Reinventing Chapel

Susan Cooper | February 2009

Every other Friday at 8:50 a.m. the gym/auditorium at Whitinsville Christian School is buzzing with activity. It's chapel time. An elementary gym class finishes up while the fifth grade tech crew wheels in a piano and podium. Other members of the tech crew open the soundboard and hook up a mic, while the elementary chapel committee prays together and receives some last minute instructions. The students file in by class and prepare for a worship and teaching time. By 9:15 a.m., the students are singing a closing song and prepare to return back to class, hopefully with an age-appropriate message in their heads and hearts. The tech crew whisks away the piano, podium and mic and a first grade gym class begins.

It wasn't always like this. In the past, elementary chapels were infrequent and longer. We had chapel one or two times a quarter. There was little predictable structure and the students didn't know what to expect. Behavior standards were difficult to reinforce as the students identified the gym as a place to move around and be noisy. The chapels themselves were adult generated and led, and while carefully planned, didn't always hit the mark of the students' needs.

It was time for a radical change and in the spring of 2003, the elementary faculty decided to completely revamp chapels. We decided that shorter but more frequent chapel times would be more beneficial to the needs of elementary students. We would strive for some consistency and order, but try to not be boring and rote. We would set clear behavior standards and reinforce them firmly so students could concentrate on the chapel content, not each other.

The biggest change would be to form an elementary chapel committee composed of 10 fourth and fifth grade students and a couple of faculty advisors. They would plan and lead the chapels. Each committee would serve for a semester. This change has probably had the biggest impact on the role of chapels in the faith development of students, both as individuals and as a student body. It has been my privilege to work with the Chapel Kids for the past five years.

Students who wish to serve on the chapel committee fill out a simple application that clearly states the obligations of a committee member. Students must be ready to miss a recess - meetings are at lunch recess on Wednesdays. They must be willing to be team players, to learn their part and occasionally write up a prayer or reflection on a topic. They must also be ready to walk the talk. We hold Chapel Kids to a high standard of behavior. On the application, students write five sentences stating why they want to serve and what they can contribute to the committee. The faculty advisors select the committee. Generally we have 15 - 25 students applying for the 10 - 12 spots. Students who are not selected are encouraged to reapply next time. Sometimes there are sad faces when the acceptance letters go out, but we try our best to involve as many students as we can.

With chapels every other week, there is not much time to plan and polish. We have a usual order of worship: singing, opening prayer, scripture, message, and closing. Small skits (3 - 5 minutes) are the preferred method to communicate the message. The Chapel Kids love to act out situations or stories and skits are engaging to the K - 5 audience. Once in a while we have a speaker.

We try to make the skits very specific to our students' experiences. When we did a chapel on bullying, we acted out situations that students have really experienced at our school. At one point last year we had three chapel kids with broken bones. In a skit we explored how we can give thanks in all things. The students showed how a broken leg is a bad thing, but we can be thankful for doctors, x - rays, and parents who take care of us. In another skit on thankfulness, we showed a video clip of the lunch line and counted how many students said, "Thank you."

Sometimes the skits show negative examples to make a point. Usually we try to model the positive and give students words and actions to use in various situations. In a chapel on good sportsmanship, we had some high school basketball players model sportsmanship in both winning and losing. As we plan chapels, we constantly remind ourselves of two questions. Who is our audience? Are we being real?

Chapel planning usually runs on a two-week cycle. The first week we decide the topic of the next chapel. The leaders usually have a topic ready as there are certain events in the school calendar that we want to highlight such as Operation Christmas Child, a food drive, or holiday. Some chapels are set aside to explore the school theme for the year. Our last chapel of the year is usually a time of reflection on the year and the theme.

Once we know the topic, we lead the students to brainstorm ideas. Fourth and fifth grade students have no shortage of ideas! We constantly ask questions such as, "Will the Kindergarten students understand what we are trying to say? How can we act this out? How does this relate to the theme verse?" By the end of the meeting, we have a note page of ideas that one of the advisors turns into a skit. We try to get that script to the chapel kids by Friday so they can learn their parts. The next Wednesday we practice and the following Friday is the chapel. We usually sneak an extra practice in the day of chapel before school.

The skits are short and if possible, involve all the committee members. No one has many lines to learn and the situations are familiar so the lines feel natural. Once in a while we have a speaker, or the adults play the main roles to give the students a little break or more time to prepare an upcoming chapel. The students also open and close the chapels in prayer - prayers they write up ahead of time. This helps them learn the elements of an opening or closing prayer and practice leading corporate prayer.

As we look back over the last five years, we are very pleased with the effect of the redesigned chapels. As a student body, the elementary students' behavior is now appropriate and respectful. Corporate singing is enthusiastic and students are attentive listeners. The lessons presented are often referenced in the classroom and on the playground. We are able to carefully examine our yearly school theme and apply it to daily life in real, concrete ways. Above all, we feel that we are doing more to nurture the faith development of our students not just because adults are talking about Jesus but because students are sharing what He is doing in their lives as well.

Our chapel committee participants are reaping the benefits as well. They have an opportunity to be leaders, learn to communicate their faith with others, and work as a team. They also learn the importance of walking the talk. They take their responsibilities seriously and serve enthusiastically. We have seen these students grow personally and go on to serve in middle school leadership roles. We are so proud of them!

Here's a note I received from a student who served last semester:

Dear Mrs. Cooper,
I wanted to thank you for such a great time on chapel committee. I learned a lot this semester and I made a couple good friends from chapel. Normally, some of these kids I probably wouldn't even say hi to, but now that I've met them its going to be weird not seeing them every Wednesday. I also realized that chapel committee wasn't just skits and praying because I got a lot more out of it. Thank you for all you've done.

Serving on the chapel committee with my fellow advisors and the students has been a rewarding experience. It is also hectic and sometimes trying with the next chapel always looming and the need for constant creativity. There is always another skit to write! Through it all, God works in his children to teach all of us, not just the students. I learn so much from them.

Susan Cooper is assistant librarian and co-chair of the elementary chapel committee at Whitinsville Christian School in Whitinsville, MA