Sitting in Brown Chapel at Point Loma Nazarene University, surrounded by raised hands and familiar worship songs, some students can’t help but feel disconnected. It’s not a disbelief in God, they say — just a sense that something’s missing.
At PLNU, chapel is a cornerstone of campus life. Four times a week, services are hosted for students to fulfill the chapel credits they are assigned per semester while getting to worship with the school community. Some students say the spark that once made chapel meaningful has dimmed, leaving them searching for deeper connection and authenticity in a space meant to inspire faith.
The term “lukewarm Christianity” has been prominent in the PLNU community, but how does that play a role on campus and in chapel? Students should attend chapel to have a “community that encourages intimacy with God,” according to the PLNU Chapel mission statement, but instead, students said they are given watered-down sermons that lack a clear focus.
For some, this concern goes beyond preference or preaching style. It reflects a deeper frustration about chapel’s role in their lives. According to its mission statement, chapel is designed to unify the campus in worship and invite students to respond to God’s calling. However, students said they leave feeling as if the messages skim the surface rather than challenge them to wrestle with difficult questions of faith.
Nina Thomson, a second-year international studies major, said students are craving more.
“Everything is so surface [level],” Thomson said. “It kind of feels immature at times, like we’re not maturing past this place of the foundational truths.”
Other students echoed similar frustrations with chapel’s repetition. For them, the problem isn’t the message of God’s love, but the lack of exploration of themes other than God’s love.
A second-year psychology major, who requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation from the theology department, said the chapel messages lack biblically-centered sermons.
The source said that constantly hearing messages about being loved and seen can start to feel repetitive and unengaging. They explained that students want to feel passionate about their faith, but many seem disengaged in chapel, often on their phones, because it doesn’t hold their attention.
However, other students and staff said that chapel is far from “lukewarm,” but rather, full of intentionality. Behind the scenes, a team of more than 50 student leaders, worship members, speakers and staff spend hours planning themes, coordinating music, preparing messages, running technology and praying over what will be shared.
Esteban Trujillo, PLNU’s chaplain, said the process is more extensive than most students realize.
“There is a lot of love poured into this,” Trujillo said. “It is much more than just offering a student a chapel credit experience. It is offering a time of deep entering and drawing into God’s presence and entering a space of worship and listening to God’s word and being transformed by it.”
For AJ Ellerington, a third-year media communication major and director of spiritual life, chapel feels like a consistent space of comfort.
“Coming to Point Loma, it took some time to ease into a worship setting like chapel, a place I wasn’t super familiar with, sitting next to people I didn’t know all that well,” Ellerington said. “It is a beautiful challenge to gather four times per week under one roof, as one family, acknowledging our differences, yet committing to seek after Jesus together.”
Trujillo echoed this, saying that it is chapel’s goal to create a space to experience God.
“When we come together in a chapel, what we’re doing is we’re getting … a greater glimpse of what has been to part the kingdom of God,” Trujillo said. “It’s not just a chapel credit. It is a greater understanding of being like the body of Christ.”
