Formation
What does your faith look like in the real world?
At Union Presbyterian Seminary, we believe in formation as a lifelong, holistic process of nurturing a person’s spiritual life, character, and relationship with God. During formation, you are encouraged to not only deepen your faith but also practice it.
Union Presbyterian Seminary offers a unique chapel experience for students, faculty, and staff across both campuses. Both campuses take a different approach to coming together for a moment of faith and devotion.
Chapel at Charlotte
Our chapel services are here to support students, staff, and faculty in practicing and developing their faith.
UPSem is dedicated to helping students embody and practice their faith in the real world. We offer a unique opportunity to be a liturgist and share your faith through practicing preaching yourself. All of our services are student or community-led. The UPSem experience at Charlotte is open to all, as a display of who we are and who we want to be when we are aligned in our faith. Amanda Shanks is your first point of contact on the Charlotte Campus and guides students in their faith experience.
We invite you to join us for an hour of community worship, offered on the first Saturday of each month in our Charlotte Chapel. Our service is from 11:45 to 12:30pm with an offering of the sacrament at each service.
Our services are based around the liturgical calendar, contemporary music with hymns, all while engaging in community-based prayer. We focus on offering sermons from faculty, staff, and diverse faith leaders from across our community. We also offer the sacrament at our monthly services.
After the service, we offer a community meal. Our meals are offered as an act of hospitality. All are welcome to join us and be offered a meal. We offer vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options.
We invite all students, faculty, staff, and community members to join us. If you’re visiting for the first time, please reach out to Amanda Shanks for more information.
Our chapel space is designed to be highly flexible and adaptable. We think of our chapel as a Third Space, dedicated to fostering a space where community can freely flourish.
Can’t join us in person? Stream our monthly service here.
Chapel in Richmond
UPSem is dedicated to helping students embody and practice their faith in the real world. We offer worship opportunities for faculty, staff, and students every Wednesday. Under the guidance of Rev. Mairi Renwick, we focus on student-led services with a variety of preachers, including faculty, community members, and final-year students.
It is our mission to always provide opportunities to see, learn, and act. Our chapel services are a unique opportunity for students, faculty, and staff to pause during the midweek in order to glorify God. These midweek sessions are open to the community.
During residency weeks, services and spiritual formation opportunities happen daily. Our services rotate between the Historic Watts Chapel and the contemporary Lake Chapel. Each of our chapels offers a different faith experience, and services can be streamed online.
If you are a community member and are interested in attending our Wednesday service, please reach out!