Each semester, securely in its place on the chapel schedule is the ever-constant Men and Women’s Chapel. While this gender-segregated chapel has caused quite a bit of controversy over the years, students embrace the chance to tell The Scroll their feelings about this gender-specific chapel. Overall, the male students interviewed greatly enjoyed men’s chapel. While some students questioned the reason for the topic being men-only (for example, last semester’s men’s chapel on social media in the Christian’s life), there is certainly a consensus of men’s chapels “addressing topics that a lot of men deal with” (Jason Weaver). Student Jacob Long states that it is “surreal to be standing around with a lot of other guys, who love Jesus, while singing hymns.”

Students also approved of the way that men and women’s chapels are something new and out of the usual chapel habit. Both men and women of Cairn enjoy faculty members as keynote speakers for the gender chapels, understanding that these staff members have been through exactly what the students are going through now. Women also embrace their chapels, though perhaps to less of an extent than the men. Manor RA Danielle Heron stated that women’s chapel “gives us an opportunity to bond as the women of Cairn,” and both genders agreed that there were certain topics Cairn could discuss that would be awkward or uncomfortable for members of the opposite sex to sit in on.

Amongst some of the negative feedback was the fact that gender-specific chapels do not seem to make a fully lasting impact on the mind, perhaps because the topics of purity and respect are prevalent in gender-specific chapels. It does seem that for the women most of the gender chapels revolve around purity and abstinence, while men get more practical applications that even women need to consider and decide upon. While the topics discussed are important lessons to listen to, some of the speakers’ testimonies are so different from the lives of the Cairn women that “only a little bit of what they said really applied to my life” (Abigail Gibson).

But Cairn does not need to change their chapel schedules just yet! The students have spoken up not only on their opinions of gender-segregated chapel, but also on how it can be improved for the future. A popular feature that would help students to enjoy these chapels more thoroughly would be a gender-specific poll to find out what sort of topics the men and women of Cairn feel can be beneficial for the community. Students have also suggested that bringing in pastors or other authorities would be a good chance to get the opinion of someone not within the Cairn staff, especially due to the fact that it is a gender-specific topic. Overall, men and women’s chapels are an integral part of keeping a tight-knit community of fellowship at Cairn. With a bit of topic variation, input from the students, and even some chances for discussion instead of a solely lecture-based model, men and women’s chapel can continue to grow and thrive, bringing men and women of Cairn closer to each other and giving them the chance to support their fellow siblings in Christ.

Sources quoted: Abigail Gibson, Danielle Heron, Jacob Long, Jason Weaver.