Northwestern will be hosting a Praise and Worship service with Dordt College in Christ Chapel on Sunday, Oct. 29.
All students are welcomed and encouraged to attend the service to gather together and worship with Dordt students, while maybe even making some new friends from the college we love to compete against.
If you have attended NW for any amount of time, you know that “unity” is a popular buzzword around campus.
The focus on unity is a core value at NW and something that is strived to be achieved in resident halls, on sports teams, in music groups and in classrooms.
But unity isn’t just important at NW. Unity is important at other colleges and among students at those colleges, which is why the joint Praise and Worship service with Dordt and NW was created.
The tradition of combining worship services started in the early 2000s. Dordt and NW had done NC/DC together for a few years, and the two schools began to wonder why a worship service between the schools did not yet exist.
“I love this tradition because I firmly believe that the call to worship God and bring His Kingdom here on earth is not a NW College thing, and it’s not a Dordt College thing,” said NW’s director of worship Josh Kuipers. “We are on the same team and have the same purpose: to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, to listen to the Spirit and to follow Jesus as we love and serve those around us.”
If you’ve been on campus for awhile, you also know about the huge rivalry that exists between Dordt and NW. It has always been the Defenders v. the Raiders.
Having a rivalry is fun—it creates more energy, competition and school pride. However, it is also important to remember unity, especially with rivals.
“We often get caught up in the competitive rivalry between NW and Dordt,” said senior Meredith Spicher, one of the NW Praise and Worship leaders, about the joint service. “And while it is fun, there are times when it can be taken out of hand and we lose sight of the fact that we are all sons and daughters of the King.”
“Doing the unity service is a way of reaching out a hand and uniting ourselves in the purpose of giving glory to God,” Spicher continued. “It’s an awesome and powerful service. It’s beautiful to see so many people together in the same room worshipping the same God.”
The service will be at 8:30 p.m. in Christ Chapel and will run for about one hour.
