For generations, Asbury University Chapel has provided a sacred rhythm where students worship, wrestle with faith and experience spiritual formation in community.
Watch Jeannie Banter’s “Why Chapel” message: asbury.edu/chapel
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10 a.m., the Asbury University community gathers in historic Hughes Auditorium. Students walk through its doors carrying different experiences, questions and expectations, but they enter a tradition that has shaped generations of Asburians.
For Associate Dean of Student Spiritual Life & University Chaplain Jeannie Banter ’06, those gatherings represent hundreds of opportunities for transformation.
If you were to come to every chapel over four years, you would have 320 opportunities to be formed into the men and women God created you to be."
“320 opportunities to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, to experience whole life transformation by allowing the Holy love of God to transform us from the inside out, to learn what it means to be the hands and feet of Jesus, to serve those around you, to have our eyes attuned to those on the margins, and to celebrate and recognize the diversity of God’s kingdom.”
Built in 1929, Hughes Auditorium carries reminders of Asbury’s spiritual heritage throughout the building.
Near the back doors, a plaque displays words from missionary E. Stanley Jones: “Here we enter a fellowship. Sometimes, we agree to differ. But always, we resolve to love and unite to serve.”
Another plaque honors four men who were martyred and gave their lives for their faith in Jesus Christ. One of the Hughes cornerstones shares about free salvation for all humanity and full salvation from all sin.
Chapel matters because Asbury does not view spiritual formation as something students pursue alone. Asbury intentionally creates space for the community to seek Christ together.
“When you come into this room, these seats tell a story,” Banter said. “They tell stories of generations of Asburians who have come before you and who have wrestled with their faith.”
Chapel continues that story today through worship, Scripture, prayer, testimony and teaching. At the center stands the cross, a visible reminder of whom the community gathers to worship. The drape on the cross changes throughout the year based on the Christian calendar. It is currently green as the liturgical color used during Ordinary Time and the seasons after Epiphany and after Pentecost.
“When we come together, there is something that happens, and God is with us in a new way,” Banter said.
She speaks from experience. After 16 years at Asbury (first as a student and now as an employee), Banter estimates she has attended approximately 1,400 Chapels.
“There’s no place I’d rather be on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday at 10 a.m. than Chapel at Hughes Auditorium,” she said. “I’m a living testimony of what God can do in and through Chapel both as a student and employee of Asbury University.”
Generations have entered Hughes Auditorium under the words “Holiness Unto the Lord.” They have worshiped, questioned, listened, surrendered and grown.
“During the Outpouring, God changed my perspective completely on those words. Because it wasn’t about my holiness; it was about His. It’s a holy love of God inviting us to participate in His holy love and allowing His holy love to transform everything about us. ‘Holiness Unto the Lord’ is not us trying harder. It’s surrendering and saying, ‘God, I’m yours. All that I do and all that I am is yours.’”
And three mornings each week, another generation continues the story.
Chapel is livestreamed and available in a Chapel Library at asbury.edu/chapel.
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