Why Is Chapel Significant to an RBC Student?
Posted On August 28, 2024
Written by Dr. Stephen Nichols, president and professor of apologetics
Our founder, Dr. R.C. Sproul, would speak of theology getting into the head, then the heart, then— pulsing through the body—it gets to the hands and feet. Theology is a rational discipline that impacts the affections, as Jonathan Edwards would say, and manifests itself in worship, service, and action. At RBC, we devote a lot of time to theology as a rational discipline.
We want students to know who God is, to know what He has revealed in His Word, and to know how to live in God’s world. Our purpose is to produce educated students. We will never apologize for stressing theology as a rational discipline. Yet, we also recognize how shortsighted it would be to see theology as only a rational discipline. What a tragedy that would be.
No one modeled this better than R.C. himself. He loved to apply theology and biblical knowledge to life. He learned so he could live more obediently and more faithfully. That is one of the reasons chapel is so significant to the RBC student experience.
The lion’s share of our chapel is given to the preaching of the Word. Students hear from their professors, from local pastors, from the Ligonier Teaching Fellows, and from other leaders in the church. They hear a sermon, not a lecture. They have Scripture exposited and applied for them.
Our speakers are careful to speak directly to their audience. They encourage and challenge our students to be obedient and faithful disciples. There is no substitute for sound preaching that passes through the head, into the heart, and then pulses through to the hands and feet.
That’s the main reason chapel is significant but it is certainly not the only one. Chapel is the one time during the week when the whole RBC community gathers together. Faculty, staff, and students all come together once a week on Thursday mornings at 11:00 am. This is crucial to the building up of the community. People speak of churches, colleges, or even companies having a culture. A thick culture has developed at RBC over the years and a large contributor to that is our weekly chapel.
Crucial to building community is singing. We start every chapel by singing our college hymn, “Clothed in Righteousness,” written by Dr. Sproul. It has become a much-anticipated moment in the week for me and for our students. Then we’ll sing another hymn from our RBC chapel hymn booklet. Occasionally, we hear from our very own Reformation Chorale. Then we hear God’s Word preached. These are not assemblies. These are chapels.
Establishing structures, rhythms, and customs is crucial to building a community. We’ve moved into the custom of singing “Clothed in Righteousness.” We’ve made slight adjustments to the preliminaries. But we’ve always had the sermon as the main focus of chapel and we’ve always ended with the Gloria Patri.
There is a beauty to that brief, ancient doxology. It predates the fourth century, but in the fourth century, a line was added. After glory is ascribed to the Trinity, we sing the line, “As it was in the beginning...” That was added in the fourth century to combat Arianism. It affirms that Christ is coeternal and coequal with the Father, as is the Holy Spirit. The Gloria Patri is a millennia-tested model of contending for the faith.
We speak of standing in the Reformed classical tradition. That is well represented in chapel. We begin every week by singing Dr. Sproul’s hymn that vividly draws our attention to those essential doctrines of justification by faith and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. Sola fide, sola gratia, solus Christus. Then, it’s sola Scriptura as the Word is preached. And finally, in one voice, the RBC community declares soli Deo gloria.