Spiritual Life

The mission of the Malone University Spiritual Formation Office is to contribute to students' spiritual formation by building them up to know, love and serve Jesus Christ. We provide Christian faith development opportunities for individuals and groups in a variety of campus contexts.

 

Spiritual Formation

 

Spiritual Formation staff members work closely with students, university staff and faculty to facilitate spiritual formation. Programs are designed to encourage personal and campus-wide spiritual development, participation in society as Kingdom citizens, and spiritual and moral accountability. The offices of the University Chaplain, Director of Spiritual Formation, and Director of Service Learning are located in the Randall Campus Center.

Service/Outreach

The practical aspects of Christian commitment, such as service and evangelism, take students outside of the Malone community. To serve the poor and needy locally, students organize to help in soup kitchens, collect food for the hungry and participate in other outreach programs.

A little further from home, students may participate in service or spiritual development trips to urban centers of major cities or other areas of the United States that are in need. Trips outside the borders of the United States are planned each year, such as trips to Africa, China, Central America and Eastern Europe. Trips vary each year; for more information, see the Director of Service Learning.

The Chapel Program

Within Malone's Christian framework, students are required to accumulate Spiritual Formation credits because we believe that all teaching of truth must be built on a foundation of God's truth.

In the same way that the University require students to study the truth of physical science, the arts, and literature, we see no contradiction in requiring students to study God's truth. Chapel facilitates students' experience and understanding of God's truth through study of the Bible, exposure to corporate worship, and opportunities to understand the relationship offered to us in Christ.

Spiritual Formation goals include providing opportunities:

• to understand and develop a personal faith in Jesus Christ
• for the University community to understand and experience a deeper relationship with God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit through worship, which is indispensable for personal wholeness
• to understand the implications of the Christian faith by addressing pertinent character, cultural, and theological issues leading to a life-long commitment to service, and consequently to positively influencing our campus culture
• to address our cultural tendency toward individualism by providing a forum which uniquely reinforces a sense of campus community and identity.

• to address our cultural tendency toward individualism by providing a forum which uniquely reinforces a sense of campus community and identity.

Integrity Violations: The following are violations which will incur a disciplinary sanction issued by the Vice President for Student Development:

• Students scanning a student ID card for chapel attendance without having attended that chapel.
• Students scanning an ID card other than their own.
• Any action considered by the Spiritual Formation Committee to constitute a violation.

Community Worship Etiquette: Community Worship is not merely a student assembly. Since the purpose is public and corporate worship for the entire Malone community, the following instructions are listed in order to enhance and enrich the worship experience for everyone:

• Please remove all hats out of respect for our purpose and reverence for God (as in the attitude of Moses removing his shoes in the presence of God).
• Please do not leave your seat at the end of Chapel until formally dismissed by the speaker.
• Please do not bring food or drink into the worship center.
• Please refrain from the use of headphones, laptop computers and cell phones.
• Please refrain from talking, studying and otherwise disturbing others around you.

 

Church Services

Church services are provided by churches representing various denominations in the Canton community. Students are encouraged to regularly attend the church of their choice and to involve themselves as much as possible in its worship and service. Church involvement is seen as an important area of development in growing as a mature member of the body of Christ. A list of area churches and articles about choosing a church are available in the Randall Campus Center (the Barn) - Bennett Lounge - or via these web pages. 

The Rose Room

The Rose Room on the upper level of the Randall Campus Center is available for private quiet meditation and reflection whenever the building is open. It is not available for group meetings.