Nurturing your faith development and spiritual life.

Spiritual Life

The School of Divinity recognizes the importance of providing opportunities to nurture the faith development and spiritual life of students. These opportunities – including community worship, group spiritual practices, spirituality retreats, and other formational events – help students pay attention to the movement of the Spirit as an integral part of their theological education and formation.

As students deepen their knowledge about the Bible, ethics, church history, and theology, they are also invited to deepen their spiritual lives and experiences by encountering God in familiar and new practices of faith.  This academic year, we are aiming in our chapel services to be attentive to the celebrations and concerns specific to our academic community even as we respond to the joys and laments present in our broader contexts.

We gather for community worship once each week, on Tuesdays at 11am, in Davis Chapel. A student worship team designs and implements each community chapel service.

Community Worship 

We study. We teach. We learn together. We also worship together. Weekly chapel services at the School of Divinity give students, faculty, staff, and community friends an opportunity to encounter God as we pray and sing together.  School of Divinity worship services also give worshippers unique opportunities to embody what they are learning in classrooms, even to infuse that learning with spiritual and theological insights peculiarly present when a community prays together.

Whether we hear the voices of nationally known preachers or experience the preaching gifts of local pastors, or celebrate the homiletical skills of third year students, or listen as faculty members craft that all important move from texts to sermons, the community has a chance in School of Divinity worship services to reflect together on God’s presence and grace in our community and for the world.

The work of the people in worship services is sacred work, but it is also educational work as it unfolds in a theological school. What do we learn as we pray together? Responses emerge in the form of questions stirred by our worship:  What does it mean to pray together, coming as we do from such different theological places and spaces? How does what we learn in the classroom shape what we practice in worship? How do our weekly practices of prayer and praise move out through institutional doors and into the worlds where we live and work?

Prayer and Meditation Room

Located in Wingate 213, the prayer and meditation room is available for students, faculty, and staff during the semester 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Retreat Resources

An important aspect of nurturing the spiritual life is taking time away from the routines of life, school, and work to ground ourselves in God and listen attentively to the Spirit. Going on retreat – seeking spiritual direction, taking Sabbath, or even building community with others – is a powerful way to nurture and grow our spiritual lives. There are a number of centers and spaces in North Carolina that offer retreats for individuals and groups to reconnect with the Divine and remember who we are created to be.

Care for your spirit by checking out these retreat resources.

Worship Opportunities in Winston-Salem

Finding a faith community to join during your journey at the School of Divinity is important, not only for support, but for spiritual growth and community involvement. To help you find a church, we’ve put together a Worship Opportunities Resource Guide with local churches suggested by current students. Please note that this is not meant to be an exhaustive list of worship opportunities in Winston-Salem, but an accurate representation of the diversity of worshipping communities.

Find a place of worship.