Building faith, community, and connection: The evolving role of Bethel College’s student chaplains
Jordan Twenter, Tobin Wise, Emma Graber, and Taryn Paulino reflect on their role as student chaplains at the college.
The student chaplains of Bethel College have, for generations, been a defining part of the campus community that has aimed to connect Bethel students through faith, dialogue, and service.
This year’s student chaplains—seniors Jordan Twenter from Independence, Mo., and Tobin Wise from Pleasant Hill, Mo., along with sophomores Emma Graber from Divide, Colo., and Taryn Paulino from Bennington, Kan.—are responsible for organizing campus events. Together, they help lead activities like Chapel, Testimony Tuesday, 24 Hours of Prayer, and a host of other community and faith-based activities.
With the upcoming graduation of the seniors Twenter and Wise, the development of the Employment Experience program, and the shifting leadership within Bethel, campus ministries is entering a period of transition that highlights not just the evolving nature of the student chaplaincy, but its deeply personal impacts to Bethel College as a whole.
Bethel’s campus pastor, Michael Unruh, acts as the organizer and facilitator for the student chaplains. Unruh tries to empower the chaplains to make their own decisions, saying that he “turns over ideas and planning to them while being able to be a resource and sometimes direct things as needed,” to ensure that the chaplains maintain their independence as they have a unique ability to connect with their peers in a way that he cannot.
“The student chaplains have a better sense for what the student perspective is, what would connect with them, what might be the best way to go about trying to make connections,” Unruh noted, highlighting how the chaplaincy’s student-led leadership is what makes it effective.
For Twenter, one of the most impactful aspects of being a chaplain is not just the lasting bonds forged between him and his peers, but also the lasting impact that the group has.
“The connection that we start from August to May doesn't leave,” he said. “And even though we may run stuff differently or believe in stuff differently, there's still an overall purpose to serve the students in their faith formation.” This shared mission between the four chaplains, despite their different religious backgrounds, guides them and their approach to supporting the campus community.
According to Twenter, an integral part of the mission of the student chaplains has been to ensure that Bethel College is a space for faith exploration and a place where students may express their diverse religious beliefs. “There's always something to learn from different denominations, different religions. And just because there's this moral of Bethel College, being a Mennonite institution does not mean that we limit our minds to Mennonite values.”
Twenter stated that the mission of the chaplains ought to be to “expand faith to the point where students question it and not necessarily change what they believe in, but realize that there's more… and to begin to polish their faith.”
“[To] expand faith to the point where students question it and not necessarily change what they believe in, but realize that there's more… and to begin to polish their faith.”
Jordan Twenter
For Paulino, the chaplaincy is also about supporting students’ spiritual growth whatever their beliefs may be. She hopes to see more spaces for the many diverse faiths of Bethel to connect, and shared, “I would love to see having a Catholic group on campus, having a Muslim group on campus, having a Jewish group on campus, or any other group, so that they feel more at home, and they can also talk with each other more.”
Freshman students from the Employment Experiences program also assist Unruh in managing campus ministries. Bethel is increasing faith based opportunities for its students.
Twenter believes that this will offer students a way to prepare themselves to be a student chaplain, noting that, “if I was a ministry assistant my freshman year, my freshman year would have been a lot more engaging, a lot more connecting, and a lot more conversational.”
However, in addition to the upcoming graduation of both Twenter and Wise, Unruh’s planned resignation in the spring semester means the chaplaincy must examine how the change of leadership may affect the program. Reflecting on this, Twenter emphasized the confidence he has in the program, “Michael’s trained us well. He has, and so he’s confident in what we can do. We’re confident.”
Expressing one regret, Twenter said, “When I think about him leaving… the only thing I can think about is how I didn’t get to truly, truly honor and display everything that I have learned from him to students.”
Echoing the hope of the newer generation of the chaplaincy and its continued diversity, Paulino said, “I’m excited for the future adventures for student chaplains.”
Ultimately to the student chaplains of Bethel College, their role is not one about a specific faith, but about the creation of a community where students are free to find their own individual faiths and to be able to support each other in that search.
Twenter reflected, “that’s our entire goal, it’s working together, finding common ground, engaging in campus, and building faith formation over and over again.” This vision for campus ministries, embraced by both staff and students, shapes Bethel’s student chaplaincy, allowing students to uphold and nurture faith within the college community.
“That’s our entire goal, it’s working together, finding common ground, engaging in campus, and building faith formation over and over again.”
Jordan Twenter