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Campus Ministries

At Dordt, students are encouraged to think, question, and prepare for their calling in God's world. This focus is evident in the classroom and is supported by a variety of campus ministry and outreach programs.

Dordt's Christ-centered approach
Students singing on stage

Our Approach

Some of Jesus’ final words in all of Scripture are, “Behold, I am making all things new.” In Dordt Campus Ministries, we long for this reality on behalf of our students and our world, and are passionately pursuing Christ-centered renewal in all aspects of contemporary life. We pursue Christ-centered renewal by being Invitational, Student-Driven, and by valuing Presence Over Program. We call these our Heartbeats.

It is our hope that as students leave Dordt, God empowers them to go into their workplaces, families, neighborhoods, and world as one who embodies Jesus’ posture of invitation, as one who reveals the presence and work of the Spirit in all places and at all times, and as one who is present to God and everyone around them.

Our Heartbeats

Jesus' posture is invitational, “Come to me ALL…," and that is the posture we aim for with every person we meet and in everything that we do. A posture of warmth, welcome, and delight for ALL.

You might hear us say, “We invite. Students make decisions,” because Jesus does not coerce faith, and neither do we. We believe this because that’s simply not how genuine relationships work. Just as Jesus invites and draws and is ready to receive His kids whenever they are ready, we aim to do the same for our students.

A constant refrain throughout Scripture is that God will pour out His Spirit on “all people.” Particularly, that God will pour out His Spirit on the next generation and the descendants coming after.

We believe that too! We believe that God is powerfully at work in the next generation, and it is our aim to help recognize and accentuate God’s Spirit and activity within our student body. We do this by celebrating their gifts, honoring their ideas, and stewarding the fullness of God’s image and likeness within them so that they feel free to speak, safe to fail, and empowered to participate in the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God on Dordt’s campus, as it is in heaven.

Jesus promised, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” It was a promise of His tangible presence at every moment, in any place, to all people.

It is our goal to be present to our students beyond our programs, and every weekly program and event provides opportunities for students to become aware of God’s tangible presence in their lives, trains them to be present to others, and gives them permission to be present to themselves. We value presence over the program!

Worship Opportunities

The Dordt community worships together every Wednesday at 11 a.m. during the academic year. Chapel isn't mandatory for students, but the service is so awesome that 2/3 of the student body regularly attends.

To join us live for chapel, visit our YouTube channel.

Missed a chapel or want to listen again? Visit our Anchor page or our Production Arts YouTube channel to find chapel recordings on your favorite platform.

Praise and Worship provides an opportunity for the community to gather each Thursday evening at 10 p.m. Coordinated by students, these times of singing, often coupled with Scripture reading and prayer, are led by one of two worship teams that serve on a rotating basis. Praise and Worship encourages students to reflect on their unity as Christians and to form relationships with others as they worship.

All students are invited to join a campus small group. These groups are predominately student-led, consisting of 5-8 peers and covering a variety of topics and themes.

The heartbeat of small groups is not getting through a book or gaining knowledge about a particular topic but rather experiencing eternal life in the present. Jesus tells us, “And this is Eternal Life, that they KNOW you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). This eternal life is much more about quality of life now rather than duration of life in the future, and the knowledge Jesus is talking about is not head knowledge but experiential, heart knowledge. In a campus small group, it is our desire for students to experience the life Jesus offers through community, God’s Word, and the working of His Holy Spirit.

Small groups are open to anyone and everyone on campus. Some groups are focused on prayer and accountability, others go through a book of the Bible, and some focus on a topic such as forgiveness, shame, or slowing down from our hurried pace of life.

Every Sunday, Christian churches in the Sioux Center community meet for worship. Students are encouraged to participate in these services. In fact, the college supports this activity by supplying transportation for students from the Campus Center to a number of churches each Sunday.

Local churches are very supportive of college students, and the college seeks to have regular contact with those churches to further enhance that cooperation in serving students.

Each year, Campus Ministries provides opportunities for faith formation off-campus. Whether that be retreats for students at lake Okoboji, mission mobilization weekends in Minneapolis, attending a ministry minded conference, and much more.

The hope for these faith formation opportunities is to build community, raise global awareness, develop leadership, and bring us into closer proximity to Jesus. During a student's years at Dordt they will be able to experience one or a number of these.

A group of staff sings during chapel

Pastoral Care

Recognizing the importance of the spiritual aspect of student life, the college provides pastoral counseling for students through the Campus Pastor, Sam Ashmore, and area pastors. Students seek pastoral care for a variety of reasons, ranging from a listening ear to advice on major life decisions. The Director of Faith Formation, Angela Perigo, Chief of Staff and Dean of Chapel, Aaron Baart, and Director of Campus Worship, Ray Badudu.

Dordt staff pray on campus

Recordings

A picture of the worship team performing in BJ Haan

Dordt Worship inspires and encourages Dordt students, faculty, staff, and the broader community through worship music. In addition to leading at Chapel, Praise & Worship, and churches, we enjoy recording and producing worship music to share from our own recording studio.

Click here to listen on Spotify.

Click here to view on YouTube.

***Available on all digital distributors

Listen on Spotify.

***Available on all digital distributors

Watch on Youtube.

Traveling Worship Team

Dordt University students with a passion for leading praise and worship outside the campus serve as part of a traveling worship team. This gifted group of musicians minister in worship at churches, camps, youth groups, conferences, and other community events.

The Director of Campus Worship Ray Badudu and the Worship Arts Technical Director, Alex Priore, collaborate with students to coordinate the group's schedule. To book them for your next event, contact Ray Badudu at ray.badudu@dordt.edu.

Female student singing

Worship Ensembles

Dordt Worship is an innovative collective committed to bringing Christ-centered and Spirit-empowered worship across a breadth of musical styles. The collective fuses together Dordt University students along with many of the university's key worship faculty and staff, including Dr. Jeremy Perigo & Alex Priore. Whether leading for Chapel in the BJ Haan, Praise & Worship next to the Grille, on tour at a local church, or at an international conference. they love to combine diverse liturgical approaches with a mixture of musical tastes and unique instrumentation into a unified corporate encounter with God.

In addition to opportunities to serve our community in worship, students enrolled in Worship Ensembles receive 0.5 credits per semester (WA-18). Though these ensembles are supported by Worship Arts students, our worship ensembles are made up of students from across campus and disciplines.

To audition for a Dordt Worship ensemble, contact the Director of Campus Worship, Ray Badudu.

Female leader singing with her hands up

Our Team

Angela Perigo

Director of Faith Formation & Co-Director of Children's Worship Initiative

Angela Perigo is the Director of Faith Formation and an Adjunct in Worship Arts at Dordt University, where she also serves as Co-Director of the Children in Worship Initiative. Angela has directed discipleship in a variety of campus ministries settings around the world for the past two decades. She has a Doctor of Worship Studies, which focused on diversity, hospitality, and spirituality of those on the margins in congregational worship spaces. Before moving to Iowa, she spent several years at London School of Theology as Dean of Community and has lived more than half her life outside of the United States.

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