Get connected.  Engage your spiritual health daily from 12pm – 1pm with
Connected Spirit

Spiritual wellness workshops 

Providing spiritual wellness workshops for the TCU community on topics ranging from discernment to centering prayer and more.

• Introduction to Spiritual Wellness: In this workshop we will focus on understanding what it means to be spiritually healthy.  Through personal reflection and introducing a variety of spiritual exercises, we will explore how to help you grow in your own personal journey towards spiritual wellness.
• Voice to Values:  What matters to you most? And why? How do your values shape how you interact with the world? In this workshop, participants identify their core values and assess whether or not their daily decisions and activities align with what they claim to value most. The class is interactive and uses thought-provoking activities to help participants drill down to what matters to them.
• Discernment: Discernment is a decision-making process that takes our faith and ourselves seriously. RSL staff offer workshops and pastoral care to help you tune into God’s call and your own desires when making decisions.
• Meditation: Often times we associate meditation with very specific traditions, rather than seeing it as a wonderful spiritual discipline for all faith perspectives.  In this workshop we will learn about the different approaches to meditation for beginners, spend time practicing meditation together, and processing our experience with one another.
• Walking the Labyrinth: Often confused with a maze, a labyrinth is a designated path leading those who walk it toward a common center while focusing the mind.  It combines the imagery of the circle and the spiral into a meandering but purposeful path, which is often used as a tool for meditation and prayer.
  

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Our office also offers the following:

Advent and Lenten Devotionals:  Written by members of the TCU community, these seasonal devotionals address topics relevant to campus life. To sign up to receive these devotionals please email faith@tcu.edu.   To see past devotionals check out the devotionals page.

Chapel Worship: Mixing both traditional and contemporary styles, chapel worship exists to unite Christians across campus during special times of the academic and religious year. While worship reflects the rich history of the university’s Disciples and Protestant background, it is intentionally inclusive and open to everyone.

Religious life at TCU is diverse, vibrant, and accommodating for students of all faith traditions. To encourage communication and understanding among all religious groups, the Office of Religious and Spiritual life sponsors several interfaith initiatives.  The TCU Interfaith Initiative gathers students to celebrate individual beliefs, to learn about one another, and to work together to change the world. The goal of this initiative is to foster positive and cooperative interaction between people of different religions, faiths, or spiritual beliefs, with the aim of promoting understanding between different religions to increase inclusivity and acceptance.

Religious Advisory Council:  The Religious Advisory Council, better known on campus as “RAC,” is composed of students across religious traditions represented on campus. The goal of this council is to assist TCU at large in accommodating all religious needs, including the observance of Holy days and rituals. By working together, the council also builds relationships among our religiously diverse populations and helps educate the TCU community about our religious diversity.  By interacting with peers, the council also addresses the religious, spiritual, or faith-based concerns that students might have on a regular basis. This council members serve as the hosts for Know Your Neighbor Nights, the Interfaith Panel, Service Project, and Prayer ceremony each academic year. Our current council represents the following faith traditions: Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Catholic, Orthodox, Methodist, Disciples of Christ, Baptist, and Agnostic.

Know Your Neighbor Night: Three times each semester, the Religious and Spiritual Life office along with the Religious Advisory Council invites students to our Know Your Neighbor Night, also known as “KYNN” on campus. This is an interfaith event, where students from various backgrounds come together to share a meal, and seek to grow in our understanding and respect for one another’s faith. The evening meal and conversation are guided by RSL staff chaplains, to ensure a safe and supportive learning environment.

Interfaith Panel: In the beginning of each Fall semester, the Religious and Spiritual Life office hosts an interfaith panel consisting of students who serve on the Religious Advisory Council. The TCU community is invited to ask questions about various faith, religious, and spiritual traditions through tabling events or online submissions. This is a wonderful way for peers, faculty, and staff alike to ask questions about what life is like through the lens of another faith tradition than their own. A reception follows so participants can get to know the council and RSL staff members.

Service Project: In the Spring semester, RSL hosts and interfaith service project in collaboration with the Southside Community Garden (https://www.southsidefw.org/ ).   TCU students from various faith traditions come together on a Saturday to spend the day giving back to the TCU community and building gardens for the people of the South Side, the poorest zip code in the state of Texas. Several students have been so moved by the experience, and made such wonderful connections, they continue to serve this community on their own time throughout the year.

Interfaith Prayer and Cording Ceremony: At the conclusion of every academic year,  the Religious Advisory Council is honored with a prayer ceremony over their work together on our campus. The council works together to create a service  where all are welcome, and no matter one’s religious tradition, participants can feel supported and affirmed in their faith. The service ends with the graduating seniors of the council are given graduation cords symbolism their work throughout the time at TCU focused on interfaith initiatives. A reception is to follow to celebrate what we all have in common, the diversity among us, and the importance of respect, understanding, inclusivity, and acceptance.

For more information on the Religious Advisory Council and/or TCU’s Interfaith Initiative, please email Rev. Lea McCracken at lea.mccracken@tcu.edu