Every other Friday, at 11 a.m., students in Moody Coliseum join together to sing a cappella worship. Students’ voices fill the arena while they clap to the beat of the songs. “Days of Elijah,” “This Little Light of Mine” and “Highways and Byways” are frequent flyers on the a cappella setlist.
Moody Chapel frequently receives criticism for the lack of a cappella worship — typically from angry alumni or concerned parents of students on Facebook.
In two weeks, Moody Chapel meets four times, with one of those days being a cappella, making up 25% of the services.
Given that ACU has Church of Christ backgrounds, the backlash is understandable. ACU’s founders were members of the Church of Christ, and the university is still affiliated with the denomination today.
Even just 20 years ago, Chapel consisted of non-instrumental worship only. Then, going further back, in 1976, when Abilene Christian College was renamed to what we know and love as Abilene Christian University, the school was strictly Church of Christ, hiring only Church of Christ faculty and catering to specifically Church of Christ students.
ACU still technically hires Church of Christ faculty only, but there are exceptions made based on necessity. Currently, the exceptions to this rule are at 25% of faculty.
The remaining Moody Chapels in those two weeks consists of Mondays with a few instrumental worship songs followed by a short sermon, and every other praise-day-Friday, where instrumental worship fills the 20 minutes.
The Spiritual Life system of three days of instrumental and one a cappella chapel works.
For this fall semester, 746 out of the 3,698 students enrolled on campus (Dallas not included) are registered with Church of Christ – that is 20.17%. Student Church of Christ backgrounds decreased from virtually 100%, when ACU opened up to today’s 20.17%. So, the worship lineup aligns with current enrollment records.
It is also important to note that many Church of Christ services have added instrumental worship. Take Highland Church of Christ, for example; they traditionally worship with instruments. So, not only are 20.17% of students enrolled as Church of Christ, but some of that percentage contains Church of Christ members who worship with instruments.
The chronic Facebook complainers aren’t entirely in the wrong here: They may think we have no a cappella at all.
Spiritual Life needs to do a better job of showcasing the variety of Moody Chapel. ACU’s Spiritual Life Instagram most frequently highlights instrumental worship, so it’s not wrong to believe that is all students are given.
With the combination of more media coverage on a cappella worship and the knowledge of the enrollment and worship style in chapel correlation, it is easy to see that Spiritual Life does not deserve the intense backlash.
With ACU’s rich diversity in denominations, there have to be compromises – places to meet in the middle – and Spiritual Life does well in accommodating all students.
ACU has not let go of its Church of Christ origins. The majority of faculty are Church of Christ, and Moody Chapel’s worship styles match up with enrollment records. As time moves forward, and enrollment of other denominations rises, it is Spiritual Life’s job to make sure every student feels they have a place at ACU. And currently, contrary to many social media user beliefs, Spiritual Life is juggling its responsibilities well.
