By Hannah Stafford, News Editor
Asbury University is known for unashamedly exercising spiritual vitality among the faculty and students on campus and using that to build community. One way this has been accomplished in the past is through weekly hall meetings known as Koinonia and more recently, Gather. Gather meeting times were set by each individual hall and the content was left mostly to the spiritual life assistant’s (SLA) discretion. However, this year’s students can expect some significant changes.
“The structure of Gather was changed by our Spiritual Life Staff after much discussion, prayer and reviewing feedback from the past year,” said Emily Veatch, senior and SLC of Glide-Crawford. “As an SLC, I saw a great need for more structure. The new changes offer that and more. The most common complaint across campus is that we’re all so busy.
Rather than having these spiritual life events scattered across the whole week with little attendance, we hope people will be more inclined to participate because it is a much easier time commitment.”
The new campus-wide spiritual life hour is Wednesdays at 9 p.m. For two Wednesdays each month, this hour is designated for Gather, which is an SLA- led Bible study or testimony focused on individual growth in the hall. The other two Wednesday evenings of the month are more focused on the campus as a whole. It is at these times that events such as Word and Boom Talk will occur. Word is focused on Bible study and worship, while Boom Talks are campus-wide panels, hosted by students, faculty, chapel speakers and other guests. Their purpose is to engage deep discussion among students on cultural, sociological and spiritual issues.
Ramey Turner, a sophomore and one of this year’s new SLAs in Glide- Crawford said, “I am really excited about the changes. At first I was disappointed because I was viewing it as less time with the hall and just ‘one more thing to commit to,’ but then I realized that they were just streamlining the ministries in order to increase participation and involvement, and I am all for that!”
Not only does this streamline Gather, but it also gives a vision for a unified campus.
Trajan Smith, a sophomore and new SLA in Johnson said, “It gives our campus a vision and direction as a whole. Kind of like a no one left behind type mentality. There’s room intentionally made for the Spirit to work and move.”
The biggest aim of this new format is to engage the campus in discussion.
“I personally believe that these changes are both significant and beneficial to our campus as a whole,” Anna Corbitt, a senior and SLA in Glide-Crawford, said. “We as students will all have the opportunity to study the same topics each week, which will hopefully encourage and in influence conversations across campus as we live in community. We have the chance to learn and grow together not only as our individual halls, but also as a student body.”
“What excites me most about the changes is that they present the opportunity for more campus-wide discussion,” Veatch said. “My hope is that the new spiritual life hour would cultivate deep conversations by digging into the Word, tackling hard topics, sharing testimonies and
learning practical ways to become more like Christ.”
