A Gospel Witness” – Eliah Massey, Urdu Center for Reformed Theology, at 7 p.m. Oct. 25 in Sticht Lecture Hall.
- “Cultivating Trust Amid a Crisis of Knowledge” – Dr. Jeffrey Bilbro, associate professor of English, and Bonnie Kristian, journalist and author, at 7 p.m. Nov. 9 in Sticht Lecture Hall,
Christian formation is an integral component of the living and learning experience that defines Grove City College. To emphasize the importance of having a united spiritual core, students are required to attend Chapel events and full-time students are expected to earn at least 12 Chapel per semester.