By Madison Bonner, Writer
Photos by Madison Bonner and Delight Ministries
On February 1st, a student organization called Delight Ministries held its second-semester kick-off in the New Res Fireplace Lounge. This event began with a video that welcomed new and old members and presented Delight’s mission and the theme for the spring semester. After the video, McKendree’s Delight leadership team introduced themselves and started the first activity of the evening: affirmation cards. Each girl received a Sharpie and a notecard, which was taped to her back. Other girls then filled these cards with messages to lift one another, creating a positive environment and setting the tone for the semester. Girls also made friendship bracelets, painted tote bags, and took photos together.
But what is Delight Ministries? Delight Ministries, or simply Delight for short, is a nationwide organization for Christian women and now has chapters at over 200 college campuses. Established in 2012, the organization is dedicated to growing its members’ faith and growing the faith communities at colleges across the nation.
The chapter at McKendree began just last semester. It all started thanks to the efforts of sophomore Sarah Capel. Sarah is from Marion, Illinois, and she is currently studying elementary education. She is Methodist and first heard of Delight in junior high through Christian speaker Sadie Robertson. It had only recently started as an organization back then. During Sarah’s first year at McKendree, she rediscovered Delight through a random post on Instagram. She had been struggling to find who she was and felt that she didn’t have a group of girls who shared the same morals with her at the time.
Now, she is the President of McKendree’s Delight chapter. In her own words, Sarah explained she “wanted girls to have a safe space where they could talk about their faith and grow together as a community here at McKendree.” Her favorite part of Delight is the community and the friends that she has met because of it.
Starting the chapter at McKendree was an eight-week process. Sarah completed an online training course through Delight’s headquarters in Nashville. But before she could begin, she had to find four other girls to be part of the leadership crew and go through the training with her. They were Kathryn Weber, Georgia Duncan, Elise Johnson, and Alison Ridens. Caroline Peters also joined as a Delight Leader this semester.
The group met on Thursdays at 6:30 P.M. in Clark Lounge. These weekly meetings typically began with “roses and thorns,” when the girls could share a “rose,” something positive about their week, and a “thorn,” something negative about their week. One of the Delight Leaders then led the full group in prayer before breaking off into small group discussions.
The small group discussions are the focal point of Delight and are centered around Delight’s book studies. These books have a different theme each semester tailored to college women. The Garden study from the fall semester explored the Fruits of the Spirit. This semester’s book study was entitled Beautiful Kingdom and covered depictions of God’s Kingdom from the Gospel of Matthew. The book chapters typically consist of Scripture passages, personal stories from leaders, and questions for reflection. At each meeting, the girls discuss the readings, what they learned, and how they connected to the stories and passages.
Outside of the weekly meetings, Delight also hosted a variety of events and activities for its members.
Delight Ministries also has another unique activity for its members: Delight Dates. Each member gets paired with another girl, and the two go on a “date” to get to know one another better. Together, they can watch a movie, attend a sports event, or go on a shopping trip to hang out with someone they might not know yet. This helps strengthen the individual bonds within the group and create new friendships among the members.
Delight Ministries provides a community for Christian women on campus to connect to their faith and with others who share their faith. The organization is nondenominational, meaning that all are welcome, regardless of church denomination. Since its start at McKendree, Delight has already made a positive impact on its members. There are currently over twenty members, all from a variety of denominations and at different points in their faith journey. Those who are interested in learning more about Jesus are also welcome!
For more information, follow @delight_mckendreeuniversity on Instagram, or follow the national organization, @delightministries. Their website can also be found at delightministries.com, if you’d like to learn more. We hope you consider joining to explore your faith and make lifelong connections with other members!
