Chapel services are designed to allow time to worship God and to gain strength from other Christians. A period of worship is followed by announcements and sometimes a brief informative, inspirational, or entertaining program.
Chapel is held at 10:30 a.m. Monday through Friday on the Montgomery campus. Chapel attendance is required of all full-time students and all residential students on the Montgomery campus. Chapel is open to anyone who wishes to worship.
Chapel Leadership
Students interested in assisting with chapel planning, organization, or service should contact the Chapel Coordinator. Biblical studies majors interested in volunteering may also contact the dean of biblical studies.
Chapel Attendance Requirements
- Residential students on the Montgomery campus must attend Chapel every day regardless of their class schedules.
- Non-residential students on the Montgomery campus must attend Chapel on days they have class immediately before Chapel that ends after at or after 10:00 a.m. or if their class schedule includes a class ending at 9:20 a.m. and a class beginning at 11:20 a.m.
- Students are responsible for scanning in and logging in for chapel at every chapel event.
- Only students on an approved University-sponsored event and whose name appears on the list submitted by the event Sponsor(s) may have Chapel attendance waived for the event.
- Chapel attendance records will weigh heavily in considering student’s housing arrangement, student awards and club awards.
- Excessive absences are considered a serious student conduct issue, and will be addressed as described below.
Chapel Absences
Chapel is an important part of life at Faulkner, and similar to class attendance is required. We expect all students to commit to attending Chapel. Students who have difficulty maintaining regular attendance will be monitored, mentored and possibly sanctioned. We are keenly aware that students sometime have circumstances arise that make regular Chapel attendance difficult. In these instances we ask that you contact the Student Life Office as soon as you can so that we may help you through these difficult times. Students acting honestly and responsibly will avoid being sanctioned for missing Chapel when they have proactively shared their circumstances with our office and have partnered with us to come to some arrangement.
Similarly, some students have legitimate work or internship schedules that may conflict with the chapel schedule. We will work with students in these situations, yet it is the student’s responsibility to complete the appropriate form within the first weeks of classes (available online via the Faulkner Mobile App and weekly E-News). This form available online and is monitored by the Office of Student Life and can be accessed by this link: Exemption or modification request form. Verification from the respective employer or supervisor will be required.
The average semester has 65 chapel events. Students are allowed a certain number of absences per semester. Consequences that result from absences beyond the allowed amount are based on the number or percentage of chapel opportunities students miss during a semester. For instance:
- Students can miss up to 20% of these chapel opportunities without penalty. Upon reaching the maximum number of allowed chapel absences, the student will be contacted by the Office of Student Life with a Warning, and will be encouraged to commit to attending the remaining chapel days.
- Absences that exceed 20% will result in the student being placed on Chapel Probation to include the loss of privileges to participate in extracurricular activities and/or additional penalties for student-athletes (including the possibility of game suspensions). Until these absences are resolved, the student will be barred from registering for any future classes at Faulkner.
- At the discretion of Dean of Students, unresolved chapel probation cases and/or continued chapel absences may result in suspension from the University. Such suspensions can take place immediately, or be deferred to the next semester.
In all three cases, the student may be contacted by the Office of Student Life in an attempt to assist the student in regaining good standing regarding chapel attendance. Please see the chart below to best determine your particular attendance requirement and absence scenarios.
Weekly Attendance: Allowable Absences: Percent of Absences:
Requirement:
5 days a week 14 20%
4 days a week 11 20%
3 days a week 8 20%
2 days a week 5 20%
The number of absences allowed (20%) should be sufficient to accommodate absences during a semester due to illness, doctor appointments, family emergencies or other personal reasons. Students are encouraged to use their allowable absences with discretion. While it is the student’s responsibility to keep track of his or her chapel attendance, students may email the Student Life office to request an absence total.