At SCCS, weekly chapels are an intrinsic part of the spiritual growth of students and the school community. Chapel is the time each week where the entire school, secondary and elementary separately, gathers together to worship the Lord in song, in prayer, and in the study of His Word.
“God uses our chapel time to both encourage and challenge students, faculty, staff, and parents,” shared Wiley Kennedy, SCCS Campus Pastor. “Knowing that each person arrives at each chapel in a different frame of mind, we love seeing how the Spirit of God works uniquely through this time. Sometimes the work He does is subtle and incremental and sometimes it is bold and sudden. God is working and we are grateful. Chapel is a significant way in which our SCCS community can worship together as an extension of what is happening in our students churches.”
Each semester, chapel at SCCS is centered around a theme in Scripture to challenge students. Last year, chapels focused on Heroes of Our Faith. This year the plan is to teach students that their life should be Uncommon.
“The Bible is clear that all who are saved by Christ are called and that their life will not be like others in the culture who do not know Christ; therefore, the life of the believer will be Uncommon,” continued Wiley. “Jesus said in Matthew 16:24, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me’.”
As chapel explores the Uncommon theme this school year, the SCCS community will dive into the life of God’s servant, Abraham.
“Abraham’s life is anything but common,” shared Wiley. “His story is a beautiful picture of God’s choosing and working through this servant to promise and ultimately fulfill the promise. Abraham is anything but perfect. God works on him and molds him and ultimately, we see this servant live a life of faith which is reckoned to him as righteousness.”
In addition to the focus on being a servant of Christ like Abraham, this year’s chapel will also focus on missions through Missions Moments.
“We will spend time during a few of the chapels focusing on missions where we will hear from some of our own students and staff who have been on mission trips along with praying for the missionaries from our various churches,” continued Wiley. “We are called to go; to go out into the world and make disciples. Our hope is to cultivate this mindset in the life of our students.”
The theme, Uncommon, is the same for both elementary and secondary chapels, yet each chapel is taught age-appropriate.
“Even though the message and the content are the same for elementary and secondary chapels, each speaker adjusts his communication toward the audience,” shared Wiley. “The story will be the same, but the language and application may look different.”
Whether during elementary or secondary chapel, the Lord continues to use chapel time at SCCS to help shape hearts and minds for Him.
“I hope the students begin to understand the plan of God at their own maturity level and, like Abraham, trust and obey God in their own life,” continued Wiley. “I hope they learn what it means to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him.”