Northwestern Cares about Your Spiritual Development

Recently, it seems like every time I check the mail, I am deluged with mailers from institutions from far and wide, all vying for my 17-year-old’s enrollment. If I’m honest, the task of choosing a school can feel overwhelming at times, just another venue for death by option that has become part of daily life.

However, for followers of Jesus, this process isn’t just about picking a school from a myriad of options and hoping that we got it right. In a world where YouTube and AI are at our fingertips, it isn’t even about picking the right source of more information. And at a time when our attention is monopolized and dictated by our algorithms and social media, what we give our focus to has become more important than ever. As my pastor likes to say, “A person becomes what they think about all day long”. If that’s true, then picking a college is not simply about education, information, or attention, it is about the work of transformation.

Here at University of Northwestern–St. Paul, our goal is not to be just another source of information or to be one more thing clamoring for attention. It is to provide intentional invitations to turn down the noise and instead fix our eyes upon Jesus, author and perfector of our faith.  

This is the reason for our daily chapel experience. Chapel exists so that we aren’t just giving lip service to the fact that spiritual formation is a priority, we also have a structure to support its cultivation and growth. While there are many lenses that we could use to focus on Jesus, at Northwestern, we have adopted a weekly rhythm of story, prayer, Scripture, and praise.

Here’s what a typical week of chapel looks like:

My Story Mondays – these chapels feature speakers from within and outside UNW and center around personal story and testimony. It’s a chance for students to hear how God has been at work in someone’s life over time—how their background, faith, and calling have all come together in a real and lived-out way.

Prayer Chapel Tuesdays – this is a time for students to pause, reflect, and pray both individually and together in the more contemplative setting of the beautiful Naz Chapel.

Wednesdays in the Word – this is the anchor point of our week, when we dive into the Word of God as a community with our preaching pastor in residence, Chris Asmus. This past year, our theme was “Becoming by Beholding”, leaning into the idea that when we look for Jesus throughout the pages of Scripture, we become more like Him.

Alt Chapel Thursdays – these chapels are decentralized and hosted by a variety of students, staff, and faculty on campus. This is a valuable space because it gives additional options and agency for students to explore themes and topics and benefit from the broader experience and perspective of our UNW community.

Praise Chapel Fridays – student led and all worship through song, these gatherings put a nice exclamation point on the end of busy weeks, providing space to for us to celebrate who God is and what He’s done and express thanksgiving for His faithfulness.

This journey of spiritual formation is not one embarked on alone. A secondary benefit of these regular and intentional opportunities is the community and relationships that are formed around the shared experiences that we have. As an alum of UNW, I can speak to the uniqueness of the friendships that I formed while I was there. There are friends that I still connect with every day even after all this time. I think that the bonds that are formed around corporate worship and mutual growth in proximity to the heart of Jesus are a taste of what we can expect in the kingdom of God and thus they are different and have more longevity than normal friendships.

In addition to chapel, there are so many other opportunities for spiritual growth in community at Northwestern. As you continue to discern if Lord is calling you to consider us as an option, here’s my encouragement: don’t see UNW as a destination. See it as a launching pad for what God has already started your life. With that in mind come hungry, expectant, and ready to jump in with both feet to this formational season. I am excited to see not only what the Lord wants to do IN you during this time but also what He wants to do THROUGH you as you continue to walk with Jesus and become more like Him.