Senior Elayna McClure (third from left) hosts her weekly Bible study in Rockwell Towers on Sept. 1. McClure said her small group usually reads verses from Philippians and discusses their thoughts. Photos by Jordan Baquiran
Spiritual Life Advisors (SLAs) are student leaders intended to be pastoral guides for their student residents, according to Pepperdine Housing and Residence Life (HRL).
Pepperdine strives for academic excellence while also maintaining their Christian values, said Zachary Luben, director of Student Convocation. The Chapel program is intended to promote Pepperdine’s religious core.
“We invite students to think of love, truth, goodness and beauty from a distinctly Christian perspective,” Luben said. “To nurture their faith, to invite people to explore what a good and beautiful life looks like.”
Optional Residential Bible Studies
In recent years, SLAs led Connection Chapel and it counted toward students’ Chapel credit, Luben said. However, this semester, SLAs are no longer partnered with the Chapel program and thus do not lead Bible studies tied to Chapel courses credit.
“Part of the program’s revision was to shift Chapel from being a letter grade, based solely on attendance, to being a credit-no-credit program based upon 80% completion of the Chapel,” Luben said. “The other big shift we made is that it is now a graduation requirement.”
In addition, faculty and staff now lead Chapel in order to assess “80% completion” rather than student leaders, Luben said.
This change only affects SLAs in first-year and sophomore housing, said Spencer Slater, associate director of Housing and Residence Life. SLAs in junior and senior housing are already accustomed to leading weekly small groups, which have never been obligatory for their residents.
“Residence-specific small groups offer a space where, ideally, students who live with one another get to engage in a specific topic they are interested in and go deeper with their neighbors in community,” said Daniel Ramli, Rockwell Towers Resident Director (RD).
Flyers posted around Rockwell Towers list SLA-hosted Bible studies throughout the week. Towers Resident Director Daniel Ramli said SLAs complete a Google Form reflecting on the performance of their small group meeting every week. Graphic courtesy of Daniel Ramli
Ramli said optional attendance at the Bible studies allows students to participate by choice, letting SLAs dive deeper into biblical topics they are passionate about.
“Before SLAs came back to campus for our training, I asked them to be praying and thinking, ‘What is something God has placed on your heart that not only a resident would be excited to learn about, but that you would want to be excited to share about?’” Ramli said. “For these small groups, it really matters that the SLAs are fully excited about what they’re teaching because residents see that.”
Building a Spiritually-Focused Community
Senior Elayna McClure, an SLA for Rockwell Towers, said this change puts more responsibility on her to encourage students to participate.
McClure said she was worried students would not come to her meetings by choice, but since going door-to-door to residents, posting flyers in the halls and texting in the Towers GroupMe to promote her Bible studies, she is happy with the turnout thus far.
“I was concerned people wouldn’t be attending just because it is voluntary,” McClure said. “However, I have found that not only are people attending my Bible study, but they’re also engaging.”
Senior Elayna McClure points to flyers promoting her weekly Bible study, “The Path to Contentment,” on Sept. 1. McClure said she plans to go through the book of Philippians this semester, focusing on what it means to be content with where God has placed each person in their life.
Students who attend Bible studies willingly are able to enrich the discussions, Ramli said. When students are disinterested, it can diminish the experience for the group.
“This year, my attendance is down because I do not have 15 students forced to come to my Bible study, but it’s seven girls who want to engage,” McClure said.
This story was copy edited by Haylie Ross.
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Contact Jordan Baquiran via email: jordanisabel.baquiran@pepperdine.edu