Interested in getting involved religiously on campus? Every week campus ministry offers dorm based bible studies for anyone interested in growing with their faith. In these studies, any Ashland University student can attend no matter what your religious affiliation may be. 

Graduate student Elizabeth Paydo is the head of these studies and she wants students to attend the weekly meetings if they are interested.

“I want to encourage and reiterate that all students are welcome to be a part of this. It is not really driven by any specific faith walk, just an opportunity for students to grow more in their relationship with Christ.”

These studies are still being held in person despite dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. Paydo and other ministry leaders have followed the necessary guidelines to make sure that social distancing and mask wearing stays in effect. 

“There are a lot of changes, the university has guidelines, we have guidelines so we really wanted to tap into dorm based ministry a little bit more than we have in the past.” 

The idea for dorm based studies is to make it easier for the students, since the studies are held in the lobby’s of the dorm buildings it is much easier to make sure that everyone is spaced out; wearing their masks but still enjoying their time to worship.

“It’s nice too because there’s so much community that’s built in the dorms. A lot of your friends live in the dorms, so it’s a good environment to ask your friends if they want to join you for Bible study,” said Paydo. 

This makes it easier too when the weather may not be ideal to just enjoy the studies in the comfort of your own building. Paydo touched on how there was the potential of making these meetings over zoom, but students were much more willing to have interaction with their peers face to face rather than through a screen.

“No one was really interested in having these meetings over zoom, I think because students are just craving personal interaction, so we opted to not have any of them on zoom.” 

Students in all different dorm buildings as well as commuters are encouraged to attend. They offer these meetings at six various locations and times throughout the week, only lasting an hour to help accommodate a busy schedule. 

“We have one to two commuters who are already plugged in, we let them pick what time fit best with their schedule and then that’s the group that they jumped into. Literally anybody and everybody can be a part of it,” said Paydo. 

In these meetings students can expect each bible study session to begin with an opening prayer, some scripture readings and ultimately a guided discussion on what they read then ending each session with a closing prayer. 

After each meeting the leader of the study sessions will then assign a new scripture reading, which will be discussed the following week. For more information and to get involved with future bible studies, students can email Elizabeth Paydo at [email protected].